Restoring plane and some odd things.

[Brian Sommers]

I don't what I'm doing wrong.

When I advance my blade, one side sticks out more than the other.

What do I need to do to fix this?

Did I sharpen it unevenly?

[Sean Hughto]

Does your plane lack a lateral adjustment lever?

[george wilson]

Pictures would help. Sounds like you did not grind the blade straight across.

[Brian Sommers]

yes, it does have a lateral adjust and I found I can even it out by changing that, however when I do then the opening at the mouth is off/not straight but at least it sticks out evenly.

Maybe I should try to get a new blade for it and start from there.

[Kees Heiden]

Does the frog sit straight in the body?

And I wouldn't buy a new blade before I knew waht's wrong with the plane.

[Brian Sommers]

yes. That brings up an interesting question. Where should the frog be? even with the back of the mouth?

I think I'll take it in to the place I bought it. I'm sure he will be able to fix it up for me.
Colonial Homestead, there is an Amish woodworking there that does everything by hand. He sells tons of old hand tools.

[Kees Heiden]

Even with the back of the mouth is a great place to set the frog. Then the blade will receive a little extra support. Just set the frog straight in the body, by eye, that's good enough. And check with a square if the blade's edge is square to the sides. Grind it square when it isn't or live with the unsquareness and use the lateral lever to compensate.

[Sean Hughto]

lateral adjustment should not affect the mouth opening. Something is wrong with your plane other than the blade being out of square. Also, even if it is out of square - just regrind it straight - no need to buy a new blade..

[Brian Sommers]

It was out of square. Now it's much better. I'm getting some gouging occasionally, what causes that?

[Terry Beadle]

My guess is that you did not put a slight curve to the cutting edge when you sharpened it. These groves are called tracks. Most planes are set up with a slight curve to the ends of the cutting edge. Just put a few more strokes on the ends of the bevel side ends. For example, say you put 15 strokes where you applied pressure to the center of the blade. Then what you should do next is apply 5 ~ 7 strokes on one end of the cutting edge bevel side. Then apply the same to the other end of the cutting edge. That will curve the tips of the cutting edge up and away from the work piece and therefore leave a very slight gradual elevation off the work surface.

David Charlesworth has a great video on how to set up a plane and especially how to sharpen it with a slight curve.

I think there maybe some youtube shows that also demonstrate this technique.

If you mean by getting gouges in the grain area of the center of the blade and not just on the ends of the cutting edge, that maybe what is called tear out. That can occur for several reasons. One is that your mouth is set too open. Another is that the blade is not sharp enough. Another is the wood grain has changed directions mid stroke. Another is you are planing the work piece in the wrong direction. Another is that you have not set the cap iron close enough to the cutting edge.

Yeah...I know...there's a bit of a learning curve to using a plane but it's really simple once you learn a few techniques .

A picture of the "gouge" you are referring to and what wood you are planing would narrow down the causes. A picture of your mouth width and a picture of your cap iron setting would also help.

Enjoy the shavings !

[Glen Canaday]

The curve that Terry is talking about is called a "camber," and nearly all bench planes will use one to a greater or lesser degree.

Flatter for planes intended to leave a smooth surface and take very little wood off in shavings, and much more curved for planes intended to take off tons of material quickly. This is a bit simplistic, but a helpful way to look at it. There are many situations where this does not hold true (chuting, jointing to name two..though jointers usually do use a small amount) but it is a good guide.

There are all kinds of preferences for how they get set.

[david charlesworth]

Sounds like Azimuth error to me.

1. Set a balanced shaving.
2. Examine the mouth.
3. If it is not even/parallel the frog must be appropriately twisted.
4. Twist frog & repeat all steps.

Azimuth error is a term which Karl Holtey and I use to describe a frog surface which is twisted relative to the sole.

David Charlesworth

[Patrick Chase]

lateral adjustment should not affect the mouth opening. Something is wrong with your plane other than the blade being out of square. Also, even if it is out of square - just regrind it straight - no need to buy a new blade..

Depends on the plane and how you measure the mouth opening.

If you measure the "true" opening (in the plane of the sole) of a BD plane then you're right: Lateral adjust doesn't change it, unless the chipbreaker is set close enough to be a factor.

If you measure it the way most people do, by looking through the mouth, both lateral and depth adjust will appear to change the opening. I think that's what Brian did here. Also, in a BU plane both lateral and depth adjust change the mouth.

[Patrick Chase]

Sounds like Azimuth error to me.

1. Set a balanced shaving.
2. Examine the mouth.
3. If it is not even/parallel the frog must be appropriately twisted.
4. Twist frog & repeat all steps.

Azimuth error is a term which Karl Holtey and I use to describe a frog surface which is twisted relative to the sole.

David Charlesworth

...unless it's intentional, in which case it's just "skew" :-)

[david charlesworth]

It has always surprised me how many old bench planes exhibit an uneven mouth.

Moving the lateral lever appears to cure the problem but upsets the shaving.

The twist of the frog seems to elude many users.

David

[Sean Hughto]

Depth adjustment definitely affects the opening as deeper means the blade has moved forward on the geometric plane defined by the angle of the frog relative to the sole of the plane. This shortens the distance between the cutting edge and the front of the mouth opening, that is, the mouth has become narrower. Lateral adjustment does not move the cutting edge forward; it simply rotates the blade on that single geometric plane so that the cutting edge is evenly projecting from the mouth at the same depth. The OP said using the lateral adjustment lever made the mouth opening "off" or uneven. I suppose if you were using your lateral adjustment lever to set up the plane to have one side take a significantly heavier shaving than the other (something I do occasionally, but mostly with spoke shaves, not planes), you are effectively making one side deeper than the other and have a slightly different mouth opening (narrower on the deeper side).

[Dan T Jones]

Sounds like I'm in Artillery school again.
Dan

[Brian Sommers]

OK I finally got everything straightened out and it works awesome now. I took it back to the Amish wood worker that I bought it from and he totally looked at it and grind it out again for me shaped it and and honed it really sharp. The problem was the angle on the blade was rounded it was not flat and he said your problem was it was writing on that curve and the cutting flat part of the blade couldn't get down on the wood. So he grounded it flat with almost a somewhat of a camber in it and now it works really well he set it up as a roughing plane. I'm very happy with it now. As a newbie I didn't really know what I was looking for and now I have a good base for what I'm aiming for so I think the next one I do will go much easier but I see that I'm going to need a good grinding wheel it was very easy doing that versus trying to make it flat on sandpaper as curved as it was.