stanley 78 lever cap troubleshooting

[frank shic]

i've been noticing that the chips are bunching up underneath the lever cap when i set the fence distance for 3/4" cut. should i grind down the underside of the lever cap to minimize this like you do on a regular bench plane? btw, anyone else find that adjusting the lateral alignment blade on these things is a slight pain?

[Bill Houghton]

My 78 tends to accumulate chips in the mouth, between the top of the lever cap and the front edge of the mouth. I reach in with a bamboo skewer* periodically and roust them out.

Setting the plane for light cuts helps, of course. Strangely, once the rabbet is established, the plane does less of this chip accumulation - no idea why.

*And why a bamboo skewer, you may ask? I picked up a whole bag of them in the "free" pile at a garage sale, that's why. If I didn't have them, I'd use some other wooden stick.

[frank shic]

bill, i use chopsticks to eat on a daily basis. thanks for pointing out yet another use for them! ;)

while we're at it, does anyone have any ideas on how to clean up a skewed rabbet? i guess i wasn't holding the plane tightly to the edge and so now i have a taper that i'm considering cleaning up with... a router! would a stanley 79 or 98 do the trick?

[Bill Houghton]

would a stanley 79 or 98 do the trick?

I assume that you mean the rabbet gets narrower as you go. Depending on the configuration and the board (and grain direction), you may be able to flip it 90 degrees, so the wall of the rabbet is now its floor, and use the depth stop on your plane to set the depth (that used to be the width). Easier than holding the plane sideways.

I own a 98/99 set, and my limited use of them has revealed planes better for trimming than for major stock removal. You need a 79 or a 98/99 set, of course - but not sure they're ideal for the purpose, unless the taper is minor. On the other hand, I've never tried them for that application.