I have two shoulder planes made of bare, non finished or oiled beech. Both are
new Nooitgedagt brand and I goofed, jammed the wedges in too tightly. Have
you got the right method of freeing them?

Thanks much,

Alex

Rap the heel like the rest of us do.

"AAvK" wrote in message
news:ga9ad.17867$_a3.1752@fed1read05...

I have two shoulder planes made of bare, non finished or oiled beech. Both
are
new Nooitgedagt brand and I goofed, jammed the wedges in too tightly. Have
you got the right method of freeing them?

Thanks much,

Alex

On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 08:08:38 -0400, "George" george@least wrote:

Rap the heel like the rest of us do.

Like the man said.

Rap the heel like the rest of us do.

Like the man said.


Well I guess I'll have to "tap" all day then, ay?

Alex

On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 07:21:36 -0700, "AAvK" wrote:

Well I guess I'll have to "tap" all day then, ay?

Then you're hitting it too hard.

Put down the big mallet. Get a small, light hammer (about 4oz) and tap
it _quickly_. It may take some goes, but I've never met a plane this
wouldn't unstick unless the iron was actually rusted in.

If you're recovering a junker, then you may need to be brutal to the
wedge. But this is very much a last resort.

Making new wedges isn't that easy either - they need to be an
excellent grade of stable well-seasoned timber (beech) that's already
a few years old. Then you need to get the angles to fit the body
accurately. A sloppy wedge is one that won't hold its adjustment in
the future.

--
Smert' spamionam

On Sun, 10 Oct 2004 16:49:08 +0100, Andy Dingley
wrote:

If you're recovering a junker, then you may need to be brutal to the
wedge. But this is very much a last resort.

Making new wedges isn't that easy either - they need to be an
excellent grade of stable well-seasoned timber (beech) that's already
a few years old. Then you need to get the angles to fit the body
accurately. A sloppy wedge is one that won't hold its adjustment in
the future.


I was given a very odd wooden plane a couple of years ago.

it's small and high angle, and the blade is fairly thin steel, but
takes a good edge. the body is nicely carved with some tasty ornament.
the mouth is large at the sole but narrows down in the throat, so it
packs up quickly with shavings. the toe has a couple of grips carved
into it but no obvious place to apply the mallet for setting and
adjusting the cutter. the heel, OTOH does.

the body of the plane is something hard, dense and light colored-
beech or hornbeam or something like that- with a few layers of dark
stain and or age. the wedge obviously went missing some time back and
someone had made an attempt at a replacement. the attampt at a wedge
was in mahogany- a decent piece of mahogany, but still too soft. I
spent some time (probably too much, really) trying to make it work. no
matter how well I fit it I can't seem to keep it from chattering and
dropping the wedge. I'll have to keep my eye out for the right bit of
something harder.

it's not a plane that I need too badly- I have several metal body
block planes that work just fine and are about the same size. none of
them are as high angle as this mystery woodie though and frankly it's
a cool enough thing that I do want to get it up and running.

Well I guess I'll have to "tap" all day then, ay?

Then you're hitting it too hard.

Did not...

Put down the big mallet. Get a small, light hammer (about 4oz) and tap
it _quickly_.

I did exactly that.

It may take some goes, but I've never met a plane this
wouldn't unstick unless the iron was actually rusted in.

That's reassuring

If you're recovering a junker, then you may need to be brutal to the
wedge. But this is very much a last resort.

No, as I said they're both new.

Making new wedges isn't that easy either -

Not needed.

Thank you Andy! Really appreciated! A great answer of help. CHEERS!

Alex

AAvK wrote:

Rap the heel like the rest of us do.

Like the man said.


Well I guess I'll have to "tap" all day then, ay?

Alex

You shouldn't. It's amazing how little force it takes to loosen up a
wedge. A couple of good raps should do it.

--RC

Rap the heel like the rest of us do.

I was going to "gee wouldn't hurt?"... I know about that, but it doesn't work.
Did quite a lot of tapping on it. Thank you.

Alex

Well, plan "B" is to tap the side of the wedge lightly and walk it out.

"AAvK" wrote in message
news:idaad.17868$_a3.17793@fed1read05...

Rap the heel like the rest of us do.

I was going to "gee wouldn't hurt?"... I know about that, but it doesn't
work.
Did quite a lot of tapping on it. Thank you.

Alex

Well, plan "B" is to tap the side of the wedge lightly and walk it out.


I'll try that then. Thanks again.

Alex

AAvK wrote:
I have two shoulder planes made of bare, non finished or oiled beech. Both are
new Nooitgedagt brand and I goofed, jammed the wedges in too tightly. Have
you got the right method of freeing them?

If (unlikely) the iron is tapered (thicker at the bottom), simply
drive the iron DOWNWARDS. This releases the lock.

OTOH, if tapping (inertia) won't free the blade, hold the wedge
in a vice, gripping the WHOLE exposed portion. and tap the plane
off the wedge.

Try to generate forces in the line of the wedge if possible.

BugBEar