Essentials of woodworking

by Ira Samuel Griffith

Fig. 46.

Fig. 47.

Fig. 48.

19. Setting the Blade.

—The cap-iron should extend to within one-sixteenth of an inch of the cutting edge of the plane-iron in the smooth-plane and three thirty-seconds in the jack-plane. [Fig. 48]. The screw which holds the plane-iron and cap-iron together must be fastened with a screwdriver—many carpenters use the plane-iron for this purpose—tightly as possible, otherwise a few strokes of the plane and the plane-iron will have been forced up so that the cutting edge will not touch the wood. The reason for this action will be understood when it is seen that the lever of the brass adjusting nut does not act directly on the cap-iron but only on the plane-iron as it is carried along by being fastened with this screw to the cap-iron.

The cap-iron and plane-iron are fastened in the throat of the plane by a cap on one end of which is a little lever or cam.

Should this cam fail to hold the irons firmly, the screw which holds the cap to the frog should be turned with the screwdriver. It should be remembered, however, that this screw, once set, seldom needs adjusting.

Beginners frequently, in ignorance, place the plane-iron and cap-iron together so that the side of the plane-iron having the bevel is next the cap-iron. This results in a loose acting cam and they should look to see that the irons are properly set before changing the screw.