# adjusting a jack plane blade



## preciouschristy (Apr 2, 2012)

Hi-
New to woodworking, I inherited my Dad's old tools, including a bunch of hand planes. Unfortunately, I never asked him to show me how to do anything. I've been reading and watching videos on tuning up hand planes, and I'm having a problem properly adjusting my jack plane.

So- I've sharpened up the blade and tuned the cap iron, and I've set them to where there's ~1/16" of the blade showing. My problem is that when I install it, I can't get it adjusted to where I have more than ~1/32" space between the throat and the blade. If I set the frog back far enough to allow a larger space, then the blade is so far retracted that I can't protrude it for cutting. If I set the frog in a position so the blade protrudes at all, then I have almost no space between the blade and the throat.

I don't know anyone who uses hand planes, so I can't show it to anyone and have them help me, so I was hoping someone out there could. It's a very old plane- is it at all possible that the blade could have been sharpened to the point where it's too short for the plane? I can't think of any other reason why this won't work.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

What make of plane? Does it have an adjustable frog? That's the triangular shaped part attached to the bed of the plane and that the blade clamps down to. 

If you see a screw on the back side of it (in front of the tote) then you can loosen the two mounting screws and rotate the adjustment screw counter clockwise a half turn, snug up the two mounting screws and try again.


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## preciouschristy (Apr 2, 2012)

It's a Bailey-
Yes, it does have an adjustable frog. That's actually what I keep trying to adjust, in fact. If I adjust it to where the opening is the right size, I can't get the blade to protrude. I keep adjusting it back and forth, trying to find the perfect spot, and can't find it.

When I started, the blade was a bit off, as well. It was out of square at the end, so I had to grind down a little off one side in order to square it. That's why I'm now worried that maybe it's more of a problem with the blade not being long enough anymore. I'm not sure what to do if that does turn out to be the problem.

Of course, now that I think of it, since the blade length is actually set to the length of the cap iron, that really isn't possible. So, now I have no idea why I can't adjust it properly.


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## joesbucketorust (Dec 13, 2011)

We are talking about a standard metal plane here right? If so, the brass knob sets the depth of cut. Moving the frog backwards or forwards adjusts the mouth opening. The two are independent of each other. Could we get some pics of the offending cutter in action with circles and arrows and paragraphs on the back showing what the problem areas are, and what might have been turned/pushed/screwed/taped or glued during the fettling process? Cutters can be sharpened so often that they are too short to perform - like when they have 1/2" of life left in front of the slot - but that's fairly rare unless you fall asleep at the electric grinder or the cutter is a century old. Usually it's just a small little adjustment that needs made and it all comes together.


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