Thread: Wooden Plane - The Wedge is Stuck

pour a bit of light oil or wd40 where the wedge touches the plane, and then gently tap the sides of the wedge so that the oil can pentrate down to the bottom, after some time and gentle taps hopefully it comes out.

Yvan, can you get the wedge into a vise (plane upside down)? If so, then wack the rear hard.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Use a Wooden or rubber mallet , hold plane In the air , off the bench and hit real hard out on top in front of blade or behind on its rear end . Ive never seen it fail . I’ve hit them real hard before , I’ve never damaged them with the right mallets like the ones I mentioned .
The only other thing that may help is to leave it in a sunny spot behind a window for half an hour then try again .
I suppose that could also be potentially making the body shrink and grab the wedge tighter , if left to long .

This usually works. Turn plane upside down holding wedge and iron in right hand. Tap front end of plane on the bench edge while pulling down with the right hand. You can tap it quite hard if thats what it takes. Wedge and iron will/should come out in you'r hand.
By the way I just did up a 22'' preston about 6 weeks ago. Really lovely plane. Think I like it more than my No7
Regards
John

Any photos John? You can't just drop a tidbit like that and then walk away

Yes major misdemeanor without pics.
Sorry no work in progress post as there was not all that much to do apart from a general clean up, flatten the sole, sharpen the blade, fettle the chipbreaker edge and a new strike button.
Its about the same length and weight as my No7 and feels nice to use. It just eats as much wood as you care to feed it.
Regards
John

Your plane looks to be in excellent condition, otherwise my first suspicion would be rust on the cap-iron causing it to jam. Another possibility is that someone got bit over-enthusiastic with the BLO & got down & dried between blade & wedge, or wedge & abutment, or all of he above. This might sound counter-intuitve, but if it's a tapered blade, as I suspect, you might do better tapping the blade itself forward a little first, which should loosen it a little, then use the standard whack on the toe button or the back.

In the front view, the brass boss for the lever cap screw looks like it's jammed well up into the cleft in the wedge, I would expect to see a bit more clearance than that. I wonder if someone has fiddled with the wedge?

Anyway, keep persisting (with due caution), never met one yet that didn't give up & come quietly eventually!

Cheers,

I will first make apologies for hijacking the thread. I was asked for picks so put them up but that is not the OP's plane. We have not seen pics of it yet. I think he still has the wedge problem. I was just pointing out that they are really nice planes.
Regards
John

My fault for not checking properly. I thought the pics were of the plane in question. It did seem to be in spanking condition for a plane needing restoring!

Quietly leaves room & shuts door......

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Yvan, can you get the wedge into a vise (plane upside down)? If so, then wack the rear hard.

Regards from Perth

Derek

I will try this Derek. I am slowly coming to the conclusion that I may not have "tapped" hard enough!!!

Yvan

Originally Posted by orraloon

I will first make apologies for hijacking the thread. I was asked for picks so put them up but that is not the OP's plane. We have not seen pics of it yet. I think he still has the wedge problem. I was just pointing out that they are really nice planes.
Regards
John

I have not tried any of the suggested methods above yet but will do as soon as I can get to my shed! Orraloon, my plane is so similar, except for the handle which is a closed handle. I will post pics.

Cheers Yvan

Thank you very much everyone for all the suggestions, most appreciated. I am sure that one of the methods will succeed.

Cheers Yvan

PS Pics to follow!

Well, I tried to hold the plane in my vice as the "Derek Method" suggests but it was quite awkward so I tried the "Auscab Method" holding the plane in the air and whacked its rear end several times with a cylindrical wooden mallet: nothing seemed to move much! I then switched to the "Orraloon Method", tapping the front end on the wedge of my bench: not much movement either I thought. I then tapped each side of the wedge with the mallet, no too hard mind, and saw it budge. It finally dislodged after a few more taps from side to side. Thank you gentlemen for the suggestions!

Whole plane.jpgPlane Sole.jpgPlane with wedge removed.jpgPlane Blade.jpg

A few pics of the plane with funny orientations !!

Cheers Yvan

That looks to be in pretty good overall condition. Probably good to go with just a sharpen. How much of a refurb had you planned?
Regards
John