Alex Liebert
05-01-2018, 5:27 PM
I'm taking a little break from the project at hand to regroup and doing some work on a few vintage planes I've picked up.
I have a No 8 Type 10 that's far from finished but that I got the point of usability and am happy with, I was able to joint some edges with it successfully and am quite pleased.
I'm now looking at a type 16 no 4, which has different frog and bed shape and a different class of problems than the no 8 had.
I'd appreciate any help or suggestions before I start filing anything as I'd like to get it right :)
It's hard to photograph so I've used some tape and drawn some lines. Here is an image of the frog assembly with blade:
385112
The blade itself is quite bowed. Under tension like this, it flattens out some. Because I can't easily photograph it against a bright light, the green tape shows the areas where the frog is making good contact with the blade. The parts without tape, they are not touching.
The red arrow points to the tip of the frog at its wedge where it meets the mouth of the plane. The frog is sort of rounded over here.
The lateral adjuster itself is also bowed, which is mostly a cosmetic annoyance, it does clear the tote okay. I'd like to straighten it but don't want to risk breaking anything.
The face of the frog itself is pretty flat.
So first question - what, if anything, can I do, or should I do, about this?
Next is a picture showing the front machined area where the frog seats into the body of the plane:
385111
This is going to be the most challenging area to file, especially with any precision or at any particular angle. It's not flat, and the frog doesn't contact it well in the front. I've highlighted the areas in red that are lowest. I haven't found any videos that address this area for anything but rust removal. How much does it matter, and what's the best strategy for fixing it, if any?
I do understand the frog mating surfaces should all be as flush as possible. But I'm wondering how important the other details of alignment are. In other words- it seems that ideally, the frog would sit perfectly centered in the body with its walls parallel to the body's walls, and that it's front edge would line up perfectly with the back of the mouth. This is not possible without reshaping in small spaces, so how important is that, if at all? And what's the ideal position of the frog?
(Obviously the frog is meant to be adjustable forwards and back to open and close the mouth. But I don't really understand why it's not manufactured at the full width of the sole so that it would be impossible to misalign it. Nor do I ever see much time spent aligning it laterally in videos, so I'm not sure if it's irrelevant or just doesn't make for good YouTube TV.)
I have some more small details I'm unclear about but i'll stop here instead of making this post any longer.
I have a No 8 Type 10 that's far from finished but that I got the point of usability and am happy with, I was able to joint some edges with it successfully and am quite pleased.
I'm now looking at a type 16 no 4, which has different frog and bed shape and a different class of problems than the no 8 had.
I'd appreciate any help or suggestions before I start filing anything as I'd like to get it right :)
It's hard to photograph so I've used some tape and drawn some lines. Here is an image of the frog assembly with blade:
385112
The blade itself is quite bowed. Under tension like this, it flattens out some. Because I can't easily photograph it against a bright light, the green tape shows the areas where the frog is making good contact with the blade. The parts without tape, they are not touching.
The red arrow points to the tip of the frog at its wedge where it meets the mouth of the plane. The frog is sort of rounded over here.
The lateral adjuster itself is also bowed, which is mostly a cosmetic annoyance, it does clear the tote okay. I'd like to straighten it but don't want to risk breaking anything.
The face of the frog itself is pretty flat.
So first question - what, if anything, can I do, or should I do, about this?
Next is a picture showing the front machined area where the frog seats into the body of the plane:
385111
This is going to be the most challenging area to file, especially with any precision or at any particular angle. It's not flat, and the frog doesn't contact it well in the front. I've highlighted the areas in red that are lowest. I haven't found any videos that address this area for anything but rust removal. How much does it matter, and what's the best strategy for fixing it, if any?
I do understand the frog mating surfaces should all be as flush as possible. But I'm wondering how important the other details of alignment are. In other words- it seems that ideally, the frog would sit perfectly centered in the body with its walls parallel to the body's walls, and that it's front edge would line up perfectly with the back of the mouth. This is not possible without reshaping in small spaces, so how important is that, if at all? And what's the ideal position of the frog?
(Obviously the frog is meant to be adjustable forwards and back to open and close the mouth. But I don't really understand why it's not manufactured at the full width of the sole so that it would be impossible to misalign it. Nor do I ever see much time spent aligning it laterally in videos, so I'm not sure if it's irrelevant or just doesn't make for good YouTube TV.)
I have some more small details I'm unclear about but i'll stop here instead of making this post any longer.