Plane Adjustment Lever - Why is it always on the right?

[Jacob Reverb]

Hello, all,

I was regrinding the bevel on the blade for my Stanley #4 yesterday and after I was all done and put it together, I noticed for the umpteenth time that to get the blade straight, the lateral adjustment lever needs to be almost all the way to the right, so that there's a lot of adjustment to the left, but almost none to the right.

I'm not sure and I will check later, but if I recall correctly, I have this issue on all my planes – or at least more than one. My question is, WHY?

It's not because I sharpened the iron funky (at least on this plane), because I checked it with a square, and the edge is almost "dead-nuts-on" square to the sides.

Has anyone else noticed this? If so, is it "normal"? And if so, then what is the purpose of having it designed this way?

Alternately, if it's not supposed to be this way, is there a way to "fix" it – other than grinding the plane iron at a skew?

I suppose I could either bend the lateral adjustment lever or cut it and TIG it back together in a more proper configuration, but I'm hoping not to do that...

Thanks in advance for any advice. I hope you all are enjoying your holiday weekend.

Jacob.

[Charles Bjorgen]

You might check the positioning of the frog on this plane. It might be canted one way or the other. Also look for a buildup of gunk beneath the frog.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

As Charles said; look at the frog - that'd actually be the first think I'd look at - if it's canter or skewed that could throw things off. Also, check the parallelism of the blade to the slot in the blade that mates with the adjuster, and that that slot is centered in the blade - I've had old blades with a bit of a taper or the slot a bit off, so that the adjuster needs to be pushed one way or the other even if the blade seems perfectly square (Although not as far as you're describing) Also check that the adjuser is mating well with that slot - obviously if must be mating if the blade is moveing when you adjust it, but if it's overly loose in the slot, or worn more on one side than the other, or if the disc is ready fall off, it might be requiring more movement than normal to adjust things.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Well, if you say it this way on all of your planes, then look at how you've fixtured the grinding of the plane blades. You're favoring the side the lever points to.

[Chuck Wintle]

Hello, all,

I was regrinding the bevel on the blade for my Stanley #4 yesterday and after I was all done and put it together, I noticed for the umpteenth time that to get the blade straight, the lateral adjustment lever needs to be almost all the way to the right, so that there's a lot of adjustment to the left, but almost none to the right.

I'm not sure and I will check later, but if I recall correctly, I have this issue on all my planes – or at least more than one. My question is, WHY?

It's not because I sharpened the iron funky (at least on this plane), because I checked it with a square, and the edge is almost "dead-nuts-on" square to the sides.

Has anyone else noticed this? If so, is it "normal"? And if so, then what is the purpose of having it designed this way?

Alternately, if it's not supposed to be this way, is there a way to "fix" it – other than grinding the plane iron at a skew?

I suppose I could either bend the lateral adjustment lever or cut it and TIG it back together in a more proper configuration, but I'm hoping not to do that...

Thanks in advance for any advice. I hope you all are enjoying your holiday weekend.

Jacob.

then one of the other parts is not square or badly machined.

[Jim Koepke]

At one time my tendency was to adjust the frog and blade to have the lateral lever line up as close to center as possible.

With some of them it wasn't at all difficult. Late type 9 through type 13 are fairly easy to set and realign if the plane is taken apart.

Type 14 and later are not mentioned since only one of my planes falls into that era and it is the one that gives me the most trouble with the lateral adjustment.

As of late, as long as the blade can be set to cut properly, that is fine with me.

If one wishes to be precise about the situation, everything can be checked for square and such. If one just wants to get 'er done, loosen the frog screws and rotate the frog a few degrees.

Before starting, put the blade in with the lever centered. Then look to see if the front of the mouth and the blade are parallel. Hopefully they are not. After this, use the lateral lever to set the blade to make an even cut. Again check the relationship to the blade and the front edge of the mouth.

This should help to determine how much the frog needs to be rotated.

The reason all of your planes seem the same could be an indication of how our eyes and mind bias what we see. To overcome the tricks of parallax and other eye anomalies we must simply adjust for them.

jtk

[Jacob Reverb]

Thanks fellas, I appreciate the feedback.

Since I can get the planes to work OK the way they are, I guess I'll just leave well enough alone, rather than compounding the issue(s).

Just wondered whether this was a common issue.