Hand Plane Chatter

[Ron Nossaman]

> I have a hand plane that has a propensity to "chatter" in use. Picture 
> of it is below. The reason the base looks as if it is curved is because 
> it is curved. That's the whole deal with this plane - the base curvature 
> is adjustable to any gentle curve - convex or concave. It's great for 
> planing many wooden things found in piano bellies and jigs to make those 
> things. But it can be a bear when the darn plane wants to chatter.

That's a pretty steep blade angle, and a very flexible sole 
plate, neither of which you can do much about and a bad 
combination by my relatively inexperienced reckoning. I'd try 
two things. The first is related to my miserable efforts to 
use a curved sole spoke shave years ago. 
Chatterchatterchatter, chunkgougedig. It's been in the drawer 
ever since. Problem was the sole radius was tighter than the 
scoop I was trying to cut, and the thing rocked, at least 
under my lack of control, continually changing the cut angle 
and depth of cut. Try setting the sole curve to a slightly 
larger radius than your caul, so you have to lean on it some 
to get it to cut. If that doesn't work, I'd try grinding the 
iron edge to a shallow curve, to narrow the cut width 
proportional to the amount of support the sole is giving you. 
If that doesn't work and ruins the plane for all time, it 
already isn't working, so...

Ron N