Plane adjusting gauge

[Pat Barry]

I suppose our local experts here don't need something like this but it looks to be a useful tool for those of us whose close-up vision isn't quite what it used to be.

http://www.garrettwade.com/hand-plane-sole-check-gauge.html

For me, I have a great deal of trouble getting the blade projection to be straight across by eye and get tired of the continual guess an check approach. I'm wondering if anyone here uses one of these and can comment on its usefulness to them in setting up their planes.

PS - If you have been doing plane setups since 1966 and/or never had a need for something like this due to your tremendous eyesight; and/or feel; and/or innate - god given ability (and wonderfulness) to do plane adjustments then you can just close the thread and move on to something more interesting to you. Really don't want anymore snide comments.

Thank you

[Jim Koepke]

I suppose our local experts here don't need something like this but it looks to be a useful tool for those of us whose close-up vision isn't quite what it used to be.

http://www.garrettwade.com/hand-plane-sole-check-gauge.html

For me, I have a great deal of trouble getting the blade projection to be straight across by eye and get tired of the continual guess an check approach. I'm wondering if anyone here uses one of these and can comment on its usefulness to them in setting up their planes.

PS - If you have been doing plane setups since 1966 and/or never had a need for something like this due to your tremendous eyesight; and/or feel; and/or innate - god given ability (and wonderfulness) to do plane adjustments then you can just close the thread and move on to something more interesting to you. Really don't want anymore snide comments.

Thank you

I envy those who can set up their planes by eye. The best I can do by eye is to see how the blade is lined up with the mouth. Otherwise there is this:

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

Scroll down or read through the text to "making shavings." This is a pretty quick method of setting the depth and lateral adjustment on a plane.

My preference is to use a piece of scrap in a vise. Some like to keep a small block of wood in hand to do a similar test.

Some things may have changed or better information has come along in the years since this was first posted, but it is still relevant.

jtk

[glenn bradley]

Really don't want anymore snide comments. Thank you

But . . . but . . . you posted it on the Neander forum!?!

This is the land where the fabric of time and space can be altered and minutia can be discussed ad infinitum :D.

That actually looks like a pretty trick little gauge. I would be afraid that the magnet's strength would have to be carefully planned. If it held too tight, you couldn't easily move it side to side. If it held too loose (Lautrec) it would be a bit clumsy . . . or maybe its just me that's clumsy. At any rate, if I had it I would probably use it at least every now and again if only for confirmation or to help me train my muscle memory.

[Zach Dillinger]

I just use a chunk of paraffin while I'm waxing the plane sole. Pass it over at both sides and judge from there. This checks both the lateral adjust (if that matters) and also gives me a pretty good idea of the shaving thickness the plane is likely to produce. Two birds (really three, I guess) with one stone, all for about a nickel's worth of paraffin. This is not intended to be snide and I hope it does not come off as such.

[Matthew N. Masail]

That's a real thing ? . . . :cool: next they will be trying to sell us a digital guide to mount on your chisel which tells you the angle it is in regard to the center of the planet. then a matching guide to carefully align your work piece to match and then finally you can pare a perfectly flat and parallel groove considered impossible before hand. . .. . micron parallel chisels to follow! !

seriously modern crap seems to sell everything under the sun to substitute for actual skills, more money in that I guess.. .

Edit:

in regard to setting planes, contact with your tools and work is what adds up to skill and results, you just need to find a practical way by trusting your own senses. for setting a wooden plane - sight down the sole, or use a small 1\2" thick scrap to take test shavings for left and right of the iron, when they match and the center shaving is slightly thicker (unless you sharpen dead a cross) - your set, you can learn to feel with your fingers too to get you close enough, but I personally don't like that as much. for a Stanley planes, same thing, then dial in depth.

I'm sorry if I'm coming of extreme or something... this kind of stuff bothers me on principle.

[James Pallas]

I have trouble seeing the projection too. I just use a scapegoat of whatever is handy in the vice. If a straight iron I check each side. If a cambered iron I start in the center and then bring the sides up to just touch. I don't know anything about those gauges but I would not purchase just to set a plane.
jim

[paul cottingham]

I have a good friend who has MS, and a tool that sets blade depth would be extremely useful to him. I have poor fine motor skills due to a neck injury, making setting a plane blade tricky. I have developed ways around my neuropathy, but if i was starting out, i would consider this tool to be extremely handy, and useful.

So it is not completely ridiculous.

[Brian Holcombe]

I use a piece of thin wood that is clear/straight on one side. I just pass it over until the shavings are even, side to side.

[Paul Sidener]

You could do the same thing with a micrometer, checking the shavings. Does it really matter how thin the shaving is, it is the feel of the board that matters.

[Jim Koepke]

You could do the same thing with a micrometer, checking the shavings. Does it really matter how thin the shaving is, it is the feel of the board that matters.

Actually with a bit of experience a micrometer isn't needed. Feeling the the shavings in your fingers should get a person close enough for woodworking.

Thin shaving serve a few useful purposes. A dull blade will not make as fine of a shaving as a sharp blade. An extremely thin shaving is not as likely to tear out, even against the grain, as a heavy shaving. One can also tell a bit about the material being planed by looking at the shaving. So, reducing tear out, observing the surface and judging blade condition all lead to the feel of the surface one is looking to achieve.

A tool like this gauge would likely be useful for setting jointer or planer blades.

jtk

[Paul Sidener]

Actually with a bit of experience a micrometer isn't needed. Feeling the the shavings in your fingers should get a person close enough for woodworking.

Thin shaving serve a few useful purposes. A dull blade will not make as fine of a shaving as a sharp blade. An extremely thin shaving is not as likely to tear out, even against the grain, as a heavy shaving. One can also tell a bit about the material being planed by looking at the shaving. So, reducing tear out, observing the surface and judging blade condition all lead to the feel of the surface one is looking to achieve.

A tool like this gauge would likely be useful for setting jointer or planer blades.

jtk

That was my point. Just not as long winded.

[John Stankus]

My brother gave me one last year. I'll have to try it sometime.

John
(who really wanted a box of time for Christmas :) )

[Joel Thomas Runyan]

I keep a small scrap block in my apron... retract the blade until I can take no shavings, then slowly advance until I'm barely making dust on one side of the blade. Tap the blade aright until I'm taking dust on both, then advance to the depth of cut I want. More or less guarantees that the blade is square. Doesn't really require sharp eyesight, just the ability to see that *something* is being cut.

[Curt Putnam]

I've been learning to use planes while dealing with cataracts. The thin block shavings on either side worked for me then. Now that I have new Mark II lenses, it still does. I like Zach's idea of just using parafin.

[Stewie Simpson]

I wonder where Garret Wade got that idea from. https://www.carbatec.com.au/machinery-and-accessories/machinery-accessories/blade-setter-planer-knife

[Robert Engel]

Brian - YES!! So quick and easy.

If you want to be anal measure the shavings from each side with a micrometer (no, I've never done that......;-)

[Pat Barry]

Thanks for the responses guys. Jim, your link provided a lot of very useful insight. My takeaway is nearly everyone agrees that this type of tool is unnecessary. I tend to agree with that generalization but still wonder if the tool might make the entire process much quicker. I don't know that I'll buy one just yet but will give some of the ideas posted a try - I think I might need to find a magnifier with a ringlight though as I do find seeing difference like this difficult these days, even with my high power bifocals.

[Jim Koepke]

Thanks for the responses guys. Jim, your link provided a lot of very useful insight. My takeaway is nearly everyone agrees that this type of tool is unnecessary. I tend to agree with that generalization but still wonder if the tool might make the entire process much quicker. I don't know that I'll buy one just yet but will give some of the ideas posted a try - I think I might need to find a magnifier with a ringlight though as I do find seeing difference like this difficult these days, even with my high power bifocals.

Instead of the magnifier, use your fingers to feel the shavings. In the end, it is the resulting surface that matters, not how the plane was set.

jtk

[Kees Heiden]

I used to feel for the projection, but nowadays I have opted for wider plane mouths and it doesn't work so well anymore. Now I just set the plane to no shaving at all, then adjust it slowly deeper and then I look for where the shavings are entering the mouth. Off to one side and I adjust the lateral. For me this is a very easy and quick procedure, and I don't need to fumble with small test blocks, and I don't need to turn the plane upside down. On wooden planes I still peek down the sole to look at the projection. My eyes are still good, but unfortunately also not improving anymore.

[mark kosse]

I remember when digital anyoldthing came out. It was so great, so easy to read. And it was...until the first time the battery died. Ok, get another..oops, it died too, and at only 4.00 a pop.

The digital anything phase has long passed.

[Daniel Rode]

I do a similar thing but with a thin scrap of wood. 1/16" x 3/4" x 1-2" or anything remotely close to that.


I just use a chunk of paraffin while I'm waxing the plane sole. Pass it over at both sides and judge from there. This checks both the lateral adjust (if that matters) and also gives me a pretty good idea of the shaving thickness the plane is likely to produce. Two birds (really three, I guess) with one stone, all for about a nickel's worth of paraffin. This is not intended to be snide and I hope it does not come off as such.

[Zach Dillinger]

I do a similar thing but with a thin scrap of wood. 1/16" x 3/4" x 1-2" or anything remotely close to that.

I used to use wood but I realized I could save time by accomplishing two things at once, namely waxing the plane sole and checking out the settings.

[Pat Barry]

Author of "With Saw, Plane, and Chisel: Making Period Furniture with Hand Tools", due late 2016 from F&W Media / Popular Woodworking Books..
Congratulations on the new book Zach!

[Frederick Skelly]

Congratulations on the new book Zach!

+1. Congratulations!

[Reinis Kanders]

Congrats. Can't wait to read it. Will be interesting to see how many sell.


Congratulations on the new book Zach!