Ducking & Diving...or Scraping & Driving?

Back before Christmas, just prior to retirement,  I paid a visit to Axminster and amongst a very large order placed on the day, I decided to tack onto the end of it a couple of LN scraper planes, the big 112 shown above and the smaller 212.  Not knowing whether I'd get on with them, I decided to get a couple anyway just to add to the 'collection' of planes...I didn't pay anything like full price for them, so they were something of a bargain.

No matter what I did though, I couldn't get the bloody things to work, they just didn't want to make any shavings!  Then I had on of my all too rare brain waves (or should that be aches?) and decided to have a look at my existing Veritas No 80, which I'd bought a few years ago.  The proverbial penny then dropped  like a large, lead weight and it became crystal clear that the LN planes needed adjustment...hence the reason for the two rather large knurled brass knobs just behind the cutter.  By visually comparing the fixed angle of the Veritas and adjusting the LN to the same, it then became a lot easier to get some wispy shavings off them.

Sharpening the blade wasn't too difficult either because by getting hold of one of Axminter's large honing guides and messing about with the thing, I was able to fit the LN 112 blade, which at just under 75mm wide didn't quite fit the standard guide...cunning or what?  I even found that with subtle finger pressure I could produce a slightly cambered blade, which is a bonus.

So now I could easily hone the required 45deg bevel on the 3M films and then turn the hook.  The results can be seen in the pic...and that's the infamous 'Wood from Hell' that's coming in for a bit of grief!

The little 'driver above was something I knocked up in a spare hour from an oddment of English Walnut and a 60mm magnetic bit holder, but I haven't got it any more.  In my unbounded enthusiasm, I gave it to my daughter the other weekend, so it's now residing in Ixwoth.  Such was the state of her existing Philips thing...I hesitate to call it a screwdriver as it looked like the end had been mangled in a meat grinder, that I took pity on her.

It just means now that I'll have to spend yet another hour on the lathe and make one more for myself as there's a distinct and unhealthy gap on the 'Tool Wall'

Such is life, mustn't crumble...though now I've got to sixty...