smoothing plane adjustments

[James Owen]

Hello, I have just purchased my first smoothing plane. A 4 1/2 LN bevel down plane which arrived today. Yeah!! I was wondering if there were any resources on how to adjust it and the teminology of the parts? Any books, videos, websites or what? I have had a small low angle block plane for a while which I have liked a lot. I have moved to the next step and would like to make sure this new purchase is adjusted properly. There seems to be a lot of parts to this plane and no directions came with it. The gap between the blade and the body of the plane seems large. Around 1/8 of an inch at least when the blade is advanced to cut a thin shaving. I assume the front plate lever needs to be pulled out to adjust the distance the blade sticks out or should the knob just be turned with the lever pulled back? ( the blade adjustment wheel is hard to turn if the front plates lever is pulled back. ) Should the blade by a little convex? If so how much?
Thank for any help.

Gary,

Congratulations on your new toy!!

To adjust the mouth: on the back side of the frog are three screws. The two outside screws are the frog tightening screws; the centre screw is for adjusting the frog forward and backward. To adjust the frog, simply loosen the two outside screws and turn the centre screw to move the frog forward or backward, until you have the mouth opening you need/want. Then re-tighten the two outside screws to hold it in place. You're done.

Planing videos: check the LN web site under books & videos. The David Charlesworth videos are very informative and useful. Likewise, the Rob Cosman videos are also very informative. I'd say that the Cosman videos are oriented a bit more toward the beginning woodoworker, whereas the Charlesworth videos seem to be aimed more toward the intermediate woodworker. That may help in selecting your video.

For smoothing plane, especially used for putting the final surface on the board, a tight mouth (1/32 to 1/64 inch) and wispy thin shavings are better. A slightly cambered (.001" or thereabouts) iron will preclude leaving plane "tracks" on your surface, that will show up when you put the finish on (very ugly....).

Hope that this of some use to you. Have fun with your new toy!

James

["Gary Brewer"]

James: The mouth of the plane came very wide. Probably 3/16 of an inch. I'll close it up. The cap iron screw was very tight also but I found that that was done by design for shipping, I've loosened that. Thanks for the tips on the videos, I think that is a good idea. I was at a workshop yesterday presented by Garrett Hack. What a bright talented guy. He brought a bunch of planes and spent the day talking and demonstrating planes, spokeshaves, and scrapers. He harvests his own wood and keeps it simple. I'm learning a lot. There is a hugh learning curve in woodworking. Thanks for the tips.
Gary Brewer