Scott Post has been smoking...
>
>
> I tried something yesterday while making a plow wedge that seemed to work
> pretty well.  I'd be curious what others think.
>
> I learned from Tod Herrli that a good way to get good contact between the
> iron and bed is to blacken the back of the iron with lamp smoke (I used
> a candle), insert the iron and wedge then tap the iron a bit.  Remove the
> iron and where the black rubs off the iron you'll know you have a high
> spot.  Keep working on the bed until you get a fairly even distribution
> of scrapes in the black stuff on the back of the iron.
>

This process is (was?) used by gun-smiths when fitting
an action to a stock. They called it "smoking a fit"

Perhaps someone more knowledgeable than I can confirm?

        BugBear