a belated christmas gloat

[John A. Callaway]

well... No thanks to the bad storm up north... my crhistmas present has arrived today. I can't wait to put it to work...





The No. 5 1/2



I also got the set of three japanese saws that LV sells .... and a saddle square and a mitre square to finish out the LV marker set... just didnt snap photos of them new at the in laws...

[gary Zimmel]

You are going to love that plane John. Congrats...

[Dan Andrews]

If that plane works as good as it looks (and I hear they do), You are in business! You must have been a very good boy this year.

[Gary Benson]

John,
If the shop were on fire, that plane would be the first item I would grab before running to safety. I use mine for nearly every bench planing task.
Congrats,
Gary

[Rick Erickson]

John,
If the shop were on fire, that plane would be the first item I would grab before running to safety. I use mine for nearly every bench planing task.
Congrats,
Gary

Nice Gary. It would be a hard choice between my family photos and my LN 5 1/2. It is an absolute joy to use. It is the perfect size/weight for almost any task.

[John A. Callaway]

well I am a little confused...maybe a tad frustrated.... It wont take a consistent shaving in a completely flat piece of walnut. Maybe I am just tired and should wait until tomorrow before I mess with it. The blade needs a final honing. The mouth was set so tight it wouldnt let any shaving of any thickness come through... so I had to move the frog back about a half a millimeter or so.... Light wouldnt even pass.... much less a shaving. When I got it to start cutting ... it would only grab a very thick shaving.... when I tried for a fluffy thin shaving it wouldnt even catch the board and start a shaving.

I guess my point is that my plane isnt ready to put to work out the box.... I think....

I dont know. Its been a long day today. I will start fresh with it tomorrow.

Dont get me wrong. I love the tool... I know it will work just fine. Maybe I am off my game tonight. This is one of those days where you just know to leave the bench and go relax.

[David Weaver]

Go over it and check that everything is tight and then sharpen it. It'll work. Make the mouth wide open, and make sure you're not getting a jamup of the shavings under the chipbreaker or anything. Sharp is really important.

The Lie Nielsen bench planes are really superb, and the 5 1/2 is a really nice one in the bunch - really nice feeling and very useful.

The only planes I've had that are really ready (sharp) out of the box have been some mujingfangs, but others of the same brand have needed tweaking more than sharpening, too.

[John A. Callaway]

well.... I went through the thing. I pulled out the water stones, and a file. I rounded the corners down the Schwarz way... kept the factory bevel and polished that blade up to a mirror finish. I moved the frog back open wide and started from there... got it to do a lot better... and I kept gradually tightening up the mouth till I got about the same as my jointer plane... a little under an 1/8 of light passing through the sole with the blade set to cut...I can get a good thick shaving with it in pine, walnut, and cherry.... but when I go to take a smooth thin shaving in all of those.... I can get a good shaving on the outside edges of the blade....And is not leaving plane tracks in the wood on either side of the blade..... but it isnt cutting in the middle... I know the plane iron is ground square.... but I am stumped....

The shooting board. Maybe the HAF or another blade with a different angle.... but it just chattered across walnut and pine.... would not take a shaving....and I tried turn the depth adjuster a hair at a time it went from not cutting to straight out digging in and getting stuck....

This probably has more to do with my lack of experience.... but I am open for suggestions... I will have to give tech support a call or something. My old number 8 with a original iron is easier to set up for a super fine shaving than my new LN.

It is a hurdle ... I will figure it out... or rather learn at some point.... But honestly.... this is getting a bit discouraging. These things are supposed to be a benchmark to compare and fettle your old planes to imitate results with... and I am missing it... this plane wasnt out of the box ready.

I am not ever going to bad mouth LN nor will I talk bad about the tool.... because I am sure it is operator error.... but I dont know what the error is in order to correct it.

[Jim Koepke]

well.... I went through the thing. I pulled out the water stones, and a file. I rounded the corners down the Schwarz way... kept the factory bevel and polished that blade up to a mirror finish. I moved the frog back open wide and started from there... got it to do a lot better... and I kept gradually tightening up the mouth till I got about the same as my jointer plane... a little under an 1/8 of light passing through the sole with the blade set to cut...I can get a good thick shaving with it in pine, walnut, and cherry.... but when I go to take a smooth thin shaving in all of those.... I can get a good shaving on the outside edges of the blade....And is not leaving plane tracks in the wood on either side of the blade..... but it isnt cutting in the middle... I know the plane iron is ground square.... but I am stumped....

The shooting board. Maybe the HAF or another blade with a different angle.... but it just chattered across walnut and pine.... would not take a shaving....and I tried turn the depth adjuster a hair at a time it went from not cutting to straight out digging in and getting stuck....

This probably has more to do with my lack of experience.... but I am open for suggestions... I will have to give tech support a call or something. My old number 8 with a original iron is easier to set up for a super fine shaving than my new LN.

It is a hurdle ... I will figure it out... or rather learn at some point.... But honestly.... this is getting a bit discouraging. These things are supposed to be a benchmark to compare and fettle your old planes to imitate results with... and I am missing it... this plane wasnt out of the box ready.

I am not ever going to bad mouth LN nor will I talk bad about the tool.... because I am sure it is operator error.... but I dont know what the error is in order to correct it.

Did you check the sole of the plane to make sure it is flat?

Even in the best makers facility an occasional mistake slips through. So, it may not be operator error. The good thing is no matter what the problem, LN will make it right.

Do you have another plane that uses the same size blade in order to test the blade in another plane or to use its blade in the new plane?

jtk

[John A. Callaway]

here is where I am now with the set up. This is my honing work with 4k and 8k waterstones and how the plane is currently set up ...











here are some shaving with Cherry, walnut, and southern yellow pine... the walnut shaving was cut a little thinner, in a different piece of walnut than what I originally started cutting into



and this is that small piece of walnut that I spent about 15 minutes with on one side.... I used the plane to flatten and smooth it all in one setting ....



So am I expecting to much out of this... or am I missing something. This plane is so well built.... but so hard to push across a piece of dry walnut no more than 8 inches long....

Suggestions... tips, or should I stop expecting miracles.... I am truly pleased with the lack of plane tracks. The way the frog and lateral adjuster work on these tools is nothing short of amazing. I guess what I am wondering is.... why doesnt this plane glide along effortlessly across the wood....? I have seen videos and clips of these tools in the hands of people who know what they are doing and It seems like I am having a much harder time with it....

[John A. Callaway]

the sole is dead flat. I dont have a machinist straight edge.... but to every rule I have it is flat. Hadnt thought to see if the blade will swap with my number 8 yet....

[David Weaver]

It will not swap with a #8 iron.

I can't see the very edge of the iron to tell if it's polished all the way to the edge on both sides, the microbevel that appears to be on it (if there is one) is very small.

Get a loupe or magnifying glass and make sure the polish goes all the way to the bleeding edge. The shavings look OK, but it is hard to tell at that thickness if you are at peak sharpness, a plane that is really not that sharp will cut continuous shavings. The board looks good, but evidence of sharpness will be there in the polish of the wood - everything that is not pores will be reflective, and the light is raking, but it is not in a complementary view to the camera (i'm not suggesting you do that, though, or all we will see is a bright spot if you have a good polish on the wood).

Go to a hardware store or a department store or a grocery store and go to the canning section and get some gulf/paraffin/canning wax. It will cut the friction on the sole to a small fraction of what it likely is now (if you haven't done that already).

There are two planes that are hard to push:
* a dull plane
* a heavy plane that's still sharp but that has a very flat sole and one without any wax on it at all

An iron has to be pretty dull in a 2 thousandth or less cut to be causing a lot more resistance than the sole of the plane, especially if you're bearing down on the plane as it gets harder to push.

[Jim Koepke]

Suggestions... tips, or should I stop expecting miracles.... I am truly pleased with the lack of plane tracks. The way the frog and lateral adjuster work on these tools is nothing short of amazing. I guess what I am wondering is.... why doesnt this plane glide along effortlessly across the wood....? I have seen videos and clips of these tools in the hands of people who know what they are doing and It seems like I am having a much harder time with it....

If you watch one of the LN plane demos in person you will know why it looks so effortless. Deneb Puchalski may out weigh me, but his weight is in his arms and shoulders, not in his belly and back side like me.

Have you tried rubbing a little candle wax on the bottom of your plane?

Another thought from looking at your pictures, if there is a back bevel on your blade or if it is not equally sharp all the way across, it will look square, but it will not cut clean like a properly sharpened blade.

jtk

[John A. Callaway]

yeah... I just watching the LN you tube videos with Deneb.... And I have caught a few things... One, I did not hone out a microbevel... So that is gonna happen soon.... Secondly... I need to actually flatten out my stones with some sandpaper and my marble plate.... that could very well be one big issue.... Secondly.... I really should go and get me a chunk of paraffin wax to see what that will do.

First though. Flatten my stones ...that hasnt been done since I bought them in January.... not properly anyway. So that may change things up. I do see shapton stones in my very near future.

It is amazing I have two very popluar books on sharpening and have read them both.... and I think I may just be so impatient to get the tool to work that I am overlooking simple but necessary things that make it work properly. A few days at work on the railroad and some patience would do me good right now.

Stay tuned. I will keep you guys up to date on what I can come up with.

thanks so far though.

[Don C Peterson]

Hang in there. Sharpening is the key, but it also has a bit of a learning curve. My $.02 is that I would encourage you not to get too wrapped around STUFF for sharpening, you can achieve good results with pretty minimal investment, and making a big investment in sharpening stuff will not produce miracles.