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Guy as you know I'm relatively new to this and in my gathering I have bought 2 second hand planes both of these blades are ground slightly on the skew. Now my problem is if I use a jig to sharpen them I lose this skew, and I think this skew is there so that when lateral adjustment lever is central so is the blade.

So can you advise either an adjustment I can do to the plane body or do I have to sharpen these free hand?

Anyone else run into this?

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

John: May be wrong about this but think some planes have frogs that are adjustable.The frog is the piece the blade sits on and to which the adjustment lever is attached.Look for two screws through the frog into the base of the plane . Good luck.

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

John, which two planes did you score? If you have pictures that would be nice.

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Aoibeann

Hi, John,

It is possible that the frog can be out of alignment, but depending on the plane may not be adjustable. If you find it easier to sharpen the blades with a jig, I'd do so, as long as you have enough adjustment to make the edge of the blade parallel with the sole. It does't matter if the adjustment lever is centered, just that the blade is where it needs to be. If you need to have the edge skewed, you can probably put a small wedge in your honing guide to set the blade at an angle to the stone.

Joe

Here's The collection




sorry it took so long it was the Stanley 5 1/2 and the Rapier 4 I was talking about

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

This is an opportunity to learn how to set up a plane. I don't know anything about the Rapier plane but the Stanley if fully adjustable. The mating points for the frog and its position are all settable. You should completely disassemble the plane and examine the mating surfaces where the frog is mounted to the body and the blade is set on the frog. These should be filed to be true and flush. None of the part should rock. This is also where you would correct any skew that might be in the frog. When you are done, the blade should be square and the skew adjustment should be centered.

With later sharpening, the blade might go a bit off square and that is where the adjustment comes into play. It is there to compensate for a skew in the blade not the other way around as you describe. After "The Big Setup" everything should be square.

I fully agree with the last comment - sharpening the blade properly is only one par of setting up the plane properly - which I'm just now beginning to learn...

I'd also experiment with sharpening freehand. I had surprisingly good results sharpening freehand, after struggling with results using a a sharpening jig (albeit a cheaper one).

With a little care, you'd be surprised how sharp you can get a blade with the right stones (or even various grades of sandpaper) by sharpening freehand.