Disappointed with LV apron plane.

[Karl Fife]

The mouth of my LN #103 was also very wide. This made it harder to set it up for fine shavings. A while ago I shimmed the bed with 4 layers of 0.002" brass sheet (one piece folded 4 times and epoxied on). This closed the mouth up (and dropped the cutting angle from 20- to 19 degrees) ...
Derek

Of course you did. Just... awesome. A few things.
1.
"Lie-Nielsen #102.9 Medium-Angle Block Plane".
Since you have lowered the effective pitch of the blade bed, I believe you can't call it a 103 anymore. However, it's not quite low enough to be a 102. I think what you've got there is the world's first LN-102.9 :-) In all seriousness though, shim stock... Ain't it just the best stuff in the world? If my rocket ship were leaving for Mars, I'd be sure to grab duct tape and shim stock among a few other choice tools. It raises this question however: why not shim up both parts of the bed so your blade is co-planar to the machined bed. If you only shimmed the front, isn't the blade sitting cattywampus, supported only at the extreme leading edge?

2.
I'm actually surprised that there is *any* variation between yours and mine. If I were a gamblin' man I'd say a design *change* vs. a 102 vs. 103 thing. I suspect that once upon a time, somebody in Warren, ME said, "Yup. I think we need to smaller up this here mouth". No insider knowledge, just a W.A.G..

3.
As is par for the course in a forum of engineer-minded woodworkers, the blade discussion is largely academic. Anyone who uses up an entire blade without chipping, planing over nails, grinding it away etc., gets a free-beer coupon from yours truly (Just pay separate processing and handling).

[Karl Fife]

>> Why did this string become active after a year since a previous post.

Ah yes, the 'necro-post'.

I had been benefiting from the wisdom that everyone had shared as I researched these two planes. I gained a lot of insight from this particular thread, so when I saw the two tools side-by-side, I thought I'd share my observations. I really like them both, and either tool makes a surprisingly nice supplement to a full-size block plane.

[lowell holmes]

I'm not complaining, just curious.

[Jim Koepke]

Interesting how informational a thread approaching its one year anniversary can be.

One thought comes to mind of this being just the opposite of doing the same thing over and over again trying to get different results. Here we all do things in a different way while expecting to get similar results.

The problem of short useable blade is most noticeable for me on spokeshave blades. Most of the replacement blades cost more than my spoke shaves originally cost. Some do not have an exact replica or look alike replacement.

In my concern of having a blade reaching its end of usefulness many replacement blades have been purchased. Haven't really needed any of yet. Every once in awhile one of the old blades will be be put in service when a blade in use gets dull. Funny how a blade seems to get dull just sitting in a box for a few years. In reality I think my sharpening has significantly improved since the blades in the box were sharpened.

One of my A2 blades does seem a bit on the chip prone side of things. Most likely the reason is it is usually ground at 25º and is used mostly for shooting. The biggest chip came last week when some wood was being worked that had a speck of stone embedded in one piece and a piece of staple in another. These were removed by hand honing and I do not think they were anywhere near 1/32" (0.03125") of metal removal needed to correct the situation.

Sadly, the cost of shipping for most of us can kill a good deal. This is likely part of the strategy of LV offering free shipping to North American shoppers. It likely becomes a feeding frenzy of pent up desire unleashed by a significant discount. It is a sad impediment that some nations use tariffs and shipping surcharges to help fund their treasury.

My thought for Matthew is to somehow lengthen the cap screw slot, if possible plug the hole for the adjuster and create a new adjustment hole. I am not sure if this is possible, but I would try. Other than that making a few blades locally might be the best solution to the original problem.

jtk

[Patrick Chase]

Very good observations there. On item 4. It is actually better to have a smaller mouth on these planes. It is for trimming. If a bigger mouth is needed a block plane should be used.

Err, these ARE block planes.

[john zulu]

Err, these ARE block planes.

need to correct myself. No. 60-1/2 should be a better choice with a bigger plane mouth.

[lowell holmes]

I have the Lie Nielsen 140 skew and the Lie Nielsen 60 1/2. They are both really good planes and I use them. However, my all time favorite block plane was a 1970's vintage 12-960. After 30 years it gave up the ghost. The plane was small in size and created paper thin shavings. Apron planes had not been introduced yet, or else I didn't know about them if they had. The LV apron plane comes closest to what I liked about the 12-960. I may buy a new 12-960 to see if it will fill the bill.
The 140 and the 60 1/2 are great planes and I am keeping them. The 140 is a brass plane.

[Chris Hachet]

Prashun,

That can depend on the wood your cutting as well. I keep A2 around 34-35 degrees because I want it to work for all things without changing the bevel.

I keep my PMV 11 blade in this plane at about that bevel, I do not have to sharpen it that often. Have used my Apron plane for 2 1/2 years, no issues at all.

[Karl Fife]

I couldn't help but notice this tool in the background of David Charlesworth's shop in the DVD "The Secret Mitre Dovetail".

It looks like it might be a nice Iron implementation of the 102. This is slightly more interesting since Lie-Nielsen does not make a ductile Iron 102 anymore. It's only available in manganese-bronze these days. Personally, I prefer bronze for this specific case, but everyone has their preference. The tool below is made by (for?) Dictum. They call it the "DICK Pocket Plane 12°". I've never seen or played with one in person.
DictumPocket12.jpg
p.s.
I have deliberately left out the umpteen zillion jokes about Dictum's brand name. The possibilities are endless in a wood working forum.