My latest ah-ha moment

[Richard Dooling]

A while back I picked up a side escapment wooden rabbet plane. I got it because it was something that I was not familiar with and it just looked like something worth finding out about. I needed to clean up some rabbets yesterday and I decided to give it a try rather than my Stanley 93. I could not find the little plane hammer I built so I use a light weight mallet to adjust the iron and seat the wedge. I have been so sure that this is one of those high learning curve operations that I never gave it an honest try.

Dang! This was so much easier than I thought it would be. Light taps alternating from front to rear and side to side. A little to tighten the wedge. It took a minute to get the feel but overall a much more approachable process than I ever imagined, and yes that slope just got a little steeper.

Anyway I encourage anyone who has not tried this to give it a shot.

[Zach Dillinger]

Welcome to the wonderful world of woodies. Adjusting them is easy, don't believe anyone who says they are harder than iron planes. Just try to adjust your Stanley by hitting it on your bench, which is something I do quite frequently when planing.

[harry strasil]

I think the reason more people don't use woodies, is they don't understand how to adjust them. FWIW

[Jim Koepke]

It took a minute to get the feel but overall a much more approachable process than I ever imagined, and yes that slope just got a little steeper.

Once you get there, you will never want to come back.

It is kind of like how we used to adjust the picture on TVs in the old days.

jtk

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

It is kind of like how we used to adjust the picture on TVs in the old days.


At work we call that "percussive maintenance".

[Richard Dooling]

It is kind of like how we used to adjust the picture on TVs in the old days.

jtk

I'm just old enough to remember a TV we had that had to have the dial sit just a little past the channel number for the station to come in. It took a little finesse.

That was back when the only remote was, "Richard, switch on channel 3 son."

It's funny but I often find it easier to give my metal planes a little knock to make very fine adjustments rather than using the lateral adjusters. As long as the adjuster isn't keeping the blade from moving and you haven't overly locked it down it works great.

[john brenton]

I have a pitiful looking, yet perfectly effective, plane hammer that I made out of some scrap hardwood, a 3/4" brass tee, and a 3/4" brass plug. In the branch outlet I have the wood handle, and on one side of the main line threads I have the brass plug, and the other a little chunk of hardwood. The brass plug is for the iron, and the wood chunk is for the wooden body. It works great.

[Steve Branam]

Let me just grease the slope a bit for you! In this blog post I've got three videos demonstrating wooden bench planes: http://www.closegrain.com/2010/05/taking-adam-cherubinis-challenge-part-2.html. The first one goes through several cycles of increasing and decreasing the shaving thickness.

And wooden side escapement planes are a blast to use, so simple yet so rewarding!

[Richard Dooling]

Hey Steve,

I finally got a chance to check your site and videos. Very helpful indeed.

What initially looks like a lot of fiddly adjusting is actually pretty reasonable to get a feel for. I had to give this an honest try to start to get it.

This also makes me more anxious than ever to try making a plane.

Thanks

[Steve Branam]

When you get a good feel for it and then are able to use a plane you made yourself, that'll be sweet!