New #92 Shoulder Plane - Tips On Setting Up?

Richard Line

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37
Location
Bellevue, WA
I've just received a new (made in England) Stanley No. 92 shoulder plane. Purchased from Highland Hardware. I've played a little bit with it right out of the box, knowing I would need to do some tuning. And it does need tuning.

The blade needs sharpening and honing and that isn't a problem for me to do. I've checked the bottom for flatness and the sides for being 90 deg. to the bottom; they seem to be good.

The cap that sits on top of the blade (lever cap, chip breaker?) has a fairly smooth surface, but not honed. Does it need or should be honed? The pointed toe of this cap rises away from the blade; is that right / okay? It appears to have been manufactured that way. I'm guessing that getting shavings under it is not a problem.

The ramp the blade rests on has been machined, but it is somewhat rougher than I would expect for a sliding ramp surface; certainly a lot rougher than the comparable surfaces on my #4 & #5 planes. Should this be smoothed with a file, or does the roughness provide some holding for the blade.

The toe & heal sections seem to adjust reasonably well, over the needed range.

Any other areas of the plane to look at and tune. Any suggestions on adjusting the plane for use. By the way, I have read through the description of the #92 on 'The Superior Works - Stanley Blood & Gore' web site.

Thanks for any suggestions.
 
I've just received a new (made in England) Stanley No. 92 shoulder plane. Purchased from Highland Hardware....

[size=+1]They can be tuned into a very nice little plane. [/size]


The blade needs sharpening and honing and that isn't a problem for me to do. I've checked the bottom for flatness and the sides for being 90 deg. to the bottom; they seem to be good.

[size=+1]You're lucky, there. Many of them are noticeably out of square. [/size]


The cap that sits on top of the blade (lever cap, chip breaker?) has a fairly smooth surface, but not honed. Does it need or should be honed? The pointed toe of this cap rises away from the blade; is that right / okay? It appears to have been manufactured that way. I'm guessing that getting shavings under it is not a problem.

[size=+1]The chip breaker should be honed to fit closely to the blade, and it should NOT 'rise away from the blade. This is a manufacturing defect. Grind/hone it to fit tightly to the blade [/size]


The ramp the blade rests on has been machined, but it is somewhat rougher than I would expect for a sliding ramp surface; certainly a lot rougher than the comparable surfaces on my #4 & #5 planes. Should this be smoothed with a file, or does the roughness provide some holding for the blade.

[size=+1]This needs to be smoothed for a close fit.[/size]


The toe & heal sections seem to adjust reasonably well, over the needed range.

[size=+1]That's good. [/size]


Any other areas of the plane to look at and tune. Any suggestions on adjusting the plane for use. By the way, I have read through the description of the #92 on 'The Superior Works - Stanley Blood & Gore' web site.

[size=+1]Make sure you don't make the mistake of narrowing the blade to the exact size of the body. The blade should actually protrude a couple thousandths proud of the plane's body in order to work properly. [/size]


Thanks for any suggestions.


Hope this helps.
 
Good advice already given. I second all of it. Two things i'd like to emphasize:

First - anything you can do to ensure the cutting iron beds solidly to the main casting can only help. I'd work with fine tooth flat files - grey iron works easily and quickly. You don't want to take too much off. It will help considerably if you clamp the casting solidly and work the file with both hands in a slow, deliberate manner.

Second - regarding the cap iron - the part that rises away from the cutting edge is a liability. Were it me, i'd hone the front base so it seats flatly across the width of the cutting iron, mark how far back from the leading edge of the cap iron it actually seats on the cutting iron, and grind it off. I'd put a slight angle on the leading edge as well - 5 or 10 degrees "bevel up" on the nose of the cap iron will ensure no chips get trapped and allow you to visually see that the cap iron is indeed seated consistently across the width of the cutting iron - not just in 2 or three places.
These two issues will help minimize chatter.

The only other thing i would do would be to tweak the depth adjustment to minimize backlash or slop. To do this, you can peen the slot in the cutting iron to tighten it to the depth adjustment wheel. A small ball peen hammer or a center punch will work. If it's too tight, a light pass or two in the slot will widen it in fine increments. This doesn't make the plane less prone to chatter, but makes precise adjustments easier and less likely to shift during use.

Have fun with it.
Paul Hubbman
 
Thanks – Good Advice

I got a chance to fiddle with the plane today. Cleaned up the blade's ramp, the lands the adjuster slides on, flattened the chip breaker's bottom, and most importantly sharpened the blade. Pretty much followed the advice.

End result – it is cutting pretty darn nice. With grain and cross grain goes quite nicely. Lacy curls coming off it. End grain is a bit harder push, and not quite as controllable; that may be me more than the plane. These trails were on a bit of scrap poplar. This plane is definitely going to work for me.

One thing I didn't do, at least not yet. That was working the chip breaker down so the pointed tip was flat on the blade. I tried to find pictures on the web that showed the fit. No really good views. A picture of an old #92 had a different shaped chip breaker (not pointed) and it seemed to fit tight to the blade. A picture of a new #92 (or was it a #93) had the pointed chip breaker and seemed to have the point raised off the blade. There is good line contact across the blade behind that raise point. The point is raised about 1/16th. As I looked at how the blade was clamped by the chip breaker it seemed the point needed to be raised or there would be single point contact onto the blade. In the trails I made, there was no tendency for the shaving to go under the chip breaker; they curled up off the blade, well in front of the chip breaker.

Thanks for the advice, it has helped.
 
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