[LukePro]

Hi everyone,

I’m sort of new here, and to woodworking in general. Got into woodworking with hand tools a year ago using a set of chisels, a couple of saws and a Stanley #4. I’ve since made a couple of tools to expand my collection and attempted today to build a joiner using a frog and irons from a #4 that had a cracked body and tote. It’s 24” long and ~2.75” wide. I flattened the bottom with an 80 grit belt on a friend’s cast iron cabinet saw which I know is flat.

I went to take the first cut with it, excited to see it in action, but it is acting really oddly. It bites in periodically and takes really rough, but thin shavings leaving undulations and bad tear out in the wood. It almost looks like snipe from a planer, but along the entire length of the board. This happens on both face planing and edge jointing. I’ve attached pictures of the plane and a piece of walnut. It won’t plant the entire length either, no matter how flat the board and doesn’t necessarily take shavings off the same place like it’s a high spot. I’ve tried a myriad of different cut depths and tried moving the frog forward and back to different positions to adjust the mouth size. The mouth size pictured is the tightest I’ve been able to get it. Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Luke

Topic

[newboy]

#2040666

Sorry I cannot be more help. All I can think of is the blade maybe not sharp enough, or flex in the plane body.

[Joshua Farnsworth]

#2040667

Great looking plane! You’re getting major chatter, which is most likely from the iron not being rock solidly seated in the frog. First try sharpening as best you can, then make sure the frog screws are tight into the body, make sure the lever cap snaps down tight enough, and also try testing on pine at first. Transitional planes are notorious for chatter, even after taking all these measures because of the way the metal frog attaches to the wooden body. I only use transitional planes as a jack plane with a cambered iron…for rough work. It’s hard to get consistently good shavings with a transitional smoothing plane and jointer plane.

[LukePro]

#2040668

Fixed! And Thanks!

Thanks for the advice, Joshua and Newboy. It’s much appreciated!

I tried fixing some of the issues you had mentioned, adding coarser screws to hold the frog down and making sure the iron was really razor sharp, but to no avail. Then I noticed the iron wasn’t perfectly flat, it had a slight bend across its entire length which wouldn’t come out under tension from the lever cap, I can’t believe I missed something so simple! Swapped it out for an iron from my #4 and it worked like a charm. Takes nice, smooth shavings and leaves a nice, flat edge and face. Now I just need to find another flight #4 iron and I’ll be set. Thanks again for the help, it’s great having a community that’s willing to help out people who are in a bind.

[Joshua Farnsworth]

#2040672

So glad that you figured it out! If you are able to post a video on YouTube & share the link here, I’d love to see your new plane in action!

[Author]

Replies