Problems adjusting the blade on a No. 5

[Anthony Scott]

I have an older Stanley No. 5. I bought a replacement blade for it from Lee Valley http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=42607&cat=1,41182,43698&ap=1 (http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=42607&cat=1,41182,43698&ap=1) ; the 2" A2 blade for Stanley/Record #4,5 .
Not matter how I adjust the frog and the blade depth, the blade hardly protrudes at all from the mouth before it touched the front of the mouth.
If I move the frog too far back then the alignment tab (red circle in pic) that goes between the "legs" of the frog protrudes and doesn't let the blade slide back any further.
I am thinking either the blade is too thick or the alignment tab is the issue.
Any idea? Other than throwing it away and buying a new one...
Thanks

253761

[steven c newman]

There are some out there that buy the new "improved" thicker irons, only to find that Stanley didn't allow for such irons to be installed. Then they get out a file, and very carefully file away in front of the opening, to allow the thicker iron to be used.

For some reason, I have yet to actually NEED a new thicker iron. The 100 yr. old ones i have seem to do just fine. Even the "newer" one on a Stanley #1205 seems to work253762 YMMV

[David Weaver]

If the issue is the iron itself hitting the mouth at the front of the plane, then fill about a half mm off of the plane's mouth.

If it's the chipbreaker hitting the back of the mouth, then just move the chipbreaker off the edge a little bit to make room, and file only if you want to use the chipbreaker closely set.

No need to throw the plane away.

[Jim Koepke]

Before you do any filing you may want to scribe a line in front of the mouth to help keep your filing straight and so you know when to stop filing.

You may also want to file it with a little bevel to help shavings clear easier. If you were to look from the side the blade and the front of the mouth would make a V.

You can put some tape on the side of your file or on the inside cheeks of the plane to protect the cheeks if you do not have a safe edge file.

Though my money has been spent on some new blades, most of the time my old blades work fine if they didn't incur too much rust and pitting.

jtk

[Anthony Scott]

Thanks I'll try some filing

[Sam Stephens]

i had the same problem w/ a #7 and #5 bailey plane; however I opted to just use the old blades rather than file the mouths. note that the 2" blade will also fit a #4 bailey.

[Charlie Stanford]

I have an older Stanley No. 5. I bought a replacement blade for it from Lee Valley (http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=42607&cat=1,41182,43698&ap=1)http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=42607&cat=1,41182,43698&ap=1 ; the 2" A2 blade for Stanley/Record #4,5 .
Not matter how I adjust the frog and the blade depth, the blade hardly protrudes at all from the mouth before it touched the front of the mouth.
If I move the frog too far back then the alignment tab (red circle in pic) that goes between the "legs" of the frog protrudes and doesn't let the blade slide back any further.
I am thinking either the blade is too thick or the alignment tab is the issue.
Any idea? Other than throwing it away and buying a new one...
Thanks

253761

Don't file the mouth brother. Put the original iron back in. I have a Hock iron in a Record No. 7 and it's OK. Ain't miraculous, that's for sure. Somebody could sneak in and put the original iron back in the plane and I probably wouldn't notice any difference.

[Jeff Bartley]

if it were mine i'd file the mouth. nothing wrong with old blades but having replaced the blade on my #65 block plane with a LV A2 it stays sharp much longer!

[Adam Cruea]

You can either set the chipbreaker farther back from the edge or file the mouth.

I notice a little less chatter from using the "improved" chip breaker. The real benefit is, though, that the blade stays sharper, longer (to me, anyway).

[Richard Verwoest]

Set the frog as far back as possible, still allowing the blade to sit flat. Then scribe a line where you want to open the mouth to. That way if you want to close it a bit, you can still move the frog forward. A lot of older planes need this filing when adding a thicker iron. I beleive that concept is covered in the same article you are showing in your post.

[jason thigpen]

I had to file the mouth just a bit on my bedrock 607 and my #4 after putting Lee Valley replacement irons in them. Just a few thousandths was all I needed to remove. And those new irons cut like a dream!