LN Scraper Plane

[timf67]

Okay, so I have been slowly growing my fine handtool collection - partially because I enjoy the satisfaction that handworking wood gives me and partially because I have very young children that can't nap through power tools running in the basement! :eusa_naug

Anyway, on to my questions. First, I have the Lie Nielsen Large Scraper Plane. It is a beautiful tool, but I cannot seem to get good results from it. I have a feeling that I do not have it set up properly and I have not put a burr on it (mostly becuase I am not sure how to do it right). So any help or suggestions on using this tool properly would be appreciated! :help:

And that brings me to my second question. Since I am pretty much teaching myself hand plane and hand tool use as I go, I am sure I am not getting the most out of my tools. Does anyone know of a good book, DVD, or even live course instruction that would benefit me? :dontknow:

Thanks,
Tim

 

[Larry Rose]

Tim, I've got one and don't use it very often. They do not work well on all woods. It seems to me that softer woods are better planed and sanded. However when all else fails you can usualy get a good job with one. You really don't need a burr on the blade like a card scraper just sharpen it as you would a regular plane. To start with, set the blade at about a 15 degree angle. Then set the plane body on a flat surface and and lightly press on the blade and tighten it in place. It takes some adjusting to get it right. Also try not using down pressure when scraping. It sounds like the wrong way to do it but it seems to work. Keep trying and good luck.

 

[froglips]

Tim, I don't have experience with scraper planes, so I'll answer your other questions.

I highly recommend starting with Jim Kingshott's dvd "Bench Planes".

It goes quickly over theory, setup then dives into preparing a board with various bench planes.

Its the only one I've found that did a good job of covering stock prep, which ironically is the bulk of what bench planes are for. Most other videos I've watched get hung up on setting up or sharpening or special use situations. When I finally got Kingshotts DVD, I kept saying "Ohhhh, so thats why".

Jim

 

[Threejs]

Save some cash, and make one that will hold card scrapers. I have a 25 degree wedge in it for the bottom picture, but also made 10 degree and 15 degree wedges, so I have some adjustment if I want it.

 

[dkeller_nc]

Anyway, on to my questions. First, I have the Lie Nielsen Large Scraper Plane. It is a beautiful tool, but I cannot seem to get good results from it. I have a feeling that I do not have it set up properly and I have not put a burr on it (mostly becuase I am not sure how to do it right). So any help or suggestions on using this tool properly would be appreciated! :help:

And that brings me to my second question. Since I am pretty much teaching myself hand plane and hand tool use as I go, I am sure I am not getting the most out of my tools. Does anyone know of a good book, DVD, or even live course instruction that would benefit me? :dontknow:

Thanks,
Tim

Tim - I have and use all three of L-N's scraping planes. They can be made to work very well, but it takes a bit more than setting up a bench plane. On the large scraping plane (the Stanley #112 copy), it is absolutely essential that you have a very sharp arris where the bevel and back meet. That means that the back has to have a mirror polish on it and be absolutely flat. My preference is to grind a hollow on the bevel (with a Tormek, in my case, but a dry grinder would work just as well), then I put the cutting edge on by going directly to an 8000 grit waterstone. One thing I definitely do not recommend on these baldes is stropping, especially power stropping - it's just too easy to round over your carefully prepared sharp edge.

I put cambers on all of my bench plane blades, but with this tool, I use a fine-tooth file to round over the very outer corners so that they don't dig.

Once you've prepped the blade, bring the adjuster back so that the top of the blade tilts forward a lot - this is your starting position, and will take the least agressive cut. The way Larry describes adjusting the plane is one (valid) way to do it, here's another. Place the plane with the adjuster set to the angle you wish and the blade hold-down screw loose onto an absolutely flat surface - a thick piece of MDF will do. Place a thin piece of printer paper under the front toe. Making sure that the blade is all the way down into the slot, gently hold it to the surface and tighten up the hold-down screw.

Test it out on a piece of wood with the equivalent hardness and figure as what you're trying to work. Most of the time for me this is curly maple. If the tool's not aggressive enough, I adjust the tilt mechanism so that the top of the blade tilts back a little (i.e. - more vertical), and repeat the paper setting. Note that you must do this - tilting the blade further towards vertical will extend it from the sole a lot, which results in too deep of a cut. If the plane is still taking too light of a shaving, I may add another piece of paper to the stack in the front, wich extends the blade another 2-3 thousandths of an inch.

 

[timf67]

Thanks David, that is great information. what do you use to flatten the back of your blade? Do you lap it? I have a small granite surface plate that I can use, what grit would you recommend? Thanks!

Tim - I have and use all three of L-N's scraping planes. They can be made to work very well, but it takes a bit more than setting up a bench plane. On the large scraping plane (the Stanley #112 copy), it is absolutely essential that you have a very sharp arris where the bevel and back meet. That means that the back has to have a mirror polish on it and be absolutely flat. My preference is to grind a hollow on the bevel (with a Tormek, in my case, but a dry grinder would work just as well), then I put the cutting edge on by going directly to an 8000 grit waterstone. One thing I definitely do not recommend on these baldes is stropping, especially power stropping - it's just too easy to round over your carefully prepared sharp edge.

I put cambers on all of my bench plane blades, but with this tool, I use a fine-tooth file to round over the very outer corners so that they don't dig.

Once you've prepped the blade, bring the adjuster back so that the top of the blade tilts forward a lot - this is your starting position, and will take the least agressive cut. The way Larry describes adjusting the plane is one (valid) way to do it, here's another. Place the plane with the adjuster set to the angle you wish and the blade hold-down screw loose onto an absolutely flat surface - a thick piece of MDF will do. Place a thin piece of printer paper under the front toe. Making sure that the blade is all the way down into the slot, gently hold it to the surface and tighten up the hold-down screw.

Test it out on a piece of wood with the equivalent hardness and figure as what you're trying to work. Most of the time for me this is curly maple. If the tool's not aggressive enough, I adjust the tilt mechanism so that the top of the blade tilts back a little (i.e. - more vertical), and repeat the paper setting. Note that you must do this - tilting the blade further towards vertical will extend it from the sole a lot, which results in too deep of a cut. If the plane is still taking too light of a shaving, I may add another piece of paper to the stack in the front, wich extends the blade another 2-3 thousandths of an inch.

 

[dkeller_nc]

"Thanks David, that is great information. what do you use to flatten the back of your blade? Do you lap it? I have a small granite surface plate that I can use, what grit would you recommend? Thanks!"

Tim - I use a progression from a coarse diamond plate through 1000, 4000, and 8000 grit waterstones to flatten the back of a blade. You can definitely use sandpaper to do this, but there's a couple of issues with this method to be aware of. One is that you will probably have to buy some very fine grit ceramic oxide paper from Lee Valley if you don't have a polishing stone (either 8000 grit waterstone or a translucent Arkansas) to use as the last step. LV sells some in the 0.5 micron range that will do a good job of polishing. You can start out, of course, with paper in the 400 grit range. Lie-Nielsen supplies their irons in close-enough to flat condition that you really don't have to start with a really coarse grit like 220.

The second thing to be aware of with sandpaper is that it's very easy to dub the edge if the paper's used loose - that is, just stuck down with capillary action by wetting it. It's also easy to dub the edge even if the paper's glued down with spray adhesive by pushing the blade back and forth into the grit in the direction of the bevel. You generally want to use a side-to-side motion to ensure that the bevel doesn't get rounded.