Using a Scraping Plane

 

 

The burr gives the blade an
angled lip that scrapes a thin
curl from the surface.

Scraping Blades

A properly burred and installed scraping blade should remove a paper-thin shaving. To install the blade, first place two pieces of typing paper about 2" apart on a flat wooden surface such as your workbench. Then rest the sole of the plane on the papers with the opening in the sole (called the "throat") between them, as shown at right, center. Adjust the frog angle until it's about 80° to the sole. Open the lever cap knob far enough to insert the blade with the burr facing forward (avoid dinging the burr against the plane body) and resting on the benchtop. Then tighten the lever cap knob.

For a shallower cut, use just one piece of paper beneath half the plane sole. For the shallowest cut, place the sole directly on the benchtop and press down on the blade while tightening the lever cap knob.

Now test your scraping plane on a piece of scrap clamped firmly in place, but don't be surprised if nothing happens. To peel off an even curl of wood, the frog must be adjusted to an angle where the burr snags the wood as you begin to work the plane.

The blade changes depth as you change the frog angle, so first loosen the lever cap knob just enough to free the blade. Then back away the two frog adjustment wheels by about 1/8". After you secure the frog, retighten the lever cap knob to reset the blade depth. Repeat this process until you feel the blade bite into the wood and shave thin curls of wood from your scrap. (See "Shavings tell how you're scraping by.")