Frog Adjusting Anyone?

[Jim Koepke]

The topic of frog adjustment was broached in another thread.

So I was curious if frog adjustment is really that popular.

At one time I wanted a frog adjustment screw on any plane that I bought. After having a few sweet planes without the adjustment I realized that once one of my planes is set up, it is seldom changed.

What are your thoughts on frog adjustment?

jtk

[James Scheffler]

I find the only time the adjustment screw is really helpful is when I'm trying to make a tiny incremental adjustment. The only time that happens is when the mouth is really tight and there is a desire to open it or close it a tiny bit (like a couple thousanths). That said, my best smoother is a Type 9 with no adjustment screw, and I've been able to live with it.

Jim S.

[Shlomo Hoffmann]

Quote: "...After having a few sweet planes without the adjustment I realized that once one of my planes is set up, it is seldom changed."

Pretty much the same here...

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I had been taught to set the frog so the blade was perpendicular and the bed of the frog was pretty much coplanar with the mouth opening; never tried to use the frog to close or open up the mouth. I was always under the impression that that only really worked with bedrock style frogs, and that with a bailey style frog I'd just be asking for vibration and a poor cut if I moved the frog forward. (Although I suppose moving the frog forwards means I'm also taking a much shallower cut... )

Of course, I learned to plane with some pretty miserable examples of the things...

[Chris Griggs]

The topic of frog adjustment was broached in another thread.

So I was curious if frog adjustment is really that popular.


jtk

My response from the other thread...

"lack of the adjustment screw is really only a minor inconvenience and even then only every once and a while. Once I get my planes setup I almost never adjust the frog, unless I a) decide to change the way I'm using the plane in terms of coarseness or b) I can and need to tighten up the mouth a bit to prevent tearout (at which point I will leave the mouth tight)"

[Bob Stroupe]

I set it and forget it.
But none of my planes have the adjustment screw...

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I have a very old #8 and I decided to close up the mouth a wee bit. Sorry I tried, the previous owner used had it pretty square, and my first couple of attempts were a bit lacking. Still don't have it right, but I just gave up and grabbed a #6 I own and finished the job. I don't remember having trouble with this in the past, but most of my planes are LN.

I think that this particular #8 has a "not original" frog. I don't think that I spent much time moving the frog around unless I was performing some kind of cleaning or taking photos.

[Mark Wyatt]

I'm in the set it and forget it camp. If I need to adjust a frog, it's not that much more difficult to do on a plane without the adjustment screw.

[Richard Line]

I found that "only when it croaks" was the best answer for me. I do occasionally adjust the frog on my jack planes, that is usually because I'm changing the objective of the planning - hogging stock off or smoothing. I've actually found it to be fairly easy, with or without the adjustment screw.

[jamie shard]

I'm in the set and forget camp. For some reason, I find it easier to add another plane to the collection than to adjust a frog :)

[Jim Koepke]

For some reason, I find it easier to add another plane to the collection than to adjust a frog

It is that kind of thinking that has 4 #5s in my shop and only a few planes that are alone in their size.

In the long run 4 #5s seems to be one more than I really have a use.

jtk

[Jonathan McCullough]

I don't find the screw on the back of the frog to be particularly helpful. The handle's in the way, and the pitch of the screw isn't terribly fine. I lay the blade only against the frog, put a business card (or whatever thickness seems right) on top of that, and drop them into the mouth of the plane. Then I move the frog forward until the blade/business card combo are snug against the forward mouth aperture, and tighten the frog screws. That way, when I put the chip breaker and cap iron on, the mouth opening is uniformly set at the thickness of the business card. Too open? use a couple of thinner pieces of paper. Not wide enough? Use two business cards.

[Chris Griggs]

I don't find the screw on the back of the frog to be particularly helpful. The handle's in the way, and the pitch of the screw isn't terribly fine. I lay the blade only against the frog, put a business card (or whatever thickness seems right) on top of that, and drop them into the mouth of the plane. Then I move the frog forward until the blade/business card combo are snug against the forward mouth aperture, and tighten the frog screws. That way, when I put the chip breaker and cap iron on, the mouth opening is uniformly set at the thickness of the business card. Too open? use a couple of thinner pieces of paper. Not wide enough? Use two business cards.

That's a fantastic idea, that I will definitely try. Thanks for the tip!

[Tom Vanzant]

I'm in the "set it and forget it" camp. Its use for adjustment is different from the Bedrocks due to the different bedding and attachment methods of the Stanley Bailey v. Bedrock frogs, the Bedrock being much better supported laterally. When I remove the frog from a Stanley for a thorough cleaning, the screw makes returning the frog to its original position easier... but it still may need tweeking before I snug up the frog screws.

[Chris Griggs]

I will add that even though I tend to "set it and forget it" for the most part, the ability to adjust a mouth on the fly is a nice feature. I think that one thing Stanley did right on their new sweetheart no. 4 (don't own it, just played at a store), was to put the same kind of adjustable mouth in the toe that you see in Block/BU planes. Being able to adjust a mouth on the fly is one of those things that certainly isn't necessary, but for me it does fall in to the category of "nice feature when you want it". If I have the ability to adjust a mouth easily it's something will take advantage of, but if I don't have the ability to do it easily its not something I'll miss either.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Thank you Chris..... I think that I will give that a try.

[Rob Fisher]

I don't find the screw on the back of the frog to be particularly helpful. The handle's in the way, and the pitch of the screw isn't terribly fine. I lay the blade only against the frog, put a business card (or whatever thickness seems right) on top of that, and drop them into the mouth of the plane. Then I move the frog forward until the blade/business card combo are snug against the forward mouth aperture, and tighten the frog screws. That way, when I put the chip breaker and cap iron on, the mouth opening is uniformly set at the thickness of the business card. Too open? use a couple of thinner pieces of paper. Not wide enough? Use two business cards.I'll second this as a great idea. Thanks!

[Trevor Walsh]

Planes have adjustable frogs?


All that aside, the only time I really bothered was when trying to squeeze a ton of room in a MF jack to use both heavily cambered and straight blades. Otherwise I set and leave them. Different tools for different things, jointer is medium, smoother is tight jack is huge.

+1 to Chris's adjustable mouth comment. I've got no problem adjusting the depth of cut and mouth for tearout or something on an adjustable mouth plane, but I'd never think about stripping the frog down for it. I'd spot with a fine block plane first.

[Chris Griggs]

Thank you Chris..... I think that I will give that a try.

Just to give credit where it's due - John M's the one who gave the great tip.

[Joe Bailey]

I'm also in the set-it-and-forget-it camp. I have sufficient duplicates that allow me to leave certain planes set up for certain tasks.

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

I ran into a problem when having to really rework the frog seating on a brand-new, modern (meaning plastic-handled and needs a huge amount of work to work) stanley someone else didn't want after finding it didn't work at all out of the box. I found it hard to set the distance (using a shim as suggested above) and then remove the blade to get the screws tightened without making a mess of the distance. The surfaces around the screw heads was so uneven I couldn't get the screws tight but not binding like you want... either too tight to move in small amounts or too loose to help hold it still until tightened. I was aiming for a very tight mouth so any movement was a problem. I ended up cramming some silly putty on each side of the frog, allowing adjustments but holding it right in place until tightened down. Ugly, but it worked. I then pulled the silly putty out and stuck it back in the egg, all but the bit I unknowingly dropped on my stool and sat on. Hard to get out of clothes. I doubt anyone will try this but had to throw it in.