LN #4 question

[Christopher Fallago]

Hi, I just bought a LN #4 smooth plane. The frog seems too loose and the plane doesn't hold settings at all. I disassembled the plane and sharpened the blade, closed the mouth as much as possible and tried to tighten the frog. My question is how tight is the frog supposed to be? It moves in all directions about a 16th.

[David Eisenhauer]

The frog should be able to be snugged down and not move at all with use during planning. The frog should be able to be adjusted either closer towards or further away from the blade opening in the sole after you slightly loosen the frog screws and some folks are able to get the tension on the frog screws just right in such that the frog does not move during use, but is still able to be adjusted without further loosening of the frog screws. Just reading what you said (sorry if you are further along than this), make sure you did not close the mouth too much and the iron is making contact with the mouth. Make sure that the frog surface and frog mounting surfaces are clean and contain no obvious "humps" that would prevent full seating. Frog screw washers (if LN uses them) in place? If I was sure all was apparently in order on my end and the frog still did not stay put, I would call LN for advise. They do have a very good reputation for supporting their tools and clients.

[David Turner]

Lie Nielsen uses the Stanley Bedrock style of frog. There are two pins that go through the frog and get tightened by pointed screws on the tote side of the plane. Did you also receive the directions and maintenance brochure with the plane. There is a discussion of how to move/tighten the frog in the directions I believe.

David Turner
Plymouth, MI.

[Allen Jordan]

One thing to check: I bought a LN No. 4 (bronze w/ 50 deg frog) and one of the holes was not tapped all the way down. This was due to bronze shavings from the initial milling getting stuck at the bottom of the hole, preventing the tap from threading down to the base. I guess they don't bother to count turns when tapping. I sent it back and they took care of it, though the shipping took a while.

[Mike Brady]

That is a possibility but most likely the dimples in the frog pins are not aligned with the frog adjustment screws. Remove the iron so the whole frog is visible. Loosen those two screws in the back of the frog several turns. Remove the two pins that hold the frog down. Reinsert the pins with the dimples facing the rear of the plane. Tighten the two frog adjustment screws. Those screws have pointed ends that seat in the dimples.

To adjust the frog forward or backward, loosen the two screws mention above and then turn the larger center screw that is between them either in or out as desired. Retighten the two screws. The blade and cap iron can(should) be in stalled during this adjustment.

[Jim Koepke]

Christopher,

Not being sure about your location I can not tell if there is an LN tool event coming to your locality in the near future.

If you are near me, I would be happy to have a look and see if I can help sort this out. You may live near another member willing to do the same.

jtk

[Christopher Fallago]

Allen, I have the bronze as well. I will need to check that as soon as I get a chance. I checked and the pins are aligned correctly, I cleaned everything and re-assembled. It was still having the same issue. It's just moving around too much. I'm going to call LN when I get a chance.

Jim, I am in Rhode Island. Thanks for the offer. LN is about a 3hr drive for me. I may just take it there and let them have a look.

[Patrick Chase]

Allen, I have the bronze as well. I will need to check that as soon as I get a chance. I checked and the pins are aligned correctly, I cleaned everything and re-assembled. It was still having the same issue. It's just moving around too much. I'm going to call LN when I get a chance.

Jim, I am in Rhode Island. Thanks for the offer. LN is about a 3hr drive for me. I may just take it there and let them have a look.

How much are you tightening the two screws that tension the frog?

Like most planes the frog has some rotational play when it isn't cranked down. It's a feature inasmuch as it enables you to precisely align the cutting edge with the sole's mouth cutout, even if you don't hone the blade perfectly square. Are you sure you're tightening those two screws (on either side of the frog's depth adjustment screw) enough?

As others have mentioned, I've seen cases where debris in the bottom of the pin-holes prevents the pins from drawing the frog all the way down to the bed. I wouldn't expect to see that in a new L-N, but it's probably worth a check.

EDIT: You don't need frog rotation to compensate for a nonsquare blade, lateral adjust can take care of that all on its own. Frog rotation helps with part/machining tolerances, which means L-N probably doesn't need it :-). Epic "duh" on my part.