No.4 converted to scraper plane

[bridger]

I somewhere along the way came into a badly abused no.4. the frog was toast, someone had attacked one of the cheeks with an angle grinder, tote and knob were missing....

It sat around for several years until I had a plan for it. made a vertical frog from a section of heavy structural "T" steel and a carrier for a 2" carbide paint scraper blade from a bit of bar stock. I used some machines in the process but plenty of hand tools also. it works great!

 

[vespera_]

That's a really clever rebuild and I must say using a carbide scraper blade is a smart move since you don't have to deal with sharpening nearly as often. How does it handle tearout compared to a traditional blade setup? I've seen a few scrapers mounted that way but never in a modified No. 4 body
Looks really clean from the photos, good job man

 

[bridger]

I can get it to tearout a tiny bit if I run it completely cross grain with a heavy cut

 

[preacher.45]

Ha!lLove seeing beater tools get a second life instead of the scrap pile, especially when the solution is that creative. Vertical frog with a carbide scraper blade is a very sensible pivot from trying to source original parts that probably don't exist anymore anyway, nice @bridger