Ln 4 1/2

[Donna Reece]

I have a LN 4 1/2 that I bought while attending a Rob Cosman class.He did the initial sharpening and set up of the plane for me so I feel it was done correctly.The problem is I can't get this plane to work correctly. It will not take a full width shaving. I can take finer full width shavings with my old coffin smoother than I can this plane! I can even get better results with a wooden jack than this one. Very frustrating!
Any suggestions?
Thanks

[Richard Niemiec]

Resharpen, or perhaps better said, re-hone the iron as it may have been a quick job by Cosman, then rather than using the adjuster, tap the iron to adjust.

[Rick Erickson]

What do the shavings look like?

[Donna Reece]

The shavings being produced are thicker than I would like for smoothing. I retract the blade all the way then slowly advance the blade until it stars taking a shaving. The shavings are mostly coming from the left side of the plane, so I adjust the lateral adjuster accordingly.No matter how minutely I make lateral adjustments I can't get the blade centered. I know this sounds strange but it seems as though the plane is not making contact with the wood across the width of the plane. I know the board I'm planing is perfectly flat as I can take full width fluffy {almost transparent}shavings with my woodies.
I checked the blade to make sure it was not ground with a skew and it isn't. I'll hone it again to see if I can get a better result!

[Tri Hoang]

It seems that your blade may not be straight/sharp. If the blade isn't sharp, it may produce dust instead of shaving when you try to take thin shavings. If the blade isn't straight, there's no way to get full width shavings without taking also taking heavy cuts.

[Derek Cohen]

The shavings being produced are thicker than I would like for smoothing. I retract the blade all the way then slowly advance the blade until it stars taking a shaving. The shavings are mostly coming from the left side of the plane, so I adjust the lateral adjuster accordingly.No matter how minutely I make lateral adjustments I can't get the blade centered. I know this sounds strange but it seems as though the plane is not making contact with the wood across the width of the plane. I know the board I'm planing is perfectly flat as I can take full width fluffy {almost transparent}shavings with my woodies.
I checked the blade to make sure it was not ground with a skew and it isn't. I'll hone it again to see if I can get a better result!

Hi Donna

It sounds like you have slightly skewed the cap iron when the blade was reassembled. As a result, the blade cants to one side and you run out of adjuster when you attempt to true it.

Take the cap iron off and reassemble - you may need to experiment for a square set up.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

Donna,

Your profile does not indicate your location.
There may be a member close to you who is willing to help.
If you live in the Portland, Oregon area, there may be a few of us.

In some areas, Lie Nielsen has tool events scheduled and you could take your plane into one of these and have them help you with setting it up. If one is not listed in your area, send them an email. Often there are shows in the works that do not have all the specifics ironed out. They do not list them until everything is set. Also, if people ask from an area, they may decide to put one on in the future.

As for what is happening right now, there could be a few things happening. As Derek said, the cap iron could have moved a bit on the blade. There could also be something under the blade lifting it on one side or the other.

Sometimes it is best to take the lever cap & blade assembly off the plane. Check that the cap iron is on correctly and the screw is as tight as you can get it. Then putting the plane back together making sure the blade is setting on the frog flat and centered. Then put on the lever cap and adjust the blade so it is just barely protruding.

Here is a video that may be of help:

http://www.youtube.com/user/LieNielsen#p/a/u/2/O4Lp5FzwxbU

jim

[Donna Reece]

I honed the blade and made certain it was positioned squarely in the plane.I then followed the tips from the LN video and was able to adjust the plane to take nice fluffy shavings! Not quite full width, but much closer that before.
Thanks so much for your help!

[Joel Goodman]

A trick I learned at one of the LN shows was to take a small block -- say 3/8 X 3 X 6 inch and run it across the left side of the iron and then the right side -- while holding the plane. The idea is to set the iron to the thickness of shaving desired and to make sure it's even across the width of the iron. Only then put the plane to the work. This takes the variable of the possible lack of flatness of the work out of the picture. It helped me get my planes set up.

[Mark Buchanan]

I honed the blade and made certain it was positioned squarely in the plane.I then followed the tips from the LN video and was able to adjust the plane to take nice fluffy shavings! Not quite full width, but much closer that before.
Thanks so much for your help!


Donna

If you have not already done so, remove the frog and make sure that no debris has worked underneath. Clean the contact area and make sure that the frog is tight when reinstalled. I had a similar experience with my 5 1/2 and found that the frog had loosened during use.


Good luck
Mark

[Rick Erickson]

Mark, I had the same problem with my 5 1/2.

[Russell Sansom]

Donna,
Just a little encouragement...It can be done! You'll find it eventually and then you'll wonder why you ever had a problem. One advantage a long-experienced wood worker has over new ones is the knowledge that practically any plane can be made to behave in short order.
Might sound a bit patronizing, but it's almost all you need to proceed.

Besides that, you might want to see how much curve ( camber ) is on the cutting edge. If the camber is a bit too much, you're going to scoop out the center and miss on the edges. I can't think of another explanation for a cut that isn't full width. Assuming you haven't tightened everything down so intensely that you're "curling" the blade along its length. Difficult to imagine with a LN blade.
Good luck. Keep plugging. You're probably one idea away from having it solved.