Shrunken Escapement

[Bill Haumann]

I am restoring to working conditiin (hopefully) a 28" wooden jointer. It's an Auburn Tool Thistle brand with a tapered iron 2 3/8" wide. The iron is in good condition, but is too wide for the shrunken escapement - apparently this isn't all that uncommon. Before I grind the blade to a narrower width, is there anything I should watch out for or take care with when doing so?

Thanks in advance.

- Bill

[george wilson]

It is quite common. You can grind the blade down a little. If the wedge has gotten too tight,you might instead pare out the escapement a little,because planing down the edges of the wedge will expose new wood that won't match the rest of the plane's patina. You are lucky that the plane hasn't cracked from the body shrinking around the blade. Be careful to not burn the corners of the blade. I'd do it on a belt grinder. The blade needs to have enough sideways play in it that you can knock it a bit sideways to get the cutting edge perfectly parallel to the sole. At the bottom of the escapement,the blade doesn't need play,just taper it some so that it has sideways movement higher up. Neither should the blade be tight anywhere,either.

[george wilson]

I thought I saw someone advise you that if the blade is tapered,which some are,to tap it out the bottom of the plane. Try to get some compass type calipers down in the escapement to get a fix on the blade's width,then compare width at the top of the iron.

[john brenton]

I had a shrunken escapement the other day on the freeway. People drive like maniacs.

Edit: That was my horrible attempt at a joke.

[David Keller NC]

Bill - grinding down the side of the blade to make it narrower will certainly work. However, that can be a very tedious process if the iron is through-hardened (which it may well be if it's not a laminated iron). For that reason, I prefer to enlarge the escapement wall as George suggests. I use a float for this, but if done carefully, you can certainly do it with a narrow chisel, a file, or a rasp.