Issues with thicker blade in my bedrock

[bill howes]

I wanted to try the PMV-11 blades and purchased one suitable for my Stanley 604. It seems that this makes the chip breaker too short. Trying it on a post war Stanley 4 its fine. Is this an issue with my plane or does it apply just to bedrocks or even to earlier Stanley planes? Suggestions appreciated but I cant make the chip breaker longer

[Adam Cruea]

I usually get the chipbreaker/iron combination when I buy new blades just because of this issue.

If I remember correctly, the engaging slot in the chipbreakers from Stanley tend to vary on where they are.

[Charles Bjorgen]

I just tried mounting a PMV-11 on a Bedrock 604c that I picked up at a garage sale last weekend. Although I also have the companion chip breaker from Lee Valley, I installed the blade with the original Stanley chip breaker as a test. It worked although I might tend to back off the frog a bit if I continued to use this setup. Is your Bedrock the model with flat sides and have you tried backing off the frog? It'll cost you a bit more but you might want to invest in the LV chip breaker. Free shipping right now.

From the Lee Valley online site: "Due to minor manufacturing variations over the last century, the pawl on the end of the lateral adjust lever on older planes may have to be filed slightly to fit in the blade slot." Just a thought.

[bill howes]

Backing the frog opens the mouth but I cant advance the blade enough without the blade advancement lever being so angled that it loses its contact with the chipbreaker which is further away because of the blade thickness unless I leave the chipbreaker quite far from the sharp edge of the blade

[Moses Yoder]

It seems to me if you advanced the frog and filed the mouth it would solve the problem. An option, anyway.

[Jim Koepke]

Some folks have silver soldered material to their chip breakers as a way to deal with a blade's thickness causing the pawl to not engage.

I think this is one of the things that upset a few folks about one blade maker who patented the idea after it was posted on woodworking forums.

jtk

[David Weaver]

I'd use the stock iron and stock cap iron. That's not very helpful maybe, but that's what I'd do. A different iron should have no effect on the cap iron other than whether or not the adjuster nib sticks up far enough to engage the chipbreaker. The chipbreaker's projection, though, is independent of the length or thickness of the iron.

[bill howes]

Problem solved. I got out a micrometer and measured the distance from the leading edge to the notch that engages the adjuster nib on three chipbreakers , one from my bedrock-3.615 inches, the one from a #4 (newer and less used)-3.645 inches and an old one from spare parts-3.590 inches. Looking at a side view of the plane it seems that the length to that notch needs to be lengthened by the difference in the blade widths- in this case 0.02 inches and the difference between the various chipbreakers is enough to matter.
The reason it matters is that the head of the chipbreaker screw runs out of room in the little depression in the frog.
I could Dremel that a bit I suppose and file the mouth open a bit or as David suggests go back to the original iron and chipbreaker

[lowell holmes]

I have LV irons and breakers on three bedrocks. I had to file the slot on two of them. Having done that, I'm happy with the set up on all three.

[David Little 2]

I replied but cant see it anywhere, I'll try again......newbie mistake?

I have various combinations of irons blades and brands.

I have had good results with longer "steel Y levers", I have had to file/fettle them, adjusting them on the outside allowed for easier filling than enlarging slots.

http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/QS_Y_Lever_steel.jpg

[bill howes]

I replied but cant see it anywhere, I'll try again......newbie mistake?

I have various combinations of irons blades and brands.

I have had good results with longer "steel Y levers", I have had to file/fettle them, adjusting them on the outside allowed for easier filling than enlarging slots.

http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/QS_Y_Lever_steel.jpg

Where did you source those David?

[David Little 2]

Hi Bill,
I dont know the rules here....

I bought them from Workshop heaven in the UK, Matthews a really nice guy there.....http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Steel-Y-Lever.html#SID=5

Hope that helps