Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Apr 26, 2008 12:43am | #1

   Tighten the screws holding the frog so that it is snug but it can still slide forward and back. Now install the blade and make it flush with the sole. Looking from above you will see a gap between the cutting edge of the blade and the leading edge of the mouth in the sole. Adjust that gap to be somewhere between 1/32" and 1/16" for starters. Basically you can set the gap by eye, measuring it to .001 is pointless.

   Basically the width of the gap is dependent on the character of the wood you are planing and what you are trying to accomplish. A narrower gap reduces tear out but chips will jam in it easily unless you take very thin shavings. If you are rough planing a board to flatten it you'll have a wider gap so you can take a heavy cut and because some tear out won't matter. The plane you use for final cleaning up will be set with a narrower gap because you will be taking very little material off and you will want to avoid tear out.

   Different planes will have different gaps, arrived at by experiment. Generally, once the gap is set to a point that works well I almost never change it.

   John White

1. 
   barry78 | Apr 26, 2008 01:39am | #2

   thanks john, i really appreciate your help