Shop built shoulder plane

[Brian Vandewettering]

I built this little guy today from plans from Woodcraft magazine.
184375184374184373This is my second attempt at making a wood plane. The first was a Krenov design that works quite well once I get it adjusted. This latest creation however is proving to be a real stinker. It won't hold adjustment no matter how hard I whack the wedge. The plans called for using a replacement iron for a Stanley 92 shoulder plane. This blade has two issues as far as I can see. First, it is beveled on the sides as well as the cutting edge since it was designed to be used in a bevel UP configuration. Second, it is not tapered as the older planes are that use the 15 degree wedge. One fix I am contemplating is to make a split wedge so that I can get a better mechanical advantage when tapping the wedge home. The other thing I could do is to go at the tail of the iron with my grinder to give it some taper like my antiques.

Thanks in advance for any advice in getting this guy to work properly...

-Brian
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/images/misc/pencil.png

[Mark Baldwin III]

Can you see any contact marks on the wedge from where it is contacting the body? It may be that the top face of the wedge isn't seating completely. You might still have to shave the wedge a bit to get it to mate better. My shoulder plane doesn't have a tapered iron and it holds just fine.

[Terry Beadle]

What material is the wedge made out of? I recommend a softish wood like cherry. The idea there being it will conform to the blade shape more closely and increase the grip on the blade.

Another option is to use some 80 grit sandpaper on the flat side of the blade. The idea is that the wedge side will be smooth and allow the wedge to do it's work and the flat side will have some micro teeth to grip the blade seat.

If the cherry wedge doesn't do the job, then try the other way which would be red oak which has no compression. That will require close adjustment to work properly but have no give. I use pencil on the blade and seat the wedge. Then remove, make small scrapes in the graphite marked areas until the wedge is seated as well as it can get.

Keep us posted on your progress.

Enjoy the shavings !

[Prashun Patel]

I have the Hock shoulder plane kit. I had to tune the wedge by seating it multiple times and then shaving off the burnish marks. You can highlight the burnish marks a little better by running a soft pencil over edge that mates to the iron. I was patient with it - as advised by the instructions - and I eventually got it fine.

[Brian Vandewettering]

Thanks for the advice guys. The wedge and body are Madrone so I think a softer wedge may be in order if fine tuning the existing wedge doesn't do it. I also like the sandpaper idea and will try that if the other two options don't pan out.