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Thread: Roughing blade for LN No. 4 - anyone use one??

  1. #1
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    Roughing blade for LN No. 4 - anyone use one??

    I have occasional times a scrub plane would come in handy. I notice LN has some cambered blades with an 8” radius that would fit the LN No 4 that I have. I am curious if anyone has used one. Thanks!

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    It would likely work fine. Do they offer a cambered chip breaker to go with it?

    My scrub planes have included a small variety, a #5-1/4, #5, #5-1/2 & a #40.

    Three Scrubs.jpg

    Just about any bench plane can be set up to be a scrub plane.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  3. #3
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    Jim, I just checked and they don’t seem to list a cambered chipbreaker. Given the hassle of switching the existing one back and forth and the ineffectiveness of the lack of camber, it doesn’t seem to be a wise purchase. Thanks for the inquiry!!
    Last edited by John Keeton; 07-17-2022 at 8:39 PM.

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  4. #4
    Hi John,

    I have a LN No 5 set up that way. It works great. I bought an extra lever cap to grind to a curve but have never needed it. I backed the frog a little so the chip clears easily. I sharpen to a fairly steep angle freehand, probably 35 degrees. I use it to flatten one side of wide boards to go through the planer so I am not concerned with a fine finish. (My jointer is only 6”.)

    I asked a demonstrator at a LN event about setting up a No 5 as a scrub plane using the LN cambered blade. He was aghast. He may have been of the tissue paper shavings school of Neanderthals.

  5. #5
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    Or just get an Ulmia. The weathering on this one is from sweat, and wear from use. It still works great, and is ready to go at a moments notice!

    edited to add: It's very lightweight, and fun to throw shavings three feet in the air with it.
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    Last edited by Tom M King; 07-18-2022 at 8:10 AM.

  6. #6
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    Well, the Ulmia seems to be virtually unavailable - at least in a quick search. The suggestion of a No. 5 set up as a scrub is interesting, but I think I would just lean toward getting the LN 40 1/2 scrub plane. From what I see, the Stanleys are approaching the price of the LN and that just doesn't make sense to me. When I was at John C Campbell Folk School in June I used the LN and enjoyed it. I don't care to "fiddle" with my planes. My needs are very limited and I am somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to tools - well, with the exception of the drawknife addiction that I believe is now under control thanks to the out of control market! I don't hesitate to buy quality tools, so the LN seems like the way to go. I probably wouldn't end up using it more than 3-4 times a year, but the scrub sure makes short work of hogging off material!

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  7. #7
    Quote Originally Posted by John Keeton View Post
    Well, the Ulmia seems to be virtually unavailable - at least in a quick search. The suggestion of a No. 5 set up as a scrub is interesting, but I think I would just lean toward getting the LN 40 1/2 scrub plane. From what I see, the Stanleys are approaching the price of the LN and that just doesn't make sense to me. When I was at John C Campbell Folk School in June I used the LN and enjoyed it. I don't care to "fiddle" with my planes. My needs are very limited and I am somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to tools - well, with the exception of the drawknife addiction that I believe is now under control thanks to the out of control market! I don't hesitate to buy quality tools, so the LN seems like the way to go. I probably wouldn't end up using it more than 3-4 times a year, but the scrub sure makes short work of hogging off material!
    I like the depth and lateral adjustment of the No. 5. Varying the depth is particularly useful to me. I am by no means an expert at hand planes.

  8. #8
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    I have my Fathers old Craftsman No. 4 sized plane set up as a scrub and also bought a bastard Stanley No. 78 and made it a scrub because Paul Sellers seems to like that version. I don't see myself as buying a premium plane for a scrub even if I am only changing the blade.

  9. #9
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    Scrub planes don't use chip breakers because they are used cross grain right? So as long as you can open the mouth up wide enough for thick shavings you should be able to use your #4 with a cambered blade and the standard chip breaker set back.

    *disclaimer - I'm not any kind of expert.

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Keeton View Post
    Well, the Ulmia seems to be virtually unavailable - at least in a quick search. The suggestion of a No. 5 set up as a scrub is interesting, but I think I would just lean toward getting the LN 40 1/2 scrub plane. From what I see, the Stanleys are approaching the price of the LN and that just doesn't make sense to me. When I was at John C Campbell Folk School in June I used the LN and enjoyed it. I don't care to "fiddle" with my planes. My needs are very limited and I am somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to tools - well, with the exception of the drawknife addiction that I believe is now under control thanks to the out of control market! I don't hesitate to buy quality tools, so the LN seems like the way to go. I probably wouldn't end up using it more than 3-4 times a year, but the scrub sure makes short work of hogging off material!
    Hi John -

    I have an Ulmia that sits unused. I've thought about converting it to a cambered jack but have a #5 dedicated for that role. If you'd like it I'm sure we can work out some sort of bargain deal.

    52223623712_2a50e0be44_c.jpg52225117045_7b3371d42c_c.jpg52224628281_22c7696cfc_c.jpg
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  11. #11
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    I've seen a couple of them come up on the Classifieds here in the past year or so. I even bought one of them just because I like them, but I don't need it.

    They can be used across, or with the grain. You can take really long strokes with the grain. The radius on the iron in my pictures in my last post is pretty close to the way it came 45 years ago.

    Rob, That looks like a smoother, rather than a scrub plane. The scrub is pretty narrow. I'll trade you a like new, maybe even unused Scrub for that Smoother. I can send it to John first, to see how he likes one. Then he can send it to you, and then you send me the Smoother when you get the Scrub.
    Last edited by Tom M King; 07-18-2022 at 11:40 AM.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King View Post
    I've seen a couple of them come up on the Classifieds here in the past year or so. I even bought one of them just because I like them, but I don't need it.

    They can be used across, or with the grain. You can take really long strokes with the grain. The radius on the iron in my pictures in my last post is pretty close to the way it came 45 years ago.

    Rob, That looks like a smoother, rather than a scrub plane. The scrub is pretty narrow. I'll trade you a like new, maybe even unused Scrub for that Smoother.

    Correct, not a scrub. That said, either is my Stanley #5 that I have set up with a cambered iron. Even so, I use the Stanley in a quasi scrub capacity, much like John suggested he was considering with the LN roughing blade.

    When I researched it by size, the Ulmia information suggested a Jack. I thought it was a little short for a Jack, but it's their product. It has a very generous mouth opening. Highland woodworking has these planes on their website. Their description: "At 9-7/16" long this jack plane could pass as a largish smooth plane. The body is 2-9/16" wide; the iron is 1-7/8" wide and has a metal chip breaker (referred to also as a double iron). This style of plane is narrow enough for vigorous roughing as well as smooth finishing."

    I also have a dedicated European style scrub. It's an antique a family member found at a flea market in Germany. It's quite narrow and peels wood off like an angry beaver. Based on the worn sole, it's been used a bunch.
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  13. #13
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    I just took a picture of one of the 6x8 Heart Pine beams in our house. I bought them in 1979 from a guy tearing down a mid 19th Century train station for $15 a piece. They were Black. I scrub planed them, and installed them. You can see the long strokes with the grain.

    I would have liked to run a couple of other grades of planes over them, but we were living in a tent, and Winter was coming. This is on the ceiling in the kitchen. The first night we stayed in the house, it got down to 9 degrees, and we just had plastic over the back door. We had fun then, and still are.
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    Last edited by Tom M King; 07-18-2022 at 11:59 AM.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by John Keeton View Post
    Well, the Ulmia seems to be virtually unavailable - at least in a quick search. The suggestion of a No. 5 set up as a scrub is interesting, but I think I would just lean toward getting the LN 40 1/2 scrub plane. From what I see, the Stanleys are approaching the price of the LN and that just doesn't make sense to me. When I was at John C Campbell Folk School in June I used the LN and enjoyed it. I don't care to "fiddle" with my planes. My needs are very limited and I am somewhat of a minimalist when it comes to tools - well, with the exception of the drawknife addiction that I believe is now under control thanks to the out of control market! I don't hesitate to buy quality tools, so the LN seems like the way to go. I probably wouldn't end up using it more than 3-4 times a year, but the scrub sure makes short work of hogging off material!
    For the longest time it seemed there wasn't a need for a scrub plane in my shop. Most of my lumber was purchased already milled enough to finish with standard bench planes.

    John mentions being a minimalist, I'm the opposite. After a bad ebay deal there were a couple of beat to heck #5-1/4s in my shop. One was set up with a cambered blade and used as a scrub on some milled but unsurfaced lumber. It was an epiphany. Later at one of my favorite antique malls a vendor named Tony was setting up one of his spaces and had a #40 scrub plane at a price I couldn't refuse. It has not only made me a believer, it got me to set up a spare #5 as a scrub and occasionally a #5-1/2.

    For a minimalist, the LN #40-1/2 is sure to be a pleasing addition to the tool box.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  15. #15
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    Quote Originally Posted by Tom M King View Post
    I just took a picture of one of the 6x8 Heart Pine beams in our house. I bought them in 1979 from a guy tearing down a mid 19th Century train station for $15 a piece. They were Black. I scrub planed them, and installed them. You can see the long strokes with the grain.

    I would have liked to run a couple of other grades of planes over them, but we were living in a tent, and Winter was coming. This is on the ceiling in the kitchen. The first night we stayed in the house, it got down to 9 degrees, and we just had plastic over the back door. We had fun then, and still are.
    I like the aesthetic.
    Sharp solves all manner of problems.

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