A Plane Problem

[Richard Line]

I have a Craftsman brand, No. 7 Bailey plane with either a problem or a no work attitude. I've cleaned it up, flatten the sole, and installed Hock blade and LV chip breaker. The plane will take nice shavings, for a little while, but the blade seems to automatically retract as I plane. I think I have the frog tighten enough, and the lever cap seems tight; I'll be re-checking those in a couple of minutes.

I'll set the blade to take shaving that is 2 to 4 thousands and start planning a board (currently some well aged doug fir) and by the time I've made 3 or 4 passes, it is hardly cutting at all. I check the blade projection and it is hardly showing.

Any ideas on what else to check? Could the depth adjuster or its threaded stud be backing off?

Thanks for any thoughts.

[John Coloccia]

Are you setting the blade by screwing in or screwing out? You should always set it by screwing in. There's play in the system and you need to take that up somehow.

[Richard Line]

Yes, always by screwing out/deeper cut. I learned that quite a while back.

I've checked the frog and lever cap tightness, and they were tight, and now tighter. Still seem to be having the blade being pushed back into the plane. I checked with a pair of calipers, and the shaving thickness starts at more like 8 thou, and backs down from there.

[george wilson]

Check all the screws on the frog for looseness. Is the frog actually backing up as you plane? That could be the problem. Otherwise,something else must be loose.

[steven c newman]

Check the bolt that holds the chip breaker to the iron. I had one plane that cut like that. The bolt wasn't tightened down to the iron, letting the iron slide back during a cut. It is the little slot in the chip breaker the depth adjuster hooks into. If the bolt will let the iron slide back, tighten the bolt. Is the end of the adjuster that engages the chipbreaker a tight fit in the slot? or is a a loose fit? I have seen a couple chip breaker's slot that could hold two adjuster ends, with ease. There would be a sloppy fit.

[Joe Bailey]

Check to insure that the end of the "Y" adjusting lever which passes through a slot in the chipbreaker has adequate penetration to hold its setting. This is often a problem when a thicker-than-stock blade is used.

[Richard Line]

Thanks all. The plane looks to be holding its depth setting a lot better. I suspect there may have been several things going on initially. Going through and tightening the frog screws, the lever cap screw, and the chip breaker screw have helped, although not one of these was really lose. Joe pointing to the end of the depth adjuster is in play as well. There is engagement, but not a great deal and maybe more importantly the end tab of the depth adjuster has a notch worn in it that maybe letting the blade - chip breaker assembly move a small amount (but enough).