Plane conversion- scraper plane from Stanley smoother

[Philip Davies]

This started as a smoothing plane I’d retrieved lacking handles, irons etc, and I already have more than one already.

I thought I would use the existing frog as the basis for adjustment, so I made a plate to screw on to the back of the scraper frog, which is the main part of the conversion


The idea was to make a bridge to hold the blade down on the frog and have a central screw to flex the blade, hence the threaded insert. However, this proves unnecessary. The frog I made has a slight camber which gives sufficient rigidity, when the bridge is bolted down.

Here you see the blade, bridge and other bits.
Although I am satisfied with the result, a disadvantage is that, to sharpen the blade, I must unscrew the bolts on the bridge and the redundant central screw, and to do that, I must also remove the front tote! However, I think that I shall cut down an Allen key to access the bridge screws, and make a couple more blades, simple T shapes, without the slots. I am glad that the adjustment works satisfactorily, because although I could increase the depth of cut with a tap from a hammer, there’s no other way of retracting it.
I might just add that I made a batch of 6 totes, because I have a couple of other planes to restore, and couldn’t be sure of the fit. This one is a bit large, but comfortable.