Bedrock 604 and LN blade

[Ken Werner]

Has anyone put a standard .125" LN blade in a Stanley 604? I'm wondering if the full thickness blade will work, or if I need the thinner .094" replacement blade. I don't mind opening up the mouth [I open mine all too often] but I'm concerned about the adjusting lever still working. Derek Cohen - I think referred in a post somewhere to putting a LN blade and chipbreaker into a 604 - Derek if you're there, can you comment?

BTW, I don't have a 604 yet, but one should be coming soon from the bay.

Ken

[Eddie Darby]

I've put the full size ( thick ) LN blade into a Paragon Jack Plane that Lee Valley use to sell. I had to take a file to it to open the mouth a bit, but I would rather do that than use a thinner blade. The plane now works great, and was worth the effort. I will be getting a LN chipbreaker for it next.

I love the thick blades. Besides the lack of chatter, they are also easier to register on the stone surface when hand sharpening them for a quick touch-up.

[Ron Brese]

I can't imagine why there would be a problem with the adjusting lever and the extra .032 thickness will probably not require more than an adjustment of the frog. I could be wrong but I think the L-N blade will drop right it. I put one in my pre WW2 #4 without a hitch or a file.

Ron

[David Turner]

Interesting question. I have in the past, bought Hock replacement blades and never even considered a LN blade.
I have both LN #4 and a Stanley Bedrock 604 so I switched out the blades. I did not have much luck. You have to use the 604 chip breaker as the LN chip breaker (at least mine/older model) doesn't have an elongated hole for the cap lever screw. Everytime I attempted to adjust the blade and/or the frog, the mouth plugged with shavings. I finally gave up and put them back to original. I believe the LN would work, but I believe it would require some amount of file work on the front edge of the mouth/throat opening to give the additional thickness blade more room. I measured the throat opening on each plane with a dial caliper. The LN was 0.202" and the 604 bedrock was 0.170".
Hope this helps.
David Turner

[Ken Werner]

Hi David,
I appreciate your comments. How about a comparison of the 604 with the LN4 altogether? Is the Hock blade a .094" thick? I don't quite understand the problem you had with the chipbreaker. Could you explain that again please?
A 604 will be coming soon, and I'm considering putting in a .125 LN iron with the new chipbreaker.

Thanks much,
Ken

[Hank Knight]

Ken,

I replaced the blades and chipbreakers in my Bedrocks (603 through 607) with LN A2 Stanley replacements. LN's Stanley replacements are thicker than the standard Stanley carbon blade, but not as thick as the standard LN blade. With the thicker blade you will probably have some trouble with the depth adjustment mechanism. The pawl on the "Y" arm is too short to engage the slot in the chipbreaker with the thicker blade unless the slot is perfectly placed. The regular stanley chipbreaker will probably work with the LN Blades, but they are flimsy compared to the beefy LN chipbreakers. I think the LN chipbreakers are designed to fit Bailey planes (not sure about this). Some worked fine on my Bedrocks - others didn't. The blades and chipbreakers for my #605 through #607 dropped in and fit perfectly. I had to send LN specs for the Stanley chipbreakers on my #603 and #604 and they custom machined new chipbreakers for me. LN was very nice about this and didn't charge me for the custom machining. You might want to talk to one of their machinists about this when you place your order.

I've been very happy with the LN upgrade. Good luck with yours.

Hank

[Terry Bigelow]

I bought a LN scraper blade for my Stanley 112 scraper plane and it would not work without significant altering due to the BIG difference in thickness. For that reason I didn't even try the LN for my 604 1/2. I instead bought a Hock blade and chip breaker and......PRESTO, super plane!!! I can't tell you how much nicer it is than the original set up. I know you were looking for answers to the LN question but if you don't want to do any altering to your mouth the Hock set up is top notch! I intend on doing the same with some of my other Stanleys, I'm sure the results will be the same. Hope this helps.

[Ken Werner]

Thanks Hank and Terry. Your experiences and suggestions are very helpful. Terry, what is the thickness of the Hock? Is there a good place to buy it?
Ken

[Terry Bigelow]

Ken, .095" is the Hock iron and the chip breaker is even thicker. I got mine at Highland Hardware here in ATL. Here's thier site:http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/index.asp