# #5 hand plane frog adjustment



## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

I have a rather new wood river #5 hand plane thats giving me some tear out issues. Yes the grain is fairly irregular but I have been lead to believe I can do a few things to remedy this. I have moved my chip breaker forward to about 1/32 of an inch from the blade edge. I was also going to try to adjust the frog forward a bit but cant seem to find any info about doing this. Is this a regular solution for tear out or is it ridiculous to do this to something as big as a #5? I have never adjusted the frog and want to be sure i do it right any directions on the best way to go about this... or is it time to invest in a #3?


----------



## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

The size of the plane is irrelevant other than ease of tuning. While a jack's job is not see-through shavings it can produce them.

Put quite simply the frog can be adjusted as close to the mouth as possible while still allowing the shaving to pass through. 

Sharpness is the first priority of smoothness. 

There comes a point when no amount of tuning will remove all tear-out for difficult stock. The next best is a low angle plane. The least likely to cause tear-out (king of smooth) is a scraper or scraper plane.


----------



## GISer3546 (Jan 30, 2013)

I am working on this while Im revitalizing a scraper plane, figured i would came at this issue from two angles. And my #5 is sharp enough to take hair off my arm so i dont think thats the issue.


----------



## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

The only suggestions I can make are to tighten up the mouth (adjust frog) and also try approaching the trouble spots from various directions with light depth of cut.

Other than that get a card scraper or spend your time working on the scraper plane.


----------



## timetestedtools (Aug 23, 2012)

I did some testing http://lumberjocks.com/donwilwol/blog/30376 for chip breaker/frog adjustments. They really work in harmony, and there is not right or wrong. I've restored a lot of planes, and it amazes me how two identical planes can act differently. Trial and error is your best approach.

I will disagree with Jean on one point (and disagreeing with Jean doesn't happen very often). Jean wrote "The next best is a low angle plane." In my opinion the next best thing is a high angle. That's why infill's are so highly regarded, they are usually 50 or 55*. Low angles were meant for end grain, but can be a benefit for some difficult grain, but high angle seems to always be better (not always good, but better) The higher the angle, the better it gets. The higher the angle the closer to a scraper you become.


----------



## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

:laughing: Thanks for keeping me honest, Don. :thumbup: 

You are absolutely correct... We don't disagree, I just obviously have trouble converting thoughts to words sometimes!

Yes, I mistakingly wrote LA... It would indeed be HA! My mistake!

Edit:

And I failed to mention bevel angle of the iron is also important for the same reason.


----------



## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

A low angle plane can be easily configured as low cutting angle or high cutting angle. Just change the blade for one with a higher angle bevel.

Lee Valley sell blades for their low angle planes with up to 50 deg bevel, which makes a combined 62 deg cutting angle

http://www.leevalley.com/US/Wood/page.aspx?p=45864&cat=1,41182,52515


----------

