-----Original Message-----
From: Brian Edginton edge@w...
>Hail the Porch,
Er, Ahoy, galoot!
> So... I went out and found the first addition to my wood tools, it is a
all
>metal plane 7" long and 2" across. It's only markings are a small 4 stamped
>above the numbers 5607-16 by the throat and Made in the USA raised below
the
>knurled adjustment screw. Anyone help me identify this?
Yep. It's a Sargent 5607 low-angle block plane -- comparatively scarce and
a nice find, first because it's an adjustable-mouthed low-angle block plane
and hence very useful for cleaning up joints and other sorts of work on wild
grain (I think I probably reach for mine more often than any other single
plane in the shop, except maybe a jack), and second because there aren't a
lot of them around. Sargent made a gorbillion 7" block planes, all with
numbers ending in 07, but the 5607 is an oddball which has a 7" body and the
mouth of a 6" plane. According to the standard ref on the subject, a lot of
these are found with cracked mouths, and it sounds like you got the
fortunate exception which proves the rule.
> It also has an
>adjustment
>'thing' at the front that I can see no possible use for.
Ah, but there is. It opens and closes the adjustable mouth, permitting you
to adjust the gap between the leading edge and the cutter so that you can
take microscopically thin shavings or (more to the point with a low-angle
block) shave end grain without tearing it out. If it ain't adjusting, the
usual cause is crud lodged under the adjustable sole plate at the front.
You want to be a bit careful about how you take this out to clean it. I'm
working without one in front of me at the moment, but if I recall correctly
it's possible to back out the center screw on the adjustment (the one which
is in the middle of the thing that you twist) about 3/16" or so, and then
just tap it gently with a plastic hammer or something which won't munge it
up. The vibration will usually pop the plate free (if not, apply WD-40 and
try again). Again, I ain't looking right at one at the moment so this may
be a little misleading. What I _do_ know is that you don't want to try to
pry the plate out with a screwdriver, especially a screwdriver inserted from
the rear through the mouth opening and levered against the trailing edge of
the mouth. (Ever wonder how all those mouth chips got there? )
Pull the plate off and clean out all the shavings and Authentic Shop 'n'
Barn Munge caught between the plate and the body of the plane. Put the
plate back in and test for ease of adjustment. If it's still sticky, I
usually take a cheap machinist's scraper (you could also use a very fine
file) and use it to clean the edges of the plate -- often the caught
shavings have induced a little corrosion here, enough to make things sticky.
Best,
Tb.
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Thomas R. Bruce
trb2@c...
Legal Information Institute
607-255-1221
Cornell Law School http://www.law.cornell.edu
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