Reply To: Stanley #4 restoration issues
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Yours doesn’t appear to be a “Frankenstein” plane. The “Stanley” embossing on your Lateral Adjuster suits Stanley planes with thinner, rounded Wings for that era.
Lateral Adjusters often touch the Cutting Iron. This doesn’t usually cause a problem with the Iron riding over the Adjuster, as you describe. It just makes the Adjuster Arm a little more stiff to move.
I think your Lateral Adjuster Rivet is sitting too proud and interfering with the turning of the Adjuster Wheel. Perhaps it was replaced with a larger Rivet? It could also be preventing your Cutting Iron from fully seating over and engaging with the Adjuster Wheel, causing the Cutting Iron to ride up as you adjust it laterally.
Gently file the top of the Rivet so it doesn’t interfere with the free spinning of the Wheel. Oil the Wheel and Rivet.
Make sure that the Cutting Iron and Cap Iron are flat. If either, or both of them, curl up slightly towards the back end, your Lever Cap might not be able to exert enough pressure to hold them down flat.
Check that the central Channel of the Cutting Iron (where the Wheel locates) is wide enough to allow the Iron to fully seat over the Wheel. The iron must be flush against the Frog in that area. File the Channel sides if necessary.
Make sure the large Screw that secures the Cutting Iron to the Cap Iron (Chip Breaker), is actually fitting in the frog’s recess for it. It could be a larger replacement from a different plane, causing the assembly to sit proud.
Turn the Lever Cap Screw half a turn more to lock it all a bit tighter.
I notice that you have a two-part ‘Split Yoke’. These were sometimes problematic and replaced with the standard one-piece ‘Cast Yoke’. Yours appears to be worn unevenly. Make sure both halves of the Yoke are engaging with the square hole in the Cap Iron. If one half of the Yoke is seated, while the other is askew, it might be causing this riding-up problem.
In your fourth image (165003) you can see that the rivet is too large, too close to the Wheel, the Yoke is worn unevenly, and you can see where the Iron hasn’t touched the rear/top of the Frog. I don’t think your iron is sitting properly over the Adjuster Wheel.