Lee valley scraping plane

[Pac man]

Could someone who has one please measure the aperture and clamping mechanism and let me know if it's possible to fit a 9/64" Or 3.5719 mm thick blade?
The lv thick blade is 1/8 Or 3.175 mm but I would like to know if there is at least 1/64 or 0.4 mm approx more room to fit a thick blade I have - before I buy the plane

[mat]

The mouth is approx 1 cm wide. I have the thin blade approx 1.4mm
There is plenty of clamping capacity for a blade as you describe. I don't think you will have any trouble fitting it in.

[Pac man]

Cheers mat

[IanW]

Hi P-M, sorry, been away for a few days attending daughter #2's wedding, so have had my eye off woodworking issues...

Anyway, I went down to the shed & tried blade-like objects of various thicknesses in my plane, so you could have a second opinion. You can fit a 5mm thick blade in comfortably, but 5.5mm won't go through, so the 3.6mm gap you want is a shoe-in. The way the lever cap is pivoted about halfway along its length makes it look like you could shove a much thicker blade through, but a tad over 5mm is definitely the limit. Don't buy a 1/4" blade...

As mat said, the mouth is plenty wide enough, particularly as you won't be flexing (or trying to flex!) such a thick blade...
Cheers,

[Pac man]

Thanks Ian. I hope that all went well for your daughters celebrations.

[IanW]

... I hope that all went well for your daughters celebrations....

Weather gods smiled and gave her a beautiful balmy evening just right for a garden wedding (in Melbourne, in January!!), knot tied tightly, everyone happy, me sober enough not to look completely idiotic in every photo - all good!

Cheers,

Back on topic for a sec - I'd be interested to hear how your thick blade performs, when you've had a chance to put it through its paces. I'm pretty happy with the standard 'flexible' blade that comes with the plane, but it is sometimes prone to a bit of chatter. The thicker blade is supposed to control this. Also, if I remember correctly, the instructions that came with my plane recommended not using a burr on the cutting edge if you use their thicker blade. One of the reasons I've stuck with the thinner blade is that when you use the thumb-screw to bow the blade, it introduces a small camber, which gives the blade 'bite', with the result the cut automatically feathers out at the edges, like a hand-held scraper does, so you don't get any sharp lines between strokes. Using a thick blade which can't be flexed, implies to me that you will need to sharpen a slight camber on it (bit of a PITA with such a wide blade) in order to produce cuts with feathered edges.... (?)

[Pac man]

Using a thick blade which can't be flexed, implies to me that you will need to sharpen a slight camber on it (bit of a PITA with such a wide blade) in order to produce cuts with feathered edges.... (?)

From the lv instructions they recommend a small rounded corner on the thicker blade:

When sharpening a thick blade, we recommend that you round the corners of the blade to ensure they do not leave corner digs in the workpiece. (You may also do so on a thin blade, but it is unnecessary if you are going to bow the blade; see Bow Adjustment below). This is best accomplished by creating a small round at each end of the cutting edge as shown in Figure 5 when first preparing the bevel with a file or belt sander. Work the rounded corners as well as the cutting edge at each successive stage of honing.

Figure 5: Rounding the corners of the blade.

I'll you know how I go after it arrives.

[IanW]

.....From the lv instructions they recommend a small rounded corner on the thicker blade.....

When all else fails, eh?

It's been a while since I got mine, and I couldn't remember exactly, but I did recall something about getting rid of the sharp corners on the heavy gauge blade. Yairs, I will be interested to hear how your fat blade goes (or from anyone else who uses a thick blade in preference to the 'card scraper' blade that comes standard, for that matter). I've been getting around to trying one for several years, & a few enthusiastic reports may spur me to action...

Cheers,