Thread: One of those days

Christos,
It may be a couple of things. The blade may be sharpened at a slight angle so check this with a square. You can also try a slight offset between the blade and chip breaker to realign things. The plane gurus will tut tut but I have done this to get a quick fix. The other thing to check is if the frog square to the plane body otherwise you have a built in skew.
The blade should be sharpened with a slight crown or bow to the cutting edge. The idea is the center takes slightly more wood then the edges and you dont get those lines between passes on wide boards. If you can not get the crown thing happening with the sharpening then just very lightly round off the corners of the blade. Couple of strokes on the side of the stone (so as not to score the face of it) before you hone. Another one not in the bible but I have seen some chippies do it.
Regards
John

Hi Christos - I would have suggested a problem with the plane sole, if it had been only the one plane, but having an identical problem with two planes suggests it's something you're doing. Orraloon's suggestion of a skewed frog is good, however, you still ought to be able to get the blade even with the lateral adjuster, unless it's really off (but the screw slots usually won't allow you to slew the frog too much).

My first thought is that you have put an uneven crown on your blades, hence the one-side only cutting. Personally, I don't like crowned blades, except on scrub planes, the most I do is to duff the corners slightly on smoothers.

When setting a blade, I start with it set a bit coarse, then sight the protruding blade from the front. If you hold it up towards a bright but diffuse light source, the blade should show as a dark line sticking up above the sole. Get it dead straight & even with the lateral adjustor, then back off slightly before taking a test cut. The less you have protruding the more accurately you can get it even, so have just enough sticking out that you can see it easily. Some people advocate sighting from the back because you can see the reflection off the bevel better, but I have always been a front-sighter, & it works for me....

If your blade protrusion looks even, and you are still only cutting on one side, then either you have two very strange planes, or we are going to have to splint your wrists & back to stop you from leaning too heavily on them...

Cheers,

I have been thinking about what I am doing wrong for a little part of the day. Seems strange to go through the motion of using a plane with out a plane. Something like air guitar?

I will be in the shed on Saturday so lets hope all that air planeing has worked.

Originally Posted by IanW

I
or we are going to have to splint your wrists & back to stop you from leaning too heavily on them...

As Ian hinted and you possibly did so in your first post.
Tired and wrong stance.

Originally Posted by IanW

When setting a blade, I start with it set a bit coarse, then sight the protruding blade from the front. If you hold it up towards a bright but diffuse light source, the blade should show as a dark line sticking up above the sole. Get it dead straight & even with the lateral adjustor, then back off slightly before taking a test cut.

I tried this and started to get cuts in the middle of the plane. Also checked my stance and the way that I was holding the plane. After two hours of plane work on the pieces that I am currently on I started to get some nice full width shaving.

I rechecked that the frog was square and sitting in the plane snuggly. I think that I might need to resharped the blade at a later stage. But at least this task is done.

Thank you guys for the advise and help provided.