Scottish Infill Smoother - Revisited
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- čas přidán 28. 05. 2024
- This is an update to a video that I did almost two years ago on my Scottish infill smoother (btw, the only infill plane that I own). In that video, I complained about the difficulty of setting the depth of cut. Recently, a viewer suggested an alternative that seemed eminently reasonable, and I was eager to try it out. This video describes an alternative method for setting the depth of cut. Enjoy!
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Ok, I've learned more about setting up an infill from this video and Chris' comment than I have from WoodbyWright or Rex Kruger. Most videos on infills just say "you adjust then like a wooden plane," but they don't, like you've just shown. No one has done a proper video on setting up, fine tuning, and troubleshooting an infill plane. It would be nice to see one, as I've managed to luck my way into a couple and I'm still a beginner with Stanleys!
Jared, thanks for the comment. That's one of the reasons I do these videos, too often we just don't get the details that we need or want. Have you looked that my first infill video? It also has some good comments from Chris on tuning and adjusting. I don't remember if I commented in the first video, but I have flattened the sole of my infill plane. It didn't take much work since it was quite flat to begin with, but it definitely helped achieve a better result.
Maybe Chris could make the proper video! As the proud owner of a single infill plane,, I don't think it's in my wheelhouse.
Good on ya Mark. Your on track. Just a few comments that I hope will help explain this adjustment type a little further. The wooden adjustment hammer I use is tiny (150 grams) and as I have the cap iron screw back off slightly it takes very little impact to make a small adjustment to the iron depth. I usually strike the metal nose of the plane rather than the bun itself though both points of impact are an option if as you've pointed out your careful. The key point to take on board is that when the plane body is struck the attitude / angle at which the plane body and iron is held is important. With a plane iron that is weighted towards the cutting edge as these old tapered infill irons are they will move in the direction of that weight. So if you hold the plane with the iron pointing downwards and tap the front steel nose of the plane body the iron will advance. If you hold the plane body so that the iron is pointing upwards and strike the plane body in the same place it will retract slightly. Let me know if that makes sense ?
If I understand this, you mean to strike the nose of the plane with a motion parallel to the sole of the plane. I can certainly see that this will advance the plane iron. You lost me on the other part, I can't see how simply holding the plane at a different angle will change this, tapered iron or not. After all, the important thing is the concurrent effects of momentum (to the body) and inertia (to the iron).
The take home message for the viewers should be 1) first and foremost, don't break your plane, then 2) the wooden plane analogy is a good starting point (tapping downward on the front/bun of the plane, then 3) tweak the procedure to suit the individual and the specific plane being set.
@@MarkSLSmith1 Hi Mark, yes to all of those points. Re the holding of the plane - I'm having to really think now :) It's about the attitude of the iron really rather the plane body. The body is essentially an iron holder that uses a wedge or cap iron to hold the iron in place. When the plane body is struck the vibration loosens the iron slightly for just a moment it's at this point that the force of gravity has some effect - should the iron be horizontal it will retract slightly away from the pinched or wedged position. If that iron were to be in a vertical position (cutting edge uppermost) it would retract even more readily. If it were again in a vertical position but the cutting edge is downward the iron would advance (assuming the wedge / screw is not too tight).
Learning about infills is always fun! I saw another approach to lessening the cut from a now deleted or privated video by David Weaver where he lightly loosened the lever cap as he pushed, then adjusted and tightened back when he was satisfied with the depth. I think he said in a comment that it takes a bit of a fine touch because of how coarse the cap screw threads can be and I believe it with how chunky they are with an incomplete jack plane length one I stumbled into and bought to complete.
As an aside, have you ever unscrewed the side screws to your infill’s lever cap? Mine was held in by a pair of wood screws that bit into the brass and I had to remove them due to them being broken at some point. I’ve been thinking of completely drilling through the holes and tapping them, but I’m not sure if that was how they’re usually done.
Vincent, thanks for watching! I am aware of the technique that you mention about using the lever cap screw to adjust the depth of cut. I briefly demonstrated it in my first video on this plane from a couple of years ago. It is a procedure that one can use, but I thought it was kinda finicky. In comparing that technique to the one in this video, I think I like this one better. It may just be that I have a lot more experience with wooden planes, so this one feels more natural. I found the following reference from Paul Sellers where he does the same thing, so I guess Paul counts as one more vote for the tap the bun method: paulsellers.com/2016/08/tap-adjustment-set-panel-planes/
At any rate. I'm well and truly over my reticence about my infill smoother and will certainly use it more often.
I've never separated the wooden infill from the metal body, so I'm afraid I can't help there. I think there are videos that describe this on other channels. Good luck with it.