ECE Plane questions

[Joel Goodman]

I was given an ECE Primus reform smoothing plane. I have a few metal planes (LN, Stanley and LV) but this design is unusual and I hope that some of the creekers who know more about this plane than I do could answer a few questions. I've attached a few pictures to illustrate.

The chip breaker is quite heavy and there is pressure from the leading edge which seems to bow the lighter plane blade when the chipbreaker is tightened down. In the pix you can see how much air is between the chipbreaker and the iron (except at the leading edge which I honed for good contact). Should I grind off some of the part of the chipbreaker that contacts the plane iron so that the whole assembly is flatter (more like the LN improved chipbraker)? Or get a heavier blade made for the plane?

The bed has two round metal pieces (sort of round nail heads) which lift up the balde chipbreaker assembly from the bed. Doesn't this defeat the purpose of the woodies large bed?

Or does this whole thing work together in some mysterious German marvel of engineering that I cannot understand? I like the plane but not as much as my LN.

Thanks

[Wiley Horne]

Hi Joel,

It's a very good plane, and the subblade is a nice design. I suggest you not mess with it. The subblade is pretensioning the main blade against vibration at the tip, and as a unit the main and subblade are a stout assembly. For me, the best setting has been to locate the subblade about 1/32" up the main blade and leave enough mouth gap so shavings pass OK. I've tried it the other way with very tight mouth and subblade 1/16" up the blade and it wasn't as good an action. YMMV.

The main thing you want the subblade to do is to meet the main blade in a knife edge. When you tighten the subblade, a little deflection won't hurt the bedding because the blade is not laying on the wood anyway--the top of the blade is bedded on the studs and the lower end of the blade is bedded on wood. Just don't tighten the screws to the point where the edge of the subblade begins to curl up off the main blade. What you might do is tighten the upper of the two subblade screws all the way; then tighten the lower one and watch whether knife-edge contact is maintained between subblade and upper blade. On mine, I can tighten both screws all the way, and still get good contact between the two blades. But there is plenty of tension on the main blade without tightening that lower screw to the point of deflection. So you can adjust the lower screw to the amount of tension that gives you a warm furry feeling.

I have a friend who speaks German, who went and found the patent on those little standoff studs at the top of the wooden bedding. As best he could interpret, the design reduces the friction between the blades and the bedding so that the depth adjuster will work properly.

It's worth noting that Karl Holtey also designs his smoothers with standoff metal studs at the top of the bedding. So a Holtey smoother is bedded on the arris near the bevel, and at the top on the two studs--and in between there is air behind the blade. Mr. Holtey argues that this design prevents seasonal movement of the wooden infill from affecting the blade's bedding.

Does the plane work well for you? I get very good results. The only tricky thing I have found is that there is mechanical linkage between the depth adjust and the blade-tightening mechanism (that screw that comes in from the rear)--to the extent that you can make very fine depth adjusts by loosening or tightening the rear screw! Which is counterintuitive, but the plane works very well.

Wiley

[Mark Singer]

The ECE is among my favorites and I use it often! It will do things that other planes cannot...... Just try it and see how it works, Pur a fair amount of tension on the back knob that holds the iron in.....it reduces chatter.

[Joel Goodman]

Thanks so much for the informative reply. I hadn't thought of the whole assembly being under tension as a good thing. I will take your suggestion about the 1/32 chipbreaker to blade setting and open up the mouth a touch.Joel

[Wiley Horne]

Joel and Mark,

Mark's suggestion is really on the money, the most useful thing that could be said. Be aware that as you add tension, it will tend to pull the blade up a hair, and you may have to crank on a little more depth to get it back cutting again. Once you get used to the interplay between the tension screw and the depth adjust, the plane is a great performer. Might try pulling the plane, also.

Wiley