No. 3 Iron Dimension

[Mike Hutchison]

I bought a No. 3 Bailey at an estate sale recently
De-Rusted, cleaned and oiled, sanded down tote and knob
which were very dark but the dust looked like walnut
The plane would make shavings after clean up but iron
edge was a little ragged and seemed to have two grinds or bevels

Made a jig to regrind iron to a 25 degree primary bevel
and then honed iron on my sandpaper/s glass
Iron took hair off fore arm. Good enough for me, anyhow

Re-assembled and tried it again and couldn't get the iron to
back up/lessen depth of cut enough for even a relative fine
shaving without the yoke jamming up on the brass
depth adjustment knob. All of which leads (finally) to a question
What should the length of a "new" No. 3 iron be?
This one is right at 7 3/16"
Any input appreciated

[Kees Heiden]

The cutting depth is dictated by the capiron. The lenght of the cutting iron is unimportant. Maybe it has the wrong capiron or you don't set it close enough to the edge.

[Jim Koepke]

Mike, as Kees points out the problem is likely with the cap iron/chip breaker.

Simplest would be the cap iron is set incorrectly or if the screw isn't tightened to the blade the cap iron will move with the adjuster and the blade stays motionless.

More strange would be if it became switched with a different plane. On Stanley #3 & 5-1/4 planes the distance from the front edge to the square hole for the adjuster should be approximately 3-1/2". There are a lot of Stanley #113s in the wild with chip breakers from a #3. There are likely as many #3s in the wild with chip breakers from a #113. On the #113 the distance from the front edge to the square hole for the adjuster is almost 4". This would account for why the inability to withdraw the blade.

Let us know how this turns out.

jtk

[Bill McCarthy]

I have a number 3. I have no idea how old it is, it was passed down to me from my father. It looks fairly new. The iron in mine is just a hair over 7 3/16.

The cap iron on mine is 4 5/8 long. The opening, measured down from the top, for the adjuster to fit into is 7/8, at the top of the opening. The top of the hole, that the screw into the frog passes is 2" from the top.

Hope this helps you.

[steven c newman]

If the iron and CB were making shavings before, then not now.....check how close to the iron's edge the chipbreaker is. should only be a mm or two away from the edge. any more than that, and the edge of the iron will stick out of the mouth opening too far. Simple fix, just move the chipbreaker to about 1mm away from the cutting edge.

[Mike Hutchison]

Guys
Thanks for input
Will have to wait until Saturday to take another run at this.
I am not a guru but have been through the process of cleaning
yard sales planes up and making at least users, if not candidates for sale to collectors,
out of them more than once. Have never had this exact situation come up before.
Also, it is possible I am not conveying accurately the situation in OP.
Will work with the plane again this weekend. Kinda want to get it in shape; was thinking about
making it my user to replace another No. 3 which is shinier and takes 4 thousandths shavings
but has a large 16 stamped into both sides of the body. Somehow that don't fit in with the rest of
No.2 - No.6 set of Baileys. Will post pics if applicable (as usual, was in such a fever to start in with
sandpaper and Dremel/wire wheel I didn't even think about before pics)

[bridger berdel]

Some manufacturers made planes that used chipbreakers that varied from stanley specs. It does happen from time to time that a plane ends up with the wrong chipbreaker in it.

[Mike Hutchison]

OK Guys it's "Fess Up" Time
I just re re-adjusted chip breaker to edge of iron;
suddenly problem averted. Will say it don't take much on that reveal
to make a difference in the yoke to depth adjustment knob clearance or working room.
I had been trying to hold the chip breaker back a hair thinking
that would allow planed material more exit room.
1) Chagrin at rattling the cage for what was essentially a non-problem
2) Thanks Again for sage advice

[Kees Heiden]

No problem about rattling the cage of course.

You might still want to compare the dimemsions of your capiron to those posted by Jim above to see if your plane still has the right one. The adjustment range shouldn't be that small.

[Jim Koepke]

No problem about rattling the cage of course.

You might still want to compare the dimemsions of your capiron to those posted by Jim above to see if your plane still has the right one. The adjustment range shouldn't be that small.

+1 on the no problem

The yoke lever moves but a little to give leverage to the adjusting wheel. Setting it back much more than 1/8 inch could cause this kind of problem.

jtk