Plow plane skate alignment question

[Jeff Heath]

What should the relationship, in depth, be between the skate in front of the iron and the skate aft of the iron. On my plow, which is a 1850's woodie, the skate in front of the iron is about 1/16" (or even a tad more) higher than the skate behind the iron.

Is this common? What should the depth discrepancy between the two halves of the skate be?

I've got this plow tuned and working pretty well, but it has a tendency to rock due to this height discrepancy, and it can allow the iron to 'dive' into the cut if I'm not really paying attention.

Thanks for any insight.

Jeff

[Zach Dillinger]

They should be flat to each other, i.e. no difference in depth. A slight difference is ok, but I'm surprised that it is workin

[Alan Schwabacher]

Doesn't it depend on the depth of the groove in the blade? If that is tapered, you would need the skate to stick out more where the groove is deeper.

[Jim Koepke]

+1 on what Zach said.

All but one of my plow planes have the front and back portions of the skate's contact in line.

The one that does not doesn't work so well.

jtk

[Jeff Heath]

Thanks, gang. I'll lap it even and report back my findings. I just received in the mail today a near full set of irons (I only had one.....5/16") so now I have proper motivation. Still missing 1/2", though.

Jeff

[Jim Koepke]

Before you do any lapping check to see how the skate is mounted. It may be movable.

jtk

[Jeff Heath]

Thanks, Jim. Already checked that. No go on this plane.

Jeff

[Rick Lapp]

Thanks so much for this thread. I bought a toted plow on ebay last year and could not get it to work well; the front skate was slightly higher than the aft one and the plow would plunge and catch. It turns out that the aft skate was loose enough so when the iron was fully seated it would be forced slightly lower than the fore skate. I filled the screw and reseated the aft skate with fore skate. It works like a charm. Rick