The Howard Adjusters for LN block planes

[george wilson]

The only LV block plane I currently own is the NX60(?) I doubt any other parts would fit it. But,don't take my word on it.

[Derek Cohen]

George, I rather doubt that it would be a LV. They have a different system (the way Norris would have liked it to be), and all run smoothly. The LN is the bearer of the Stanley design, which uses a slot and a screw, and so I imagine that the "other" is a Stanley or variation.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[david charlesworth]

Derek,

The L-N 60 1/2 has a diagonal slot for the mouth adjustment. The early Stanley's had a curved slot which worked quite smoothly.

best wishes,
David

[Derek Cohen]

Hi David

You are correct about the adjusters for the mouth.

Here is my LN #60 1/2 alongside a Stanley #60 1/2 (I have no idea of the date of it - perhaps someone can say) ..



And here are the adjusters. As you mentioned, the Stanley has a curved slot ...



.. and the LN is diagonal ...



They are adjusted in exactly the same way ...



I agree with you that the LN moves more smoothly than the Stanley. I have no complaints about my LN since I have kept it clean and lubricated. However it will become sticky if not a maintained regularly. The issue is, as I mentioned earlier, that this is a Stanley design, although LN have improved it - which is what they have done with all the Stanley designs.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[david charlesworth]

Derek,

I was suggesting that the Stanley design was better in this small detail!!

The cost cutting which went on in the later part of the last century, ruined the Stanley tool.

best wishes,
David

[Derek Cohen]

Hi David

I found that the LN was an improvement over the Stanley. The LN requires less force and is smoother than the Stanley. Your experience is different?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[david charlesworth]

Interesting, I found the Stanley curved slot to be smoother.

Oi Veh!

David

[Graham Haydon]

I went over to our assembly area and took down the recently made Stanley block plane. The adjuster for the mouth is still made in the same way as shown in Derek's photo. It adjusted well, although could have been better. It seems the issue was lack of care. However, I was able to make it adjust very smoothly with a simple method. I used the flat of my thumb to push and pull the mouth as required while moving the adjuster with the other hand. Despite Stanley's sad neglect of the Bailey line (although some of their other, current tools are excellent) this block plane works very well.

[Mark R Webster]

I purchased the Large Howard adjusters for my LN 60 1/2 and LN rabbit block and am very happy with the improvement in action.

[Eric Brown]

I have found that the large also works on the St James Bay Tool Company large router. It might also work on the Lie-Nielsen large router. Not sure about Veritas as they may have metric threads. It will not work on the Walke-Moore 2500 as it uses a courser thread. Same thing with the Record 778 rabbit plane.