Replies

1. 
   saschafer | Feb 25, 2008 08:09pm | #1

   The first thing I would check is to see if the blade might be shifting position on its own. If so, the seating may need some work.

   -Steve

    

1. 
   joker | Feb 25, 2008 08:21pm | #2

   Thanks Steve for replying. I thought of that possibility and I believe that the seating is ok. I did sand the bed smooth for the blade as well as the chip breaker where it contacts the blade.

   I will go back and check things again to try and make sure that it is ok. Have you used this particular plane before? And if so, what was your expereince?

    

   Thanks again

1. 
   saschafer | Feb 25, 2008 08:24pm | #3

   No, I don't have experience with that particular plane. I've had similar behavior with a shoulder plane, and cleaning up and snugging up the blade seating and adjustment mechanism fixed it.

   -Steve

    

2. 
   Tony Z | Feb 25, 2008 09:32pm | #4

   First, what is the vintage of the #90?

   I have had a #90 for about 5 years or more now.  Mine is an English made plane and I would best describe it as a "kit" plane and it was definitely not ready for prime time.

   The first thing I would before you try any more fettling is retract the blade a tad at a time to see if that resolves the problem.  If it doesn't, then more fettling may be in order.  Listed below is the order I would start (after making sure the blade is adjusted correctly):

   1. Check to see that the nose piece is co-planar to the sole.  Mine was not and I had to surface grind it to co-planar.
   2. Check to see the bed surface of the blade is not skewed meaning the both sides of the blade bed must be identical to the sole.  Again mine was not and needed ground.
   3. Not related to your problem, but I had to grind the sides square to the sole and also had to grind the cap iron (blade retainer) so that it contacted the blade across its entire surface.

   Now with all that said, please bear in mind some of what I did was done on a surface grinder.  Also a bullnose plane is sometimes not the easiest plane to learn to use.  Much easier with a longer sole portion out ahead of the blade.  As you have a #92, why don't you take the nose section off of it and see how it acts.

   My #90 is now a highly tuned little shelf ornament:  it is used very rarely!   I have other shoulder planes that are easy to use and as far as a chisel plane goes, I question the need.  Give me a sharp chisel any day.

   T.Z.

1. 
   joker | Feb 25, 2008 11:25pm | #5

   Hi Tony,

   My 90 is not an older one, I bought it new a couple of years ago. I sanded, polished the sole flat using sandpaper on glass. To the best I can tell, it is co-planer, but I will re check it.

   I have retracted the blade in tiny tiny increments as well as extending it in tiny tiny increments. Its the most frustrating thing and puzzling thing to me. I will get to where it is just starting to take off shavings, I go along 3 or four times across the surface, then bam, it digs into the wood.

   It seems to me that no matter what I do, I cannot get any kind of performance out of this little guy. Right now it is a personal challenge for me. If I can get it to work acceptably, I will probably do as you did and turn it into a shelf ornament.

   You mentioned taking the front end off of the 92, I did that, works great. Tuning up the 92 was what I would consider typical of most planes. I will recheck the areas you suggested and try again.

   Thanks

3. 
   Erik M | Mar 08, 2008 12:06am | #6

   Joker,

   I have a #90 that I frequently use.  Other than honing the blade and sole, it needed nothing else to make it ready to use.

   I found that it took a bit of fiddling to get the blade adjusted to take fine cuts.  I used a piece of float glass and .003 shims to set the blade up.  It works great for trimming rabbetts, etc.  I have eyed #92's on E-Bay as I thought that the extended sole would be convenient, however I am holding out for a LV Medium Shoulder Plane.

   Good luck,

   Erik

4. 
   Prado | Mar 27, 2008 09:12am | #7

   Your message is old now so you might have already figured out how to fix your problem. But, for what it' worth here goes:

   I have a #75 bullnose that gave me the very same problem. I steepened the angle of the cut on the blade and now it works great. Originally I sharpened it at about 25 degrees. I forget the new angle, however.

   The irons on the 75 and the 90 are definitely bedded differently, however. There you have it.

1. 
   joker | Mar 27, 2008 05:31pm | #8

   Hi Prado,

   Thanks for your response. No I have not fixed it. I put it on the shelf to gather dust until the next ime I decide to mess with it. Thats a great suggestion you have and I will definetely try it.

   For clarification, when you say you steepened the angle, I take that to mean that you you made it greater than what it came with. As an example, if it is now 25 degrees, you made it perhaps 35 degrees?

   Thanks again for your response.

1. 
   Prado | Mar 27, 2008 05:50pm | #9

   That's correct. Of course the bed angle for the iron on your plane is lower than my #75. So, I don't know what the correct cutting angle might be.I had given up on that little plane of mine. I paid $5 for it. So, I didn't feel like I had a major loss. But the damned thing was always on the back of my mind. I figured that I needed to mess with the cutting edge. Sure enough that was the solution.I'm certainly no plane expert. So take this on the basis of limited experience. What I would love to master is the scraping plane #80 that I bought at a swap meet some time ago. Good luck.

1. 
   joker | Mar 28, 2008 02:07am | #11

   It's the same scenario for me, except I bought it new, have no clue why, and spent probably $100.00 for it.

   I don't even need to use it, I just want to be able to. So I am going to try your suggestion, I will just play around with different angles, I can't make it work any worse than it is.

   I will let your know how it comes out.

5. 
   BruceS | Mar 28, 2008 01:10am | #10

   I have my 90 blade honed front and back to a mirror finish @ 25 degrees and she purrs.

   Work Safe,  Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

   Bruce S. 

    

1. 
   joker | Mar 28, 2008 02:21am | #12

   Hi Bruce,

   Mine is also polished and sharp. But, just incase it wasn't so sharp or so polished, I repeated the process 4 different times, same result. It wasn't even a matter of it taking off heavier shavings, when I say it digs in I mean it digs in, clunk!!, doesn't move, doesn't pass go, doesn't collect $200.00, just digs in and stops.

   If you read the earlier posts, I do have a 92, works like a charm, with or without the front off. I am also not a newbe when it comes to planes, not an expert, but certainly not a newbe. So it is very frustrating to me that I cannot get this little guy to work with any consistancy.

   The iron does not appear to be moving, thus causing the problem. I have turned the adjusting screw ever so lightly, doing it multiple times until I just begin to get shavings, go along for a few strokes, now thinking maybe I have it, then clunk!, right into the wood, stopped dead in its tracks.

   So I can't figure out why yours and no doubt others' work fine with little work being done and mine will not work for me at all. But I am going to try again, who knows, maybe what ever it is will jump out at me.

   Thanks for your input.

1. 
   BruceS | Mar 28, 2008 02:34am | #13

   Now this is going to be way out there in la la land on my part, Have you tried it on another piece of wood?

   Work Safe,  Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

   Bruce S. 

    

   Edited 3/27/2008 7:38 pm ET by BruceS

1. 
   joker | Mar 28, 2008 02:48am | #14

   No, it's not way out there in la la land. It did cross my mind, so I did try another piece of wood, then tried different sides of a different piece of wood, tried going in different directions, etc.

   Thanks for asking, it would actually be nice if that were it, embarrasing, but nice. If you have any other suggestions, even from la la land, please pass them on, it may just be it, or might get me to think of something.

    

   Thanks

1. 
   BruceS | Mar 28, 2008 03:44am | #15

   Just back from the shop, and I was able to recreate your problem.  I turned the "feed" thumb screw in pretty far and backed the blade out a notch then snug up the screw a little and adjusted the cutting depth and it wanted to grab.  Went back to pulling the adjusting thumb screw well out then skipping the blade forward a notch snug up the cap screw a little, adjusted blade depth and it pealed off a .002 ribbon.  

   Don't ask why it worked, I don't have a clue.Work Safe,  Count to 10 when your done for the day !!

   Bruce S. 

    

2. 
   joker | Mar 28, 2008 05:39pm | #16

   Hi Bruce,

   I think I understand what you are saying, I will try that this weekend and see what happens. I havn't given up yet, just got tired of messing with it, so I gave it a rest for a while.

    

   Thanks again