wooden plane restoration/adjustment

[mark kosse]

Howdy all,

I picked up a decent 17" fore plane this past weekend at a resale shop. it needs little work but it had a small crack for about half an inch out of the side of the top of the cheek. this crack seemed to be from a combination of grain and an ill fitting blade that has zero lateral movement. it is in fact so tight it is difficult to get the blade in.

the blade is 2.125" wide. since there is already a crack in the wood i'm inclined to remove metal rather than releave wood. if I take 1/32nd off each side I still will have a wider blade than a #5. Any reason not to do this? I may need to take off slightly more but i won't know until I try it out.

thanks

[Zach Dillinger]

Stuck irons are very common on American made planes. The plane, being made of wood, can shrink while the iron really doesn't and you get a stuck iron. Definitely remove metal rather than wood when fixing the problem. Good luck!

[Kees Heiden]

You can taper the blade so it is still quite tight at the bottom but gives room higher up for lateral adjustment.

[mark kosse]

thanks for the info and ideas guys.