Stanley No. 20 mouth...too tight

[Philip Glover]

I have a Stanley No. 20 circular plane that I have been using for some time now and I find the mouth to be tight.
I am using a Hock iron, which is about 0.020" thicker than the Stanley iron, which does eat up some of the mouth opening.
Since there is no way to adjust the frog, has anyone filed the mouth to open it?
Is there a reason that this should not be done?

431031

431030

Regards,

Phil

[Joshua Lucas]

I'd be concerned about weakening those rivet joints. Is the original iron interchangeable with a #3? If so I'd try to use a stock #3 iron. Should be much easier to find than a stock #20 iron.

Another thing to consider is that the cap iron is unique to the #20 according the The Superior Works (http://www.supertool.com/StanleyBG/stan3.htm). It looks like you're using the stock cap iron though rather than a Hock one so that shouldn't be an issue.

Looks like Hock sells irons for the #113 too. Are you using this one or the one for the #3? The site doesn't say what the difference is between the two, but the #113 Hock blade may be thinner to make up for the non-adjustable frog.

[Jim Koepke]

Looks like Hock sells irons for the #113 too. Are you using this one or the one for the #3? The site doesn't say what the difference is between the two, but the #113 Hock blade may be thinner to make up for the non-adjustable frog.

The phone number is listed on the site. Ron Hock tends to be the one answering the phone and is a nice person to talk to.

jtk

[steven c newman]

So...what WAS the problem with the OEM iron in the first place?

Too many think they should just toss the old irons out, in favour of the new thicker irons....only to find out they really don't fit....but the first thing you hear is " I did the up-grade to..." and spend money, instead of just a little elbow grease to get the OEM iron sharpened up and set up correctly.

IF you HAVE to modify a vintage plane, just so the "up-grade" will even work....not much of an upgrade, is it? Sometimes, feels more like a Fool's errand.....

that frog was made that way for a reason....as it was designed to use a certain thickness iron. oh well.....it IS the OP's money, anyway.

[Charles Guest]

I have a Stanley No. 20 circular plane that I have been using for some time now and I find the mouth to be tight.
I am using a Hock iron, which is about 0.020" thicker than the Stanley iron, which does eat up some of the mouth opening.
Since there is no way to adjust the frog, has anyone filed the mouth to open it?
Is there a reason that this should not be done?

431031

431030

Regards,

Phil

Use it with all its original equipment - iron, breaker, lever cap.

A Hock iron does little if anything for such a plane. It's not a tool you're going to use all day long so any extra edge longevity is essentially meaningless. This isn't a plane particularly prone to chatter or any other ills that might be solved with a thicker more substantial iron.

Keep it simple.