Stanley Bedrock #5 Lateral adjuster

[Jim Stewart]

I just received my Stanley #5 that I bought on Ebay. It is a fairly nice piece with the exception of a great deal of play in the lateral adjuster lever. I can move the lateral adjuster about 1" with no movement to the frog. There is a pin I believe that attaches the adjuster to the frog that is the culprit. That pin is very loose, and it is so loose that with the blade removed I can flop it up and down vertically quite a bit. There is at least 3/16" gap between the frog and the lever when I pull it up vertically. Any suggestions on what to do? I was thinking of clamping the lever down and then penning the underside of the attachment pin with a round punch. Advice much appreciated. Jim

[Jim Koepke]

I just received my Stanley #5 that I bought on Ebay. It is a fairly nice piece with the exception of a great deal of play in the lateral adjuster lever. I can move the lateral adjuster about 1" with no movement to the frog. There is a pin I believe that attaches the adjuster to the frog that is the culprit. That pin is very loose, and it is so loose that with the blade removed I can flop it up and down vertically quite a bit. There is at least 3/16" gap between the frog and the lever when I pull it up vertically. Any suggestions on what to do? I was thinking of clamping the lever down and then penning the underside of the attachment pin with a round punch. Advice much appreciated. Jim

Okay, this is just a bit confusing but I will try to get through this. I am not going to even worry about whether we are discussing a Bedrock or a Bailey since that is unimportant.

However, the frog shouldn't move with the lateral adjuster.

As to the vertical movement you need to determine if the pin is loose in the lever or the frog. Which ever it is, be careful as the frog is thin in this area and made of cast iron. If there is enough length to the pin, it may be possible to drill a small depression in the end to allow it to mushroom a bit to hold it in place. Once you do this, it will be very difficult to remove in the future. So if you wanted to give the frog a paint job, do the painting first.

A compounding problem could be the size of the adjuster's disk. How much play is there between the disk and the slot in the blade?

Your pin could also be bent which could cause a problem.

The Stanley parts web site is always changing, but they did have replacement lateral levers last time I looked.

jtk

[Richard Verwoest]

I would just leave it alone. They are not the greatest for fine adjustments anyways. I rarely use it on any of my planes. I reach for a light weight brass hammer to adjust my plane irons lateraly.

Hoss

[Jim Stewart]

Bingo! There is a lot of play between the disc and the blade. It is a Hock replacement blade. It may be that I can get a different blade.

Sorry for the confusion the frog is not moving!

I haven't been burnt on Ebay in a while...so there ya go. Win some-loose some.

[Michael Ray Smith]

I was thinking of clamping the lever down and then penning the underside of the attachment pin with a round punch. Advice much appreciated. Jim

I have a Bedrock with the lateral adjustment level completely off the frog. That's what I've been planning to do in an attempt to reattach it.

[Jim Stewart]

So the thickness of this blade is .105. The slot width is .485 and the wheel on the lever is .432. It is a Hock replacement blade. I think maybe the adjuster has been replaced. Is it possible to replace the wheel then? Can I get a blade that has a narrower slot? The plane has most of the Japanning, no rust, and nice Rosewood tote and handle.

I went out in the shop and while the blade is very dull I could see with a sharp blade the plane will likely be OK as it is. Once again I am learning from this forum. Any further comments are welcome.

[Jim R Edwards]

+1
I never use a lateral adjuster. I light hammer is far more accurate

[Jim Koepke]

I think maybe the adjuster has been replaced. Is it possible to replace the wheel then? Can I get a blade that has a narrower slot?

I am not sure, but I think most replacement blades are sized to fit the Stanley planes.

I have never tried to replace just the disk.

Just went out and measured a couple of mine. The disks measured from 0.438 -0.440" the slot on my Hock blade measured 0.45" and a Stanley blade measured 0.448".

I haven't been burnt on Ebay in a while...so there ya go. Win some-loose some.

Not sure if this really qualifies as an outright burn on a deal. If it was someone touting how tight and like new the plane was, then maybe. Though, I have been burnt a lot worse.

A lot of my lateral levers have an inch of play in their movement. The best way to set up a plane is to get the frog set square and the blade ground square to minimize how much adjustment is needed to set the plane to make an even shaving across its width. Then it is the technique of the user holding the plane to make it produce square edges.

With a Bedrock plane, there shouldn't be much play in setting up the frog alignment.

jtk

[Richard Verwoest]

You could contact Ron Hock. He may be willing to make you a blade with a differant slot width. He is a great guy to work with. Though it may cost you a couple extra bucks.

Hoss

[Jim Stewart]

Yes, I wondered about contacting Ron. I am going to a Lie Nielsen tool show in April. I can ask Denab what he thinks. After that I could talk to Ron. I may go to the old tool show in Amana Iowa in May. Ron will be there. I sharpened the blade this morning and tried the plane. It seemed to work well as is so I will likely use the brass hammer I made to adjust it.

[Jim Koepke]

You could contact Ron Hock. He may be willing to make you a blade with a differant slot width.

The difference between the slot size and the disk size being 0.053" makes me think that there is more happening than just a little backlash caused by dimensional variance. With the pin as loose as described by Jim, it may be that its looseness is contributing a bit more into the equation.

Many things can happen over the years of different owners taking a plane apart and putting it back together.

One of my #8s has the top of the frog broken off so there is no lateral adjuster. With no luck, so far, finding a replacement frog, I am thinking of fixing it up for use like a pre-lateral plane. My plane adjustment mallet is made of wood. and so far works pretty well. Maybe it is time to invest in a little brass and see how accurate my adjustments can be with a little more weight behind them.

jtk