Issue with Woodriver LA Block Plane

[Eric Schubert]

Just some quick background:
I'm pretty new to woodworking at home as a hobby. I did some woodworking in high school and thoroughly loved it. Now that I have my own home, I'd like to start setting up my own shop. Since hand tools are pretty much essential for a good woodworker, I wanted to look into getting some basics. (e.g. chisels, hand planes, etc.) But my experience with building quality projects at home is pretty limited to mostly basement shelving or simple items. Nothing really "furniture-quality" at this point.

I picked up my first hand plane recently. It's a WoodRiver "low-angle" block plane. (I just recently noticed from other posts that it's not technically a low-angle plane, but close enough for my needs as a beginner.) Anyway, the issue I'm finding is that when I use the plane, just pushing the plane along a board can cause the clamping mechanism to pop open. You must keep downward pressure on the plane to keep the iron locked in. If I purely push forward, it's very easy to open up the plane, which is quite frustrating.

Does anyone have some pointers, or even some changes that I could make, to prevent the plane from opening up as I use it?

[Mike Henderson]

The Woodriver block plane has a knuckle joint lever cap and it disengages by lifting up the cap and pushing it forward. Perhaps you do not have the screw that engages with the cap tight enough. I have a Stanley 65 knuckle joint block plane and I haven't had that problem.

[Add: Some people like knuckle joint planes and some people don't. There are a number of good block planes that don't use a knuckle joint lever cap (used, a Stanley 60 1/2) so if you keep having problems, sell the Woodriver and buy one of those.]

Mike

[bridger berdel]

I have a stanley knuckle joint block that does the same thing. if I tighten the screw past the point where I feel comfortable flipping the cap open it stops flipping open when I don't want it to... which more or less means I have to use a screwdriver to loosen the cap. I don't use it much, which is a drag, because I like the looks and feel in the hand of that plane.

recently I picked up a couple of sargent knuckle block planes. haven't put enough time on them to have a report on the caps staying put.

[Kees Heiden]

Maybe you must countersink the screw hole a bit, so the head of the screw drops a little deeper into the recess. I think I read about that problem once on the UK forum.

[Ron Patrick]

I have this plane and had the same problem. It seems that it is a little finicky about the position of the screw, after playing with it some, I hit on the right setting and it solved the problem.

[Eric Schubert]

Thanks for the help, guys! Once I return home, I'll try adjusting the screw and see if it helps.

[glenn bradley]

I would say that this would qualify you to return it if it is unsatisfactory. This is where my 60% rule kicks in; if something is 60% of the price of a known excellent version (a Lee Valley or a Lie Nielsen), I save up and buy the excellent version. I know a lot of people are tickled pink with their used Stanley block planes and that's great. Just don't come for my Lee Valley unless you're ready for a fight ;-)

[Eric Schubert]

If it came this way new, I'd talk to someone at Woodcraft. But I actually picked this plane up second-hand for a good price. If it's just the screw adjustment, I'm not too worried about it. :)