Making fine adjustments with Stanley 9 1/2

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Stephen Veefkind	Making fine adjustments with Stanley 9 1/2		Lead	[-]
Posts: 41 01/29/2009 10:47	Tags : None So far, I've been winging the adjustments, using lots of Kentucky windage. Is there a way to fine tune the adjustments? I find that the blade depth adjustment screw has a lot of slop in it, and I can't find any other way to make sure the blade is parallel to the block other than eyeballing it. If there is no other way to do it, does someone make replacement parts that have a finer tolerance? Or should I just go ahead and get a Lie-Nielsen?
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Tom Smithwick	plane adjustments	#1	[url]	[-]
Posts: 464 01/29/2009 11:28	Hi Stephen - You should get the Lie Nielson, but only because it's a better plane. You will still need to eyeball the fine adjustments, and that's not a bad thing. The human eye is extremely sensitive, and can be trained to make very fine distinctions. If you keep at it, you will soon find you can set not only side to side adjustment, but also the depth of cut by eye. The best plane I own is a British made Clifton bench plane. The mechanism is remarkably smooth with almost no backlash. I still set it by eye. There are some things you can do to improve the Stanley, but it still won't be as good as the LN.
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BigTJ		#2	[url]	[-]
Posts: 708 01/29/2009 11:35	I set my blades by eye then test the adjustment on a thin 1/2" wide strip of pine. I plane with the left side of the blade and then the right, and compare the shaving thickness. Once the thickness is the same and what I want, I'm done. This is especially critical for final planing. I do this with my Lie-Nielsen planes.
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WIHEXROD		#3	[url]	[-]
Posts: 175 01/29/2009 13:14	Stephen, Another way to check the depth of cut is to modify your depth gauge base. Put a groove on the bottom that goes across the hole. Put the round tip back on the depth gauge and zero on a flat surface. You can then check the depth of cut and check for any side-to-side variance by putting the base against the bottom of the plane and the tip of the depth gauge on the blade edge. Hope that makes sense. Scott
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franklin		#4	[url]	[-]
Posts: 14 01/29/2009 13:15	Tom Those Clifton Planes are great, which one are you using? Cheers Paul
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thegubster		#5	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1538 01/29/2009 14:20	Stephen, Non rodmaker here but I've done tons of handplaning from a prior woodworking craze. I'd bought a handfull of bench planes for furniture-making. First thing I did was bust off that lever thingy as it's too crude for extremely fine adjusting. Not saying this will be the case with the 9 1/2's, of which I have a few but the lesson is the same. When I go to tweaking sideways I'll simply use "feel" and a tapping tool. Mine is a hard maple sanding block, 2 1/2"x 4" x 3/4" thk. I just "tap" gently ...REALLY gently...and you'll get the touch. I can adjust this way to shave a layer of varnish in half. True! Same goes for the depth adj. When you get close, first I simply plane a sliver off the edge/corner off of a straight piece of scrap lumber and "feel" the tiny sliver of wood come off. Do this on both extreme edges of your 2" wide blade...you'll level it this way. No tools..simple and failsafe! Then if you need to back it up do so by reversing your screw..but you need to remove the "slop" in the screw/blade slot first. You'll "feel" it get loose until she begins to engage the blade to withdraw it. "Feel" it...nudge it..nearly imagine it if all you need is a smidgen to back-up! Same with setting her deeper. Crank the screw in a tad until she "just begins" to touch the blade. Then...you got it..it's that "Feel" thungy again. Screw a bit firmer and you'll go deeper... You can cut a layer of varnish in half like this....yes you can! And if that gives you trouble do as I do with "crude" adjustments to some bench planes...a tiny "Tap" on top of the blade and she goes deeper a...smidgen. again..."Feel". You're a rodmaker, I'm just a wood butcher... You'll be surprised at how much a blade will move by just a tiny bit of a tap! Of course, you can't have that cam lever holding the blade down so hard that it'll bend the blade, obviously. Again, that doesn't take much to hold it either! Test 'em, you'll see. I used to "tap" the heel or toe on my metal planes much as the old timers did on their wedged planes..and you sometimes can to fin-fine tune a blade... but this is even more precise. "Feel" it! Jeremy. edit. As Tom said, I have also just bought a few L/N planes w/groove (yeah, I like tools..) and can't believe how incredibly well they're made. Amazing. Unused as yet due to health troubles but I'm hoping... Last Edited By: thegubster 01/29/2009 14:29. Edited 2 times.
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FlyDoctor	Tune up	#6	[url]	[-]
Posts: 546 01/29/2009 17:33	Take a look at this: Tuning a plane
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BigTJ		#7	[url]	[-]
Posts: 710 01/29/2009 18:04	Jeremy, Sorry to hear you have been dealing with health issues, hope those get resolved. Be careful with those grooved sole planes, you have to plane with the groove parallel to the forms. If you plane at an angle, like you are probably used to with wood, the groove will act like a shim and throw your angles off. Flydoctor, Great video, good for new/used Stanley planes and also for planes that have seen some wear - all need a tune up sooner or later. Of course those steps are not needed for a new Lie-Nielsen planes and would only result in unnecessary wear. For a L-N plane, put a mirror finish on the back of the blade with 6,000 and 8,000 stones, hone the secondary bevel, and start planing. Only after a lot of planing or accidental damage have I had to re-tune my L-N's, and then only the soles.
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Stephen Veefkind		#8	[url]	[-]
Posts: 42 01/29/2009 20:46	Thanks for the info guys. Which Lie Nielsen is the best to use? They have quite a wide selection. Tom, I didn't get to meet you at the Catskill Gathering. Hopefully next year!
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BigTJ		#9	[url]	[-]
Posts: 711 01/29/2009 21:13	I use the 9.5 adjustable mouth block plane and the 212 scraper plane. I just ordered the non-adjustable mouth #103. Some guys also use the smaller bench planes #2's and #3's, I would probably buy a #2 if I had not just bought a power bevelling machine. Evidently those bench planes are great for cutting off lots of material for roughing. Maybe Tom will chime in here, as indicated above, he uses bench planes. Anyway back to your question if I had to buy only one L-N it would be the 9.5 adjustable mouth w/out the rodmaker's groove. Whether or not it's L-N's "best" is debatable, but it's a heck of a good plane for rodmaking. Oh yeah their blades are real nice, too, about as good as you can find. -John
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canerodscom		#10	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1964 01/29/2009 21:19 Bamboo preacher	Buying a new plane may or may not help. If you even once sharpen the iron at a slight skew, then some of the instructions above will not work. Even with a superbly engineered and well-tuned plane you need to set it up correctly after every sharpening. Like Jeremy, I tap the sides to move the blade from side to side. And I tap the nose and heel to move the blade in or out. But I use the plastic handle from a cheapie screwdriver to do the tapping. Also I keep the cap iron cam fairly loose. One hand should provide plenty of leverage. Below is an excerpt from a blog post I made recently on getting and keeping correct angles while planing strips: It seems simple - insert the iron and move it laterally until it protrudes from the sole of the plane evenly. But because the bedding surfaces on hand planes are rarely perfect, and because the cutting edges of your plane may not be square with the sides of the iron, just sighting the iron from below doesn't always work. Instead, insert the iron until it barely protrudes. Next, gently take some metal shavings off your planing forms. Remember, the blade in your plane irons is made from harder metal than your planing forms. When sharp your irons will gently take a few microns of steel off the top of the forms. You know the forms are flat, and you want the plane to work down to that surface. What you'll notice is that the plane iron will likely shave more on one side of the forms than the other. Adjust the blade laterally until it cuts right at the groove on the forms. Ideally it should cut on both sides of the groove and all the way across. But as long as it cuts at the groove, we're okay. I know some of you cringe at the thought of allowing your irons to touch steel planing forms. Make a few sections with gaping glue lines from incorrectly adjusted planes, and you'll get over it. :-) Harry Harry Boyd maker@canerods.com http://www.canerods.com http://www.canerods.blogspot.com http://www.bamboorodschool.com
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BigTJ		#11	[url]	[-]
Posts: 712 01/29/2009 22:28	Harry, Why not do what you suggest for testing the depth on a piece of wood or plastic or some other soft material? It seems like your planing forms would be one of the last things you would want to add additional wear to (next to the paint job on your car). Besides, planing shavings with either side of the blade and checking thickness does exactly the same thing as you suggested, only you can actually directly measure the error between the cuts instead of estimating the cut error by looking at the scratches. The only assumption I'm making is that the cutting surface is not concave or convex, and you can check that with a straightedge. This is an important point that Steve has brought up because when I started I though I could just line up the blade with the throat and go to town. That is nearly always not the case. Adjusting the skew until both sides of the blade allows the blade to be compensated for sharpening skew or any other ailments like a frog that's off a bit. I got through this early on because I had a lousy sharpening jig, without compensating I could not consistently produce good 60's, I knew my plane was parallel and the frog was good so it had to be the blade. My sharpening jig now gives me a perfectly square blade, but I still check the shavings because it's the only way I know for sure my blade is cutting true and square. Now if I get out of whack on my 60's it my own fault not the plane's.
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canerodscom		#12	[url]	[-]
Posts: 1968 01/30/2009 00:15 Bamboo preacher	John, No reason not to check another way. But my forms are usually pretty handy when I'm planing strips. And buggering up the forms really is not an issue. Harry Harry Boyd maker@canerods.com http://www.canerods.com http://www.canerods.blogspot.com http://www.bamboorodschool.com
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fishbum		#13	[url]	[-]
Posts: 247 01/30/2009 00:53	canerodscom wrote: I know some of you cringe at the thought of allowing your irons to touch steel planing forms. Make a few sections with gaping glue lines from incorrectly adjusted planes, and you'll get over it. :-) Harry There is a class of tools called "consumables" that inclides drill bits, end mills, milling cutters, counter sinks, center drills, saw blades, lathe turning bits, chisels, and yes, plane irons. Cutting tools are consumed making a product. How fast they are consumed depends on how they are used. fishbum
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laxdad		#14	[url]	[-]
Posts: 37 01/30/2009 09:47	Not to belabor the point but on very fine work, I use a test piece of the same material I'm finishing and mic the shaving right and left until I get it to the thickness I need . Adjust as others have said, tap, tap, tap. Must have a sharp blade....real sharp. George
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Tom Smithwick	Ideal Plane?	#15	[url]	[-]
Posts: 465 01/30/2009 10:33	Hi Paul - I use a Clifton #4, but one of these days I'll break down and get the #3, which I think is about right for rodmaking. I do have a #2 Lie Nielson, which works great, but I can't get my hands around the handle, and had to use a modified grip which was not the most comfortable. I have a LN #1 too, which makes a very pretty paperweight:) For the last few passes, however, it's the LN adjustable mouth block plane. I would hate to be without it.
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Stephen Veefkind		#16	[url]	[-]
Posts: 43 01/30/2009 11:58	When i first got my 9 1/2, I flattened the sole as many of you have posted. This morning, I tuned it up further, according to the video that the good Fly Doctor posted. I have also removed the side to side adjustment lever, so I can tap my adjustments as many of you have suggested. I think that in the end, I'll end up using the Stanley for my intermediate and near final work, and get the L-N for the final 10 thousanths or so. I end up taking more shavings off my form than I care to (thanks to bludgeon hands), so I think I'll use bamboo shavings to test the adjustment of my blade. I'm not so sure that having the blade slightly askew is a bad thing, though. You can start at one edge of the blade, and slide it down the strip until you begin to get the finest shaving. If you need to take a little more off, slide the blade slightly more to the side. What do you think of this? Will it throw off the 60 deg angle?
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BigTJ		#17	[url]	[-]
Posts: 719 01/31/2009 12:59	Stephen, My experience is yes, if the blade isn't taking the same amount off both sides of the blade it will throw off your 60's. Try it on some scrap, see if you can keep your 60's with your proposed technique, that is the only true way to be sure. Good luck, -John
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Making fine adjustments with Stanley 9 1/2

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