Wooden shoulder planes: Leave room for lateral adjustment? How proud of sides?

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

I'm building a laminated shoulder plane around a 1" wide blade I made out of 3/16" 1084 steel. The blade turned out well, seems I managed to get the heat treating right, but I made it a while ago while making some other tools and it's been on the shelf nagging me to finish for too long.

I have some oak I already resawed that is just a little overly thick, perfect since I can sneak in on the size. I just don't know what that size is!

I know the blade should be just proud of the body on the sides. How much?

Lateral adjustments: how much wiggle room should the stem of the blade have, side to side? Do I make it a flush fit and rely on the squareness of the body and of the blade edge or do I want to be able to adjust the blade laterally?

Thank you!
Fitzhugh

[Steve Voigt]

Hi fitz,
The iron should be .015-.025 wider than the stock. You want the iron at the point of the cut to protrude about .010 past the side of the plane. You want the iron to have clearance both in thickness and in height, so the sides of the iron should make about an 85* - 88* angle with the unbeveled face of the iron, and the iron an inch above the cut should be maybe .010 - .020 narrower than at the cutting edge.
You definitely want lateral adjustment for the iron, at least 1/32 and 1/16 is better.

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

Steve, thank you. I appreciate you covering stuff I hadn't considered. As I recall, I based the iron on photos of Hock's iron, but clearly I didn't pay attention in class like I should have and missed the angle. Luckily I can add the clearance to the sides of the blade easily enough. I noticed Veritas shoulder plane irons are also beveled on those same side surfaces you brought up relieving. I wonder why?

I'm actually really glad I do want lateral adjustment as I just realized the stem is slightly wavy. Not such that I recognized it just holding it; I felt it rock just a little when holding it against the wood as I marked it out. I'll clean it up but this means I can get it as straight as I can in a bit, rather than after a protracted effort. Any issues and I'll do more.

I'm glad I finally got a replacement caliper. Wife asked what I'd use it for last night after I sat in the living room stripping it all apart and cleaning it (the foam in the case had degraded and left super fine dusty crud all over). I couldn't think of anything I actually needed one for in woodworking, though I knew there had been times I missed my broken one. Now I can say, "See? It was worth $15. So there!" It's a Mitutoyo that I would never trust to measure accurately if I were in a machine shop since I don't know how often it was used as a weapon or thrown in frustration but it's perfectly fine for what I'll use it for. It was cheap and fun to clean up. Took me a long time to get out of the habit of measuring with numbered sticks instead of gauging one piece off the other, but then it took me about as long again to replace my old caliper when I broke it.

Thanks again,
Fitzhugh

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

OK, silly question maybe but would you make it 1/16" total or per side?

[Steve Voigt]

The lateral adjustment? I would make it about 1/16 total.

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

Great, thanks! That's what I have by chance with the wood I'm using, left over from another project. I can always grind a bit off the stem later if needed but it helps to have a sense of what will work.

[steven c newman]

Mine is flush with the sideIMAG0051.jpgSeems to work ok

[Jim Matthews]

I was taught to have the side facing the shoulder sharp, and in contact with the board.
That way, it will shave the shoulder all the way "down" rather than cut a series
of steps. That's the way Matt Bickford explained it and it works for me.

If the blade isn't cutting the shoulder all the way down,
it's easy enough to turn the plane 90 degrees and even things out.

I just like the idea of getting it in one pass.

[Warren Mickley]

When I first read Steve's recommendation of .010 inches of clearance, I thought it was maybe not enough. So I went out and measured one of my rabbet planes, the first time it was measured in forty years of use. It turned out that it was actually less than .010, so I guess that is in the ballpark. I think the main thing is recognizing what happens when there isn't clearance. The rabbet tends to get narrower as you go down and the sidewall of the rabbet is not clean and crisp. As Jim says it is easier if you don't have to go back and clean up. Also if the blade is a little dull you need a little more clearance because that corner of the blade's edge is important and it tends to get rounded.

[george wilson]

My cast iron LN shoulder planes are .005" fat PER SIDE. But for wood,which swells,more would be better. The brass one I made is similar in clearance to the LN's.

[Fitzhugh Freeman]

Thanks for measuring and advising everyone.
Steve, I really like how you took a simple form and make it come together with just a few embellishments. However, I can't really make out how the sole and iron work out on the plane. Is there a fence on the far side?

Jim, you mean actually ace l have the side a second (or third) cutting edge?


I can't find the wood I was going to use for this so I'm making it out of some red oak I had. That means I won't be very disappointed is I have to remake it anyhow as I really don't like the wood very much.

[Jim Matthews]

.005" fat PER SIDE

Is that the thickness of A4 paper?