Thread: A Block Plane dilemma

If you bought it new is returning it an option ?

Good evening Brett,

I have no suggestion at all.

But, I have a question. Let's suppose that you actually get the blade square, that means one side of the blade to the mouth is 1 mm further apart than the other side, would that matter at all in term of the surface finished?

Cheers and good luck

...behai.

Originally Posted by Pac man

If you bought it new is returning it an option ?

Nope. $43 direct from China (inc freight). Hardly a big hit.

To be honest, junk it and chalk it up to experience. It's not worth mucking around with. As you say, the casting is skew whif and no amount of filing is going to produce a satisfactory result. Maybe you could try and get into one of the group buys and get a.................never mind

"So, it seems to me that the best thing to do would be to file the mouth of the left hand side (using perpendicular to the sole strokes, until it is even. This would mean that the back of the mouth is slightly thicker on the left, but I can't see that this would matter at all."


Brett this won't change the angle of the bed, so although the mouth will look even, the blade will end up in the same spot. Does the blade seat well on the bed?

Its just like a tiny skew plane isnt it? With a 1-2 degree angle???

The test to see if it matters - is to set it up, and take a shaving on the extreme left of a thin (say 1/8") stick. Then take a shaving on extreme right of the blade. If both shavings are same thickness then the angle doesnt matter.

If it does seem even, then you could file open the front of the mouth, so your 1-2 degree skew plane looks even!

Nick

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Evening all

I have a Woodriver Block Plane, which for the cost of it, is a beauty (the surface it leaves is immaculate).

However, there is a problem with the mouth:
...
This whole situation also probably means that the bed is slightly skewif, and that's not too good. I have noticed that to get the blade straight out of the bottom that there is a rather disturbing angle to the blade in relation to the plane body - and the edge of the blade is definitely square to its side.

What say you?

Just trying to understand the pics ... it is a block plane with a moving toe section?
and the uneven bit that you are showing is behind the mouth?

and you think that the bed is not on an 'even incline' relative to the sole?

- You could get Chris Vesper to mill it flat ... (see The Schwarz blog)
- You could shim the other side somehow? auto bog?
- return or sell and replace

but otherwise ... it "is a beauty (the surface it leaves is immaculate)"

Firstly, I probably should have said that it takes great shavings, and does the intended job. This is more of a problem for setting - visually it throws me off. Obviously the bed is a bit out of whack, and the blade seems to stick out more on one side than the other (because of the bed). But somehow it performs!

Originally Posted by behai

Let's suppose that you actually get the blade square, that means one side of the blade to the mouth is 1 mm further apart than the other side, would that matter at all in term of the surface finished?

I don't think so behai, because it's behind the blade, just the same as if the mouth was chipped behind the blade it mkaes no difference.

Originally Posted by NCArcher

To be honest, junk it and chalk it up to experience. Mayyybeee, not going to give in quite so quickly though
Maybe you could try and get into one of the group buys and get a.................never mind

Yairrss, what do you have in mind? LN? LV?

Originally Posted by nick_b00

Brett this won't change the angle of the bed, understood
so although the mouth will look even, the blade will end up in the same spot. That's really the point - because it throws me off it's really hard to remeber how I set it the last time.
Does the blade seat well on the bed? I guess it must do.

The test to see if it matters - is to set it up, and take a shaving on the extreme left of a thin (say 1/8") stick. Then take a shaving on extreme right of the blade. If both shavings are same thickness then the angle doesnt matter. Will do, and I think this will make or break. Good idea Nick.

If it does seem even, then you could file open the front of the mouth, so your 1-2 degree skew plane looks even!

Originally Posted by pmcgee

Just trying to understand the pics ... it is a block plane with a moving toe section? Yes
and the uneven bit that you are showing is behind the mouth? Yes

and you think that the bed is not on an 'even incline' relative to the sole? Yes

This is starting to sound like "Who am I"

- You could get Chris Vesper to mill it flat ... (see The Schwarz blog) I'd spend that dough on a replacement
- You could shim the other side somehow? auto bog? I think that would be too hard to get right
- return eez no possible
or sell I wouldn't do that to someone, but I might give it to the local Men's Shed, unless of course you want to buy it...

but otherwise ... it "is a beauty (the surface it leaves is immaculate)" well, yeah, it's a bit bizarre

Stick down a thin strip of paper on the low side ... see how much that straightens it ...

try two ... glue down, job done

I have japanese planes shimmed with paper ... probably ciggie papers ...

Cheers,
Paul

I'm seeing it this way.

It looks like the bed has been cut on a slight slope from the left down to the right, which is the way it's done for a skew mouth plane and the blade has to be ground to match.
Or it could be that the sole is not square to it's edges ? and the bed is right.
I think you could grind the blade and say you have the rare skew model

Its annoying to buy gear then have to spend time on it to make it work though, I had to work on a new thickness gauge for an hour to get it working once.[Hong Kong] The worst case of cheap crap I had was buying push bike lights from Hong Kong off eBay. they looked exactly the same in the pictures but when I got them they were 30% smaller and the plastic was so brittle I broke them taking them out of the wrapper . Never again

Rob

Originally Posted by auscab

It looks like the bed has been cut on a slight slope from the left down to the right Yes
Or it could be that the sole is not square to it's edges ? and the bed is right. Doubt it - the bed would be the difficult thing to grind, therefore prone to error. I'll check it though
I think you could grind the blade and say you have the rare skew model Look, if I'm going to be skewed, then I want to be seriously skewed, not just a bit of a list to the left.

Its annoying to buy gear then have to spend time on it to make it work though Too often yes, but sometimes (like this) it's a bit a fun challenge when it's as cheap as it was, and produces the results that it can, and really satisfying when you can fix it.

Thanks Rob.

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Yairrss, what do you have in mind? LN? LV?

I have a number of block planes. I don't know why, I just have a thing for them OK.
I can recommend the No. 65 with a knuckle cap (I have two of those) or a No. 140 (four of those). I suppose the LN equivalent of the 140 will do.
I quite like the idea of filing the mouth to tidy it up and then grinding the blade to suit. It will be a Minute Skew Block or MSB. It may perform beyond all expectations and make you very rich....except that I just filed the patent application

Originally Posted by NCArcher

....except that I just filed the patent application

Go your hardest...I'll settle for filing the mouth methinks.

Geez, some blokes like to fuss!
Here you have a 43 dollar, good performer, but you're upset because it holds it's mouth a bit crooked. It would seem that you can compensate for the slightly skewed bed within the range of lateral adjustment, so why bother grinding the blade skew? Many of my plane blades are slightly skew (I try to get them dead square, but somehow I often end up with less than perfect ). I reckon that's why the good lord of planery gave us lateral adjusters?

Seriously, apart from it's visual annoyance, it doesn't affect its function once the blade is correctly set. It would be a hanging offence if the sides are not square to the sole & you wanted to use it as a mini shooting plane as I do with my blocks. I seem to remember Rob Lee mentioning in a post here, a while back, that machining the beds accurately in LA planes was a bit of a hassle & caused them some grief, on some of their planes......

Cheers,

Here's a simple fix get a sharpie. Set the plane up. Inside the plane draw a reference line on each side of the blade and one that corresponds on the plane body. That way you can refer to the marks each time you take the blade out.