Ln 4 1/2

[Jerry Thompson]

Sometime in the past I accidently set this plane up correctly. I have no recall as to how I did it. Yesterday I got it out and it was sharp. I did some things on a cherry panel and decided to re-sharpen it.
Now I have no idea what I have done. I do not recall how the frog adjustments work. The blade protrudes adequately but no shavings. I worked over 1/2 hour trying to sharpen the iron until I could get shavings on a practice board edge.
I can find no instructions on adjustment on LN. If it is not right out on the page and says adjustments I will not find it.
I planed the cherry panel down with a LV LA jack and it looked good. I have half a mind to just stick on Ebay all of the other planes I have tried to use over the past 25 years.
My primary problem is I have no mechanical ability in a lot of areas and simply made planes flummox me.

[Jim Koepke]

Jerry,

You are not alone, many people have struggled with hand planes. One common problem is to assemble the blade and chip breaker with the bevel on the wrong side.

Here is something I wrote awhile ago that may be of help.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?148076-Getting-Started-With-Hand-Planes

There are a few links listed at the beginning. The last one is for supertool.com. Then it gets to starting with setting up the blade and cap iron. This was written before I learned a lot about the cap iron or chip breaker. They are the same thing.

For now, do not worry about getting it set for super thin shavings. You just want to get the plane to start making shavings.

It may seem a lot to read, but it is there for you to come back and check again and again.

Hope it helps. If you have more questions there are many here willing to help.

jtk

[Jerry Thompson]

Thanks for your reply Jim. I have since rendered the plane useless. I took out the blade to tighten up the frog which was loose. Now the blade will not go up or down. I have fiddled with it to no end.
It seems to me I am not cut out for this. I have messed with hand planes over the years and every time I take a blade out to sharpen it it is a whole new ball game with me. If and when I get it working I have no idea how I did it. I just do not understand the mechanic of a lot of things.
I am going to keep my SB 5 MF 18 and my low angle block planes and get rid of the rest. I seldom use them because of the fear they instill in me.
It has also occurred to me I cannot remember ever feeling any joy out of anything I make. This after 25 years.
So its now probably going to be photography as I understand that.
Now how do I sell all of this stuff? That will left to be seen.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Jerry, if the blade will not advance or retract, it is probably the screw that holds the lever cap (the part that goes on top of the blade, with the handle that flips up and down. Try backing that off 1/4 turn at a time and see if that helps.

The good news is, it sounds like you have good quality tools, so you should be able to sell them without much trouble if that is what you decide to do.

Nick

[Dave Parkis]

It sounds like the screw for the lever cap is too tight to allow adjustment. It should be tight enough so that it can be secured or released with a fairly small amount of pressure. Regarding the iron; is the chip breaker on the flat side of the iron? If so, it should be almost all the way up to the edge. If it's 1/32" from the edge, that's not close enough. Is there anyone from the Creek close enough to offer some help? I'll be in Orlando at the end of January and, if that's close enough, would be happy to provide whatever assistance I can.

[Trevor Goodwin]

There's a problem I've never seen mentioned on the forums and I've encountered it several times on 2nd hand planes I've bought: The frog being retracted too far, causing the blade to ride on the mouth of the sole instead of sit flat against the frog. People seem to think you can retract the frog until the frog mounting screws are hard up against the slots, in none of my planes can this be done without the blade catching on the mouth. With a standard bevel-down plane, the widest shaving you can take is where the flog face is inline with the bevel on the mouth, to go any wider you need to buy a thinner blade, or file out the toe-side of the mouth.

[Jim Koepke]

There's a problem I've never seen mentioned on the forums and I've encountered it several times on 2nd hand planes I've bought: The frog being retracted too far, causing the blade to ride on the mouth of the sole instead of sit flat against the frog. People seem to think you can retract the frog until the frog mounting screws are hard up against the slots, in none of my planes can this be done without the blade catching on the mouth. With a standard bevel-down plane, the widest shaving you can take is where the flog face is inline with the bevel on the mouth, to go any wider you need to buy a thinner blade, or file out the toe-side of the mouth.

Very good observation Trevor.

As simple as the Bailey design of a hand plane may be there are still numerous things that can prevent it from working which perplex even those who use them all the time.

jtk

[Jerry Thompson]

Trevor;
That is what it was. I somehow had the frog all of the way back. I shucked it all down and moved the frog forward and all it good. It was through no mechanical expertise on my part just thought what the heck.
I had to redo the iron. With the chip breaker set real close I can get fluff from cherry.
Thanks everyone. I'll let you know when sale is.

[Padraig Maloney]

Ya know, just send them off to me. I'll make sure you're taken care of... ;-)

[Joe Beaulieu]

Trevor;
That is what it was. I somehow had the frog all of the way back. I shucked it all down and moved the frog forward and all it good. It was through no mechanical expertise on my part just thought what the heck.
I had to redo the iron. With the chip breaker set real close I can get fluff from cherry.
Thanks everyone. I'll let you know when sale is.

I have one of those beasts - it does get very lonely and is looking for other members of its race to commune with. It is really really lonely Jerry - so lonely. So lonely.