Newbee Niander question

[Don Baer]

OK here's my problem. I own 2 planes a #5 "Jack" and a low angle block plane. I'm getting ready to put together a table top out of 6/4 maple and was planning on doing it the nieander way I did a few passes on a piece of scap maple with the jack and the results wern't too bad but I couldn't get the thin shaving I wanted to I decided to sharpen up the Iron on the plan. While I was at it I also sharpened the block plane and my chisels. When I was done I took some test passes with the Jack plane and I got a lot of chatter. The plane seemed to skip across the wood. I adjusted the Iron to take a lighter cut and no differance. I'm getting thin (I can see through them) curles but the plane wants to hop scotch across the wood. I took the block plane and it made real nice thin curls and smoothed out the piece. I readusted the jack and no change. HELP !!

would it help to change the angle on the Iron to a lower angle ?? can the jack be made to do this job or am I just fooling my self.

[Mike Wenzloff]

Hi Don,

A couple ideas. First, is the bevel of the iron down against the frog, or is it up like on the block plane?

Is the chip breaker on the flat side of the iron, or attached to the side with the bevel? It belongs on the flat side. And the bevel goes down on the frog.

Is the chipbreaker's edge down real close to the edge of the iron--on the flat side of the iron? By "real close," I mean within 1/64.

Take care, Mike

[Jimmy Walker]

Hey Don, Mike is so right about cap iron placement.

I think this is okay to post. You may like to take a gander at some of the stuff on this site..

http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To.htm

My #5s are all as smooth as silk. Regardless of brand.

Jimmy

[Alan Turner]

Don,
You don't say much about the #5, but you might want to put a straight edge across the sole of the plane, front to back, and look to see how much light you can see. If it is a bit, or more, therein lies at least one of the causes of your chatter.

[Don Baer]

Duh... I guess I need to pay more attention when I take something apart so I'll know how it goes back together. I had the Iron and chip breaker installed wrong. Thanks Mike and everone else and thanks for the link. I feel like such a clutz in this cordless world but hey at least I can hear my sterio while I'm working and it is fun.

[Mark Stutz]

Don,
Don't feel bad! I have done the same thing!:o :D BTW, that swhooshing sound you are hearing is addicting! It's the same sound you are going to hear sliding down this slope! Trust me...it's worse than the spinny thing!:eek:

[Bob Smalser]

I'll add that Bailey planes work best when the frog is aligned with the rear edge of the mouth using a straight edge during assembly for optimum support of the iron assembly....and that once you have the plane adjusted, for hard woods tighten down on the cap iron mounting screw with a screwdriver to minimize chatter.

If you still get occasional chatter on exceptionally hard woods, skew the plane a bit during the cut.

[Mike Wenzloff]

Bob raises a good point. Use a straight edge to align the frog to the rear of the mouth. Make sure to check on both sides of the frog as you tighten the bolts.

With a sharp iron, I haven't really experienced many woods where a fine shaving cannot be taken with the frog set back this far and I think it gives better support to the blade.

If, with a sharp iron and everything else adjusted properly you get some tear-out, you can try moving the mouth forward which may help. But at that point there are other things you can do without moving the frog.

Take care, glad we could be of help.

Mike