No 4 Bailey

[Dale Cruea]

My son gave me a No 4 and a No 5 Bailey plane last year.
He picked it up when he was on vacation in Maine.

When it arrived I honed the blades and they worked great.

I liked the No4 so well I purchased a Hock blade and chip breaker for it.
I could never get the No 4 to work again.
I sat it back and worked on it several times over the year.

Finally I removed the Hock blade and installed it in the No 5.
Works fine. I use it as a scrub plane.

Today I needed a No 4 plane.

The only blade and chip breaker I had was the old one from the No 5. The standard one from the No 4 was bent also.
I honed the blade and put it in the No 4 and it works great. Just like it did when my son sent it to me.

Any reason why the No 4 would not work with the Hock blade and chip breaker?

Dale

[Harold Burrell]

Did you adjust the mouth/frog when you installed the Hock blade? The Hock blade and chip breaker are thicker than the originals.

[David Myers]

The Hock blade/breaker combo is thicker than the original. Some folks have to adjust the frog and/or the mouth opening to provide clearance for shavings.

Also make sure the blade/breaker assembly is seated flat on the frog.

[Jim Koepke]

I liked the No4 so well I purchased a Hock blade and chip breaker for it.
I could never get the No 4 to work again.
I sat it back and worked on it several times over the year.

What was it that wasn't working?

As others have suggested the blade is thicker than the original.

There are many problems that could be caused by this one aspect. Your shavings could be clogging. It could also have a problem clearing the lateral adjusting disk. Finally some people have experienced problems with the adjustment yoke not engaging the notch in the chip breaker.

There are so many modes involved with "not working," that a more in depth description would be needed to trouble shoot beyond guesses at common problems.

Do you know the type (date) of the #4 & 5 you have?

jtk

[Dale Cruea]

I opened the mouth a little for the thicker blade.
I checked the blade to frog and it was seated well.
I had to grind and file the chip breaker screw a little shorter to clear the cap iron.
The blade and chip breaker seemed to fit in the plane well.
I could not get it to cut.

One time it would take a shaving and the next pass it would either not take a shaving or dig in and stall.
I could not get it to work smoothly or consistently.

Works great now.

Must have been something I was over looking.

I never tracked down what style it was.

DAle

[Jim Koepke]

One time it would take a shaving and the next pass it would either not take a shaving or dig in and stall.
I could not get it to work smoothly or consistently.

Things that come to mind from this description.

One is the chip breaker screw wasn't tightened as much as needed.

Second would be the lever cap screw may have also been loose.

Finally, it could have been the frog. Loose mounting screws or set too far back so the blade wasn't supported properly.

But if it is working well now, the last thing you should do is to try and fix it.

jtk

[Dale Cruea]

Jim,
I tried everything I knew about hand planes to get it to work.
I may try to Hock blade again later, but for now it works and I like it.

Thanks for all of the ideas.


Dale