Problem restoring a Stanley #4: frog seems too far back
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I am placing the bevel down.
The blade was definitely not 90 degrees to the body. Not sure if it was that way when I got it or if my beginner’s attempt at freehand sharpening put it that way.
I am trying to regrind to 90 degrees but I don’t have a grinding wheel so it’s been a slow go. I started on an EZE-lap coarse stone but that was taking forever. I think after lapping the bottom of the plane it jumped from coarse to medium/fine. I have switched to 80 grit sandpaper which is making much quicker progress. I’m using a jig this time (Veritas MKII) to try to be sure to get 90 degrees. I set the angle to 30 degrees on the blade, it looked like it was near 30 at the tip and 20 or so higher up the blade (cambered). I’m going to try with 30 degrees across the tip this time to simplify things. I’m almost done and will report back how things look once the blade is square.
I definitely can’t get the frog to extend past the mouth. Sounds like others can? One thing I wonder if the washers I have under the frog retraining screws are too large. This seems to be what is limiting me from from putting the frog further forward. I may try smaller washers (less width) as suggested and see how that goes.
Thanks for all the help everyone, you all have been most generous with your suggestions and advice.
Just to follow up on this, I have since bought a Stanley 4.5 smoother on Ebay. Went through the same process to get it set up and didn’t have any of the same problems as I had on the #4. The frog can be moved more than enough forward to close the mouth completely. My suspicion is that the #4 had some inherent problem such as bad casting or holes for frog retaining screws drilled in the wrong place. I reground the blade square which didnt solve the problem of not being able to close the mouth tight (though of course worth doing).
I could follow advice suggested to drill different holes for the screws or not use the frog adjustment screw at all and only use the frog retaining screws. A little disappointed this doesn’t have a better solution but the #4.5 seems very usable for the time being.
One other thing I noticed is that the #4 is blue while the #4.5 is black. Are the blue planes later models and less desirable? Or is it independent of year of manufacture and quality?
19 March 2015 at 2:57 am #125683You my have a frankenplane. Meaning that the casting is a Record and the parts are Stanley? Perhaps the mouth has been filed to accept a thicker iron. Thicker irons are available for those planes from Veritas but they’re not cheap. Glad you got a 4 1/2 to work for you.
the blue color is a later variant dating your plane to [relatively] recent production. With the work you’ve put in, though, it’s quite capable of giving you good service. If your frog is even with the back of the mouth, that’s fine for 90% of the work you’ll do. Frog adjustment is something very infrequently done. It’s a distraction. Focus on sharpening. Focus on how the plane works for you. Simply set your iron further forward under the cap (up to 1/8″) and you’ll be able to close the gap easily. You’ll find:
1. that you can get those wispy shavings you seem to be seeking, and
2. for practical everyday work, these are not so important. You want the plane to make a thin shaving, but not so thin you can read through it [yes, I know, blasphemy] This is the thinnest you’ll need.
3. when the time comes to move the frog forward, remove the yoke and move the frog manuallyalso don’t forget to ease the corners of your blade to avoid plane tracks
don’t get stressed out….just play with it….experiment…..have fun
jim
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