----- Original Message -----
From: Ron Hock 
Sent: Thursday, 22 April 1999 04:30
Subject: Re: Iron thicknesses was Re: FWW Smoothing Plane Article


> One thing not mentioned in the blade side-bar in the FWW article: while
> discussing the advantages of the Holtey and Clifton blades he fails to
> mention that thicker blades won't work in the standard Bailey pattern
> planes. Since the blade adjuster dog must pass through the blade and
> engage the breaker, too much additional blade thickness and the
> mechanism won't work. You also have to back out the hold-down screw too
> far for it to grip well or at all.

Thanx for pointing this out, Ron.  I had a similar problem early in Jan99.
As some of you might know, I have a couple of Ananti "orribles".  The #7
has gone to heaven as soon as I got my hands on the Satanly #8 Type 10
that now graces the underside of my bench.  But the #4 is still around
and doing duty as a "fore" plane until I can find a good condition #6.
Needless to say, I was never happy with the Ananti in its original
shape.  It got sanded, filed, you name it, until all the rough-and-not-square-
and-not-flat bits all disappeared.  Then it was time to look at the frog/blade.
The frog was filed flat and shaved in thickness until it properly matched
the sole cast.  The iron was just hopeless.  I re-used a german
"Boherer"(sp?) iron from a smoother that now sports a Hock iron.
This is much thicker than the original Indian, but not as thick as a
Hock or L-N.

Guess what?

Exactly the same problem that Ron talks about.  To aggravate it, I found a
yoke from an old Stanley at a tool sale.  Put it in instead of the pressed
sheet metal abomination that was there before and the problem just got
worse: the Stanley yoke's dog is shorter than the Ananti, so I just couldn't
adjust the blade at all.  Solution was to drill a new hole slightly higher
and above the old hole for the pin, but much nearer the top surface of the
frog.  This brought the whole yoke assembly further out and the dog
engages the cap iron properly now.  Because the original cap iron was
too low for the new dog position, I pressed into use one of those much
vilified Clifton split cap irons.  This has a hole for the dog in a higher
position than the standard Stanley cap iron.

So now I have a Ananti that MOL performs reasonably, although it's
far from being in the same class as a proper Stanley or L-N.  But
the problem with the dog not engaging the cap iron put me back
for a while and is something that is rarely if ever mentioned.

While I'm on the soapbox, another problem that happens with thicker
blades is when the bevel is incorrect for the frog/sole combination.
Yes, right at the edge where they meet and the end of the iron
bevel.  If you have an old plane with a narrow mouth, when you put
a thick blade on it you have to push the frog back to end up with
a mouth at all!  If the angle of the bevel of the new iron is not
correct, what then happens is that the base of the bevel will rest
on the sole instead of the end of the frog where it should be (remember,
the frog has been pushed back, so there is now a "lip" between its
lower edge and the rear end of the mouth in the sole). Result is
instant chatter.  Remedy is to change the bevel angle until its base
rests in the frog instead of the sole.  DAMHIKT, but the above
mentioned #8 now needs a Hock iron instead of the THICK new
Stanley HSS iron that is in there...

off-the-soap-box, back to the dark corner...

Cheers
Nuno Souto
nsouto@n...
http://www.acay.com.au/~nsouto/welcome.htm