Scrub Plane- modifying a #164 Smother?

[Mike-W]

Hello all

With the chat on Scrub planes on the forum recently and having viewed Rob Crossman’s DVD ‘Rough to Ready’ I am thinking of initially flattening two Ash boards (for a chest top) prior to cleaning them up & thicknessing them on my PT.

Not owning a scrub plane I have thought about modifying my 45 year old Record #4 smother by grinding a 3” radius across the Iron, however as the Iron is only 3/32” thick I feel it will not be up to the job (too much chatter?)
I also have a Lie Nielsen Low angle smother #164 with a 3/16” blade. With the Iron ground at 25 degrees sitting on a 12-degree bed the cutting angle becomes 37 degrees, if I grind the Iron to 33 degrees this would return the combined cutting angle to 45 degrees, which I think is the normal cutting angle for a scrub plane.

If any of you have experience of using a scrub plane, can you suggest any reason why this will not work? Would a combined 45 degree angle be the best cutting angle for a scrub?

Mike

 

[bugbear]

It's rather difficult to get a narrow enough camber onto a low angle blade - the geometry is agin you.

And you wouldn't have much "blade relief".

I would (stuck record alert!) recommend either using a wooden jack with a cambered blade, or possibly converting said jack to having a "single iron".

Wooden jacks in condition are available from most s/h tool dealers at 5-15 quid.

http://www.geocities.com/plybench/scrub.html

BugBear (not wanting to start the when is a jack not a scrub flame war)

 

[Paul Chapman]

If you want to try the Record #4, how about removing the cap iron and replacing it with a thick piece of metal, drilled and tapped so you can screw it on and a slot cut for the 'Y' lever. This would have the effect of making the thin blade more rigid. Although I'd be inclined to try it with the normal blade and cap iron first - you might find that it works quite well. The Records I modified recently are working quite well with their normal blades, although I've not tried them on really hard wood yet.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Wiley Horne]

Hi All,

If we're voting, I vote for Bugbear's solution. Woodie jacks are beautiful tools, in performance at least. That's one reason why there are so many of them about.

I have a general question of those who have converted Stanley or Record bench planes to scrubs. It strikes me that the weak point on making this conversion is the frog-sole connection, moreso than the blade thickness. Question: Will those two screws holding the frog down take the load from scrubbing?

Thanks, Wiley

 

[ByronBlack]

Hi Mike

I have a stanley 4 converted to a scrub using the stock blade and cap-iron, and it does a good job. Why not have a go? The blades are cheap enough if you don't like it and you get to work without having to buy another plane, I'm quite happy with the performance of mine and have not felt that is has suffered unduly with chatter.

 

[Mike-W]

Thanks for all your advice,
I will try my Record #4, as there is plenty of spare Iron on it, I have been looking for another use for the Record plane as it belonged to my grandfather and my 'best' hand plane's are Lie-Nielsen's!

Mike.