Hand plane trouble

[LFS19]

I still haven't managed to get to grips with my hand plane.
I've been doing woodwork for about six months now, and you'd think I'd have been able to use it to some extent by now.

I suppose one of the reasons I haven't used it is because I've been avoiding it.
I have a ton of rough sawn pine in my workshop, but whenever I've started a project I've just gone and bought it pre planed from the lumber yard.

Whenever I have a go at planing that rough wood, it never goes right and I end up making it even less square then when I started.
Enough is enough, though. I really need to just learn this properly and I was hoping this forum could help me yet again.

I only have one plane - a number four. And it's a silverline, so no record or stanly. I went with what I could afford at the time.
I've spent quite allot of time with it sporadically over the course of my woodworking endeavour so far, but I've had no luck actually getting anything square, and as I've said before, have often left the wood in a worse state.

I figured my first step was to sharpen it.
I hadn't sharpened it since I got it, again for fear of well and truly screwing up the blade, but I took the time today to go through one of Paul sellers videos on YouTube and get it razor sharp.
After some confusion of actually putting the thing back together, I went out to test it and noticed that after a couple of passes, the blade was slipping back into the mouth.
After fiddling around (not sure what I actually did) I managed the stop that, but then chip braker seemed to slip down the the same depth of the blade, and prevent me taking any shavings.

After unscrewing everything again and fixing that issue, then the blade was coming too far through the mouth, and turning the knob on the back was making no difference to the depth of cut.
Even when their weren't issues, as I was planing the plane wasn't taking shavings, as such, but more like chips.
Lowering the depth any only made it dig into the wood and ruin the surface I'd just planed.

By that point I stopped and left it, but rather than do what I usually do and leave it for months, I've come here to hopefully get these issues ironed out.

I was wondering if anyone can hopefully recognise some of the mistakes I've made in either using the plane or assembling it, and can advise me on what or what not to do.

Thanks allot

 

[sunnybob]

You mentioned the dreaded word... silverline. I know money is money, but silverline is the scrapings at the bottom of the barrel for quality.

It would take a really great man to get that to work properly. Use it as a wall ornament, get a better plane because you cant get a worse one and start all over.

 

[Roughcut]

Might be of help?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kURYRhTDzMg

 

[LFS19]

You mentioned the dreaded word... silverline. I know money is money, but silverline is the scrapings at the bottom of the barrel for quality.

It would take a really great man to get that to work properly. Use it as a wall ornament, get a better plane because you cant get a worse one and start all over.

Really? That's annoying. It wasn't even really obviously cheap either (and therefor likely not very good) - it cost nearly £20.

So could some of the issues be simply solved by buying a decent plane?

Thanks

 

[LFS19]

Might be of help?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kURYRhTDzMg

Thanks, I'll check that out

 

[undergroundhunter]

Im Nr Doncaster if you want to pop round for a handplane 101 one weekend. Bring the plane and some wood and we will see what we can do, almost any plane can be tuned to work, its just a case of knowing how to do it and where to start.

Matt

 

[Graham Orm]

You mentioned the dreaded word... silverline. I know money is money, but silverline is the scrapings at the bottom of the barrel for quality.

It would take a really great man to get that to work properly. Use it as a wall ornament, get a better plane because you cant get a worse one and start all over.

+1 A second hand Stanley or Record from ebay or a boot sale will do better than a brand new silverline.

 

[LFS19]

Ha! That's actually my plane in the video, good find, sir.

Thanks again.

 

[LFS19]

Im Nr Doncaster if you want to pop round for a handplane 101 one weekend. Bring the plane and some wood and we will see what we can do, almost any plane can be tuned to work, its just a case of knowing how to do it and where to start.

Matt

Thanks very much for offer, I'll pm you

 

[BearTricks]

You can get a fairly decent plane second hand from ebay. I'd suggest car boot sales, but I've found that they're generally in awful condition at the car boots closer to me.

I got a Stanley 41/2 on ebay for £18. Brand new, half a century old, unused in the box with the original price label still stuck on it. Only issue with it was that someone had taken the iron out at some point to use in their other plane from the same era, and replaced it with something produced a bit later. Still a quality iron though.

 

[LFS19]

You mentioned the dreaded word... silverline. I know money is money, but silverline is the scrapings at the bottom of the barrel for quality.

It would take a really great man to get that to work properly. Use it as a wall ornament, get a better plane because you cant get a worse one and start all over.

+1 A second hand Stanley or Record from ebay or a boot sale will do better than a brand new silverline.

I'm going to a car boot sale tomorrow so I'll have a look.

Thanks

 

[LFS19]

You can get a fairly decent plane second hand from ebay. I'd suggest car boot sales, but I've found that they're generally in awful condition at the car boots closer to me.

I got a Stanley 41/2 on ebay for £18. Brand new, half a century old, unused in the box with the original price label still stuck on it. Only issue with it was that someone had taken the iron out at some point to use in their other plane from the same era, and replaced it with something produced a bit later. Still a quality iron though.

That seems like an excellent deal, I'll be on the look out.
I'm yet to see one for that price on eBay.

Thanks

 

[undergroundhunter]

Again though with the boot sale planes, they can be real gems but most of them have been abused/left to rust, so some help with setting up/using would be helpfull. Also knowing what sharp is without being shown can be difficult.

Matt

 

[LFS19]

Again though with the boot sale planes, they can be real gems but most of them have been abused/left to rust, so some help with setting up/using would be helpfull. Also knowing what sharp is without being shown can be difficult.

Matt

Agreed.

I'm going to a car boot sale tomorrow.

Any tips on what to look out for?

 

[Graham Orm]

I've got a Stanley #5 half refurbished. I'll sort it and you can have it for £20 plus postage if you like. It's one of these. This is just after they came out of an electrolysis bath. They're both around circa 1950 I think.

 

[davem62]

LSF
thats a fine offer from Graham and well worth taking up if you have the spare funds,saves all the work with a car boot find and takes the risk out of eBay purchase
regards david

ps also not far from you so any problems your welcome to pay a visit

 

[Bm101]

I've got a Stanley #5 half refurbished. I'll sort it and you can have it for £20 plus postage if you like. It's one of these. This is just after they came out of an electrolysis bath. They're both around circa 1950 I think.

Top Man.