Adjusting Wooden Hand Planes

If you have never used one of these wooden hand planes it may take a while to get used to adjusting one since there are no knobs to turn as with store bought metal planes. But like anything else, once you've got the knack, its a snap. These wooden hand planes are adjusted with a small hammer. My favorite hammer for adjusting my planes is a 3-1/2oz. Warrington hammer. A lot of weight in the head is not necessary.

Guitar Fret Leveling Kit

Preparation before Adjusting

Before adjusting for the first time be sure everything is set up properly. For the bench plane there should be a sliver of a space between the blade and the edge of the opening. The smaller the space the smaller the shaving the plane will be able to produce. Too small an opening and shavings will get clogged.

The plane bottom must also be flat all along its length, and from side to side. When checking the bottom for flatness, put the blade but well short or poking through the hole, and tap the wedge in just as you would in use. When the wedge is tapped in it actually causes a slight bump at the bottom of the plane just below the frog. When flattening this bump needs to be removed. Any dip or bump in the bottom of the plane will reduce its effectiveness. Put some 220 sandpaper on a known flat surface and rub it back and forth being careful to apply pressure evenly so as not to tilt the plane in any direction. Look for places the sandpaper has not touched. If there are any, keep rubbing until there are sandpaper marks over the entire surface of the plane bottom. If sandpaper marks are not easily apparent make some light pencil marks along the bottom. Rub on the sandpaper until all the pencil marks are gone, then the bottom is flat.

With the compass plane the space between the blade and the edge of the opening may be a bit larger say up to a bit more than 1/32"", but flattening is not necessary since the bottom of that plane is radiused. In that case what you may want to be sure there are no bumps on the surface of the bottom of the plane. Do this by rubbing the bottom of the plane on some sandpaper placed in the dished form used to shape the bottom. Remember to rock the plane from side to side while doing this so as not to effect the radius of the bottom from side to side. This radius must match that of the blade. Again, when the entire bottom has sandpaper marks you are done.

Down the road, if you notice your bench plane is not cutting as it once did, the first thing you should check is the bottom for flatness. This probably accounts for 90% of all performance issues with this type of hand plane.

Rosette Cutting Router Attachment

Setting & Adjusting the Plane Blade

Place the blade and breaker assembly in the plane with the cap screw in the slot. Place your finger over the opining in the bottom of the plane to feel where the blade edge is. Use your finger to stop the blade just short of poking through the hole. Site from above and set the blade and breaker assembly straight, and in the middle of the opening under the cross pin. Now tap in the wedge. Turn the plane over and see if the blade is parallel to the opening. If not tap the assembly one way or the other in order to get the blade set parallel underneath. Once it is parallel gently tap the blade down toward the hole and stop when you see it starting to poke through the hole in the bottom. You may have to adjust once again from side to side to get it parallel. Once everything is straight, give it a try. You should be able to cut the finest shaving just a couple of thousandths of an inch thick.

When you push the plane to cut and it grabs for a second and then lets go, you probably do not have the wedge in tightly enough, or your wedge is not making good contact with either the cross pin or the breaker. Check the wedge and make sure it is making contact all across its width. This assures maximum grip on the blade. If it is making good contact you may not be tapping the wedge in tight enough. Reset the blade and tap the wedge in a little tighter.

If your plane grabs for a bit while cutting and lets go this may also be an indication that the bottom of your bench plane is not flat. Flattening instruction are found above in the section on preparation.

Typically there are only a few things that can hamper the performance of your plane. First, make sure the frog is flat with no bumps or glue residue, second make sure the bottom of your bench plane is flat, and lastly made sure your wedge is making full contact with the blade and breaker assembly all the way across the pin.

Additional Plane Making Content

About Hand Planes | Sharpening Plane Blades | Hand Plane Adjustment Tips | Plane Making DVD | Plane Making Kits