Smoothing Plane question

**watson** · 6th April 2007, 09:21 PM

G'day,
I had my first play with a smoothing plane yesterday.....fun......no ear muffs required...very pleasurable.
I have a Bailey's No 3 which is a long term refurbishment WIP, and I know nothing about the set-up etc except what I can glean from the forum. So in my local hardware I find a smoothing plane already without rust that I could use to find out how they work.
I Paid $14:95 for a No 4 Medallist Smoothing Plane ( Made in China by Illegal Mexican Immigrants smuggled across the North Korean Border) Bad!!!!
But using notes from the forum, I set it up as well as I could and it takes off curly bits of wood. Lovely!
Then it started to play up a bit, and I noticed some slivers of wood stuck between the back of the blade and the body of the plane.
The question:
Should I move the blade back towards the rear of the body aperture??
Total Plane novice.....(please do not quote this as a Darkside Conversion)

**rat52** · 6th April 2007, 09:36 PM

Watson, If you are a machinest/toolmaker you could with a lot of work make a half decent plane out of the medalist.

My advice is to buy a decent plane (lie nielson, veratis,stanley etc) or buy The Complete Guide to Sharpening by Leonard Lee.

Chapter 7 gives teriffic advise on tuning a plane.

**watson** · 6th April 2007, 09:51 PM

Thanks Rats,
I will probably send the thing to scrap heaven, once I work out what all the knobs do.
But until I get the Bailey fixed up, this is the only assembled plane I have, and I'm really chuffed that I got it to work at all!
Thanks for the book advice....I'll have a look at it ( as though I need another book He Hee)
The finish on the wood I was mucking about with was great for a bit of manual "swish swish!

**ozwinner** · 6th April 2007, 09:53 PM

Originally Posted by watson

Should I move the blade back towards the rear of the body aperture??

If you do the mouth of the plane will open up an not cut correctly.

Al, Also not a darksider.

**watson** · 6th April 2007, 10:03 PM

Thanks AL,
Does that mean I should have less of an opening, (in other words move the blade closer to the front of the slot) and raise the blade a little??
I've searched the forum posts, but I think I'm being too specific in my search.
I was having real amounts of fun until it clogged up too!

**Groggy** · 6th April 2007, 10:05 PM

Originally Posted by watson

Then it started to play up a bit, and I noticed some slivers of wood stuck between the back of the blade and the body of the plane.

Are you sure the slivers were behind the blade and not the lever cap? Most unusual to get what you described.

**ozwinner** · 6th April 2007, 10:10 PM

From what Ive read a small plane mouth is ideal in getting fine shavings, all the gooder planes come with an adjustable mouth.

Al

**watson** · 6th April 2007, 10:19 PM

G'day Groggy,
I'll take a photo in the cold light of day with the stuff still stuck there. That may explain it better.
For AL,
As for the adjustable mouth.......I bet that's what those two screws are for.
Told you I was a complete plane novice.
Sorry to be such a nerd, but the 1/2 hour it cut well were very pleasing and almost bloody peaceful........hope she doesn't find out about it!!
Will post a photo of what I mean in the AM

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