nicker for #10

[bridger berdel]

so I have this #10.
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got it off craigslist for $40, which as it turns out might have been too much. it's a pretty late model, plastic handles, chrome lever cap.... it had a huge hollow in the sole, so I flaked it flat.
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now it's good and flat. the cutter was too narrow for the body. the factory, almost unused cutter, was too narrow. A kindly galoot set me up with a vintage one that reaches the sidewalls.
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I made a run of walnut totes. one of them is on this plane now. I'll make knobs One Of These Days Real Soon Now.


anyway, it works OK, but it seems to be a bit vague about where the shoulder is. that is, if I set up a batten and knife the shoulder line it cuts pretty cleanly, but when that knife line bottoms out the shoulder cut gets ragged and doesn't track. this plane is great as it is for cleaning up saw marks on a sawn rabbet, and maybe that is all it was meant to be good for, but I was hoping for more. seems to me that if it just had nickers, like the #10-1/2 I think has, sinking rabbets would be a reasonable task for this plane. so I'm thinking of getting a set of nickers and mortising them into the sides. I have a functional mill-drill, which should be adequate for the task. I think the location for the nicker would be centered over the reinforcing rib just ahead of the mouth. I know that these planes are fragile and prone to side wall cracks at the mouth, so it does make me a bit nervous.

any thoughts?

[Jim Matthews]

Rather than drill and tap the casting,
why not clamp on more robust blades?

You could use something so coarse as X-acto blades,
or something as fine as a honed marking gauge blade.

If they are angled "inward" slightly, the point
can be made to intersect the cut line at the depth
of the plane iron.

I think your hesitation about inducing stress at the opening is warranted.

[Jim Koepke]

My understanding is none of these ever had knickers installed at the factory.

Not sure what may be causing the difficulty you are experiencing.

The frog and the plastic handles indicate yours is possibly made in the last few years of production for the "carriage rabbet" planes.

My method to set the blade on this or any rabbet plane is to press the side of the plane that will be against the side of the rabbet flat on the bench. This will keep the blade from cutting the wall deeper than is wanted.

Surely this method gets a lot of flack from people who use a different method. If nothing else, there will be a lot of ways of setting up a rabbet plane discussed and you can try them all to see what works best for you.

Other problem spots could be the blade having a slight camber or not cutting all the way to the edge. A rabbet plane needs to cut square to avoid wandering.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

My method to set the blade on this or any rabbet plane is to press the side of the plane that will be against the side of the rabbet flat on the bench. This will keep the blade from cutting the wall deeper than is wanted.

Surely this method gets a lot of flack from people who use a different method. If nothing else, there will be a lot of ways of setting up a rabbet plane discussed and you can try them all to see what works best for you.

Other problem spots could be the blade having a slight camber or not cutting all the way to the edge. A rabbet plane needs to cut square to avoid wandering.

jtk

I was taught to have the blade protrude slightly into the side of the rabbet,
to prevent a series of "steps" cut into the wall.

If the blade doesn't cut the side wall, and steps are made,
a final pass with the plane on it's side will clean up the rabbet to the gauged line.

If it cuts deeply into the wall, you're better at sharpening than I.

[bridger berdel]

It's definitely from the post decline period. On the up side, I'm not concerned about ruining it's collector value.

[Jim Koepke]

I was taught to have the blade protrude slightly into the side of the rabbet

My experience is that after pressing any of my rabbet planes on their sides, the blade does protrude slightly from the plane.

If for some reason it doesn't, then a thin piece of paper on either side of the blade while the plane is on its side can be used to get some protrusion.

jtk

[bridger berdel]

It may be that with practice I'll get nice shoulders with it. Still, I'm intrigued by the idea of adding nickers.

[Jim Matthews]

Keep us posted, it's an interesting idea.

Since the buy in cost was low,
it's an ideal experiment.

The upside is high, if it works.

I wonder if you could achieve a similar result by milling
the sides of the sole, to a 3-4 thousandths deep relief?