Please explain adjustable mouth a little better please.

[Don Morris]

I inherited a couple handplanes which I'm in the process of bringing back to life. No4 and No5 Bailey's which are in pretty good condition (eat your heart out guys, father-in-law was a Swedish cabinet maker). I also got a 9 1/2 adjustable mouth Stanley and a slightly smaller low angle adjustable mouth handplane with "Stanley" on the knob on the back but no number anywhere else that I can find. I've never had an adjustable mouth handplane before and am not quite sure of the uses and advantages of them. The Lie Nielsen site says they allow "a very fine mouth setting for finishing work and the merest shavings, or an ample opening for rank cuts. Just exactly what does that mean? I kind of get the idea but am not quite sure what that exactly means. Could one of you elaborate a little. When and how would you use that feature. Thanks.

[tod evans]

don, when working end grain or gnarly wood closing the mouth and taking very light shavings is just about the only way to get a clean cut. sharpen `em up and play around some, you`ll quickly get used to the adjustments and should be pulling curls like a pro in no time. enjoy! ..02 tod

[Don Morris]

Ahh hah, I see, "end grain", that makes sense. The face of the 2 smaller block planes smoothed up easily with P80 grit paper on plate glass, they were in good condition. I'm in the process of getting the face on the No5 flat. That's a horse of a different color. Almost there. Then I can step up the grit from P80. I had several other similar handplanes so this now almost completes my "necessary" list and shortens my "wish list" Thanks!

[Deirdre Saoirse Moen]

My understanding, which may be flawed: the part above the mouth puts the wood into compression and helps prevent tearout. Since the blade can create a chip (and tearout from that chip coming out), an adjustable mouth plane can be closed up to keep a larger chip from forming.

The finer the shaving, the tighter the mouth. Not all shavings need to be fine, you just need to plan for how much wood you want to take off.

[Don Morris]

Yes, those two explanations go together nicely and give me a better understanding of what I have. That's why I belong to SMC. You guys is SUPER! And you let me make grammar errors for which my English major wife would kill me. Thanks again.

[Bill Moser]

Yes, those two explanations go together nicely and give me a better understanding of what I have. That's why I belong to SMC. You guys is SUPER! And you let me make grammar errors for which my English major wife would kill me. Thanks again.

Dang! Your wife is an english major? I've been lookin' for one of those
myself... BTW it's "You guys are super, and you let me make grammatical
errors". But seriously -- I think of a plane as a chisel in a jig (and I'm not the
first, of course). If you have a really wide mouth, the "chisel" will just
follow the grain. The more you clamp it down (i.e. draw the mouth edge
closer to the blade) the more you "shave", as opposed to "tear". By way of
disclaimer, I should note that I am not an accomplished woodworker, just
a neophyte neanderthal, so take whatever I say with a grain of salt!
- Bill

[Doug Shepard]

... And you let me make grammar errors for which my English major wife would kill me. Thanks again.

Geez. :eek: Dont letter logon hear or weir all in four it.

[mitc cholewinski]

Don It isn't really necessary to smooth the sole on a #5 jack plane, neither will it hurt to do so. The primary use of a #5 jack plane is to hog off large amounts of wood and most people use the #5 for this purpose if they don't have a scrub plane. This being the case , a flat sole isn't necessary. If you do flatten the sole then you can move the frog and reset the blade and use it to get very thin slivers. The #5 is the most versatile of the bench planes. Good luck This is my first time on this forum. Hope there are a lot of plane users on here.

[Pete Ducklow]

Geez. :eek: Dont letter logon hear or weir all in four it.

You guys need to write gooder.