Steve Sawyer
09-22-2008, 4:24 PM
A friend gave me my first Keen Kutter plane the other day - a Keen Kutter #5c in good condition that just needs a bit of "tuning up". However, in examining this plane, I've come across two anomalies.
The first is the iron adjustment wheel. On the two Stanley Bailey's that I have, turning the wheel clockwise extends the blade, and turning the wheel counter-clockwise retracts it. To make this work, the threads on the Stanley's are left-handed to move the follower toward the heel when turning the wheel to the right, and toward the toe when turning the wheel to the left. The Keen Kutter is just the opposite, and I'm wondering if this is common to the Keen Kutter line.
The second anomaly is with the clamping mechanism on the cap iron to secure the chip breaker and iron. When I adjust the retaining screw so that the clamp cam can be secured with firm finger pressure, the blade is tight when the clamp handle is at about 45 degrees, but then becomes loos again once the clamp handle is pressed fully into the "down" position. If I tighten the retaining screw more, the iron remains tight after pushing the clamp down, but it becomes almost impossible to close the clamp lever by hand, tempting one to grab a pair of channel locks or a hammer to close it - not good.
A Careful examination of the cam reveals the problem. The cam has a relatively sharp 90 degree corner instead of a radius where it is rotated against the retaining spring. As a result, the cam is extremely tight as the lever moves this corner against the retaining spring, but then loosens again once the flat is reached. On my other planes, the pressure exerted increases as the clamp lever reaches 45 degrees or so, but then remains constant as the clamp lever is snapped closed.
I can tighten the retaining screw AFTER snapping the clamp handle closed, but this seems to be an unusual way of securing the iron assembly. By the looks of the retaining screw, this may have been what the previous owners did. Has anyone seen this situation on a Keen Kutter plane? It looks like it'd be easy to correct if it would be possible to remove the retaining spring to grind that sharp corner into a radius, but the spring appears to be riveted on.
Thanks for any information or advice.
The first is the iron adjustment wheel. On the two Stanley Bailey's that I have, turning the wheel clockwise extends the blade, and turning the wheel counter-clockwise retracts it. To make this work, the threads on the Stanley's are left-handed to move the follower toward the heel when turning the wheel to the right, and toward the toe when turning the wheel to the left. The Keen Kutter is just the opposite, and I'm wondering if this is common to the Keen Kutter line.
The second anomaly is with the clamping mechanism on the cap iron to secure the chip breaker and iron. When I adjust the retaining screw so that the clamp cam can be secured with firm finger pressure, the blade is tight when the clamp handle is at about 45 degrees, but then becomes loos again once the clamp handle is pressed fully into the "down" position. If I tighten the retaining screw more, the iron remains tight after pushing the clamp down, but it becomes almost impossible to close the clamp lever by hand, tempting one to grab a pair of channel locks or a hammer to close it - not good.
A Careful examination of the cam reveals the problem. The cam has a relatively sharp 90 degree corner instead of a radius where it is rotated against the retaining spring. As a result, the cam is extremely tight as the lever moves this corner against the retaining spring, but then loosens again once the flat is reached. On my other planes, the pressure exerted increases as the clamp lever reaches 45 degrees or so, but then remains constant as the clamp lever is snapped closed.
I can tighten the retaining screw AFTER snapping the clamp handle closed, but this seems to be an unusual way of securing the iron assembly. By the looks of the retaining screw, this may have been what the previous owners did. Has anyone seen this situation on a Keen Kutter plane? It looks like it'd be easy to correct if it would be possible to remove the retaining spring to grind that sharp corner into a radius, but the spring appears to be riveted on.
Thanks for any information or advice.