At 23:12 12/02/02 -0600, you wrote: 
>
>If a woodie needs significant bed work or the mouth has been opened up,
>don't even bother with it.



Hi Ralph,

Thanks for your words of wisdom. I'm encouraged to try again.

But how do you tell up front if your little hunk o' beech is a goner?
Maybe I'm talking about borderline cases here. Most of mine look to my
untutored eye as if they should work. Then they don't, and I'm stuck in
this loop between fiddling with the cutter, fiddling with the sole,
fiddling with the bed, and then testing the whole concoction...Problem
is, each test may involve
a) shaping and honing of the cutter right from the 80 grit grinder up
   to the 6000 grit waterstone. On a curved blade this seems to take me
   a long time
b) working of a profile in a test scrap right down to the full depth of
   the profile Apart from the high time factor, I don't have that much
   scrap! So - is it just a matter of sticking with the loop a few more
   times, or is the fact that I'm even in the loop a sign to bail out?

Anyway, I know it's probably just a matter of building up some
experience. At least I know it *can* be done. I'll keep your advice and
Mike Lindgren's heartening tale in mind. Maybe one day I'll be able to
get that #55 re-nickeled and just use it for a mantelpiece ornament.

Jaime