Idea for use of a new stanely jack...

[Dan Carroll]

I have a newly made stanley jack that will never do its appointed job. The lateral adjustment just does not work and I can not get it set up to make clean cuts. Would it make any sense to open up the throat and camfer the iron and turn it into a scrub plane? I really do not do enought hand planning to spend the money on a new LN scrub, but a couple of hours work I can justify for the once in a great while I would use a scrub plane. Any thoughts or pitfalls?

[Steve Clardy]

Yes. Scrub plane or a small boat anchor;) :D

[John Schreiber]

I did that with a "Mohawk" brand #5 I bought at a flea market. I could never get it to cut reliably, so I turned it into an effective scrub.

I didn't need to widen the throat, but I rounded the blade so that it quickly and efficiently cuts about a trough about an inch wide. Does a great job of reducing boards.

[Randal Stevenson]

The plane that started me down the slope was Gramps old Defiance #5. Everything I read, said skip the Defiance ones, so would a scrub plane be a good use for it?

Or just yard sale it?

[Richard Niemiec]

I turned a similarly "challenged" #5 into a scrub simply by opening the mouth a bit with a file and making concave the iron. I don't flatten many boards by hand, but when I have a 9 or 10 inch wide piece of stock that for esthetic reasons I don't want to rip and re-glue to face joint, I'll do it by hand, and the converted #5 works pretty well.

RN

[Mike Henderson]

The plane that started me down the slope was Gramps old Defiance #5. Everything I read, said skip the Defiance ones, so would a scrub plane be a good use for it?

Or just yard sale it?
You'd get very little for it from a knowledgeable buyer. Especially since it was your grandfather's, I'd convert it to a scrub and keep a part of your family history.

Mike

[rick fulton]

Cut off the front and back and make a "Stanley Infill".
Check out Derek's article, "A Galoot’s Infill Smoother" at
http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/dCohen/z_art/galootInfill/galootInfill1.asp

[Dan Carroll]

Like the Stanley infill idea -- a great deal of work however to cut the front and back off. Maybe a yard sell find later. Camfer the iron and make it a scrub is where I am heading.

[Paul Chapman]

I have a Record 05 jack that wasn't performing well so I opened the mouth a little and heavily cambered the blade and it's now working very well as a scrub.

Cheers ;)

Paul

[Dan Carroll]

I don't have a boat, besides it does not weight enough to even do a good job at that.

[Alex Yeilding]

I turned a similarly "challenged" #5 into a scrub simply by opening the mouth a bit with a file and making concave the iron.
Might want to try it with the iron ground convex. Works much better that way! ;)

[Richard Niemiec]

Alex, you got me there. Convex would be a lot easier to use!! I also mix up my right and left when giving directions to folks; its genetic, I'm Polish!!

RN