dawson@p... writes:

  

  Regarding the Kingshott quote -

>  "Most current mass-produced bench planes have a pitch of 45 degrees,
>  which is known as common or standard pitch.  Smoothers made in years
>  gone by to plane difficult hardwood had a pitch of 50 degrees, known
>  as York pitch.  Thomas Norris compromised by making his bench planes
>  with a pitch of 47.5 degrees.

  This revelation might have come as a surpise to the infill manufacturers.
Perhaps either Mr. Kingshott's protractor is off a smidgeon, or Mr. Spiers',
Mr. Norris', and others' are off.

  Then again, maybe it's mine that is off. But, a quick analysis of my
yuppy arsenal proves Mr. Kingshott wrong. I measured my Spiers smoother,
my Spiers panel, my Norris smoother, my Norris jointer, my no-name smoother,
my Preston smoother, and my Norris adjustable smoother and found them each
to be pitched at 45 degrees. [attention oldtools shoppers - the latter two
are for sale].

  It's also possible that Mr. Kingshott measured a single example of Norris'
work, with his particular one was pitched at 47.5 (Norris would custom make 
stuff to order), and then proclaimed this to be the standard.

  Perhaps some more measurements are needed. How about the others following 
this string, who own yb's. Care to measure yours (this means you Randy, Mike,
Ray, Andrew, Pete, Jeff, Vince, et al)?

  Regarding Sam Allens' quote -

>  Hardwoods will be planed smoother if a plane with York pitch
>  [50 degrees] is used.  Some wooden planes are available with
>  York pitch.  Burl wood and other highly figured wood can be
>  planed with less tearout if an even higher bedding angle is
>  used."

  This doesn't contradict with what I wrote earlier - you'll find the 
wooden planes pitched through a greater range than you will the metallic
ones. Furthermore, it's the single iron planes that are more likely to 
be pitched higher than the double iron planes. Prior to the introduction
of the cap iron, the pitch was raised in an effort to eliminate tearout.

  Once the cap iron made its way onto the scene to reduce tearout, it took 
some time (plane evolution, if you will) until planemakers and users alike 
felt comfortable enough to buck the tradition of varying the pitch. But, 
they eventually came to a general consensus that 45 degrees was best for a 
metallic plane for the fact that a cut surface is better than a scraped
surface (which the steeper pitch approximates).

  Wooden planes, on the otherhand, need every advantage that can be applied
to them in order to tackle the difficult woods. They suffer a lack of mass,
a mouth that cannot be made to the same tolerance as a metallic plane, a
mouth that doesn't stay constant, and almost invariably are equipped with
tapered irons. 

  A steeper pitch to the iron, even if it has a double iron, can benefit the
wooden plane because the mouth increases its width as the plane is used. The
portion of sole holding the fibers in place prior to their being cut is less
than that of a plane with a fine mouth. Thus, there is a limit to the benefit
derived via the cap iron when the plane has a gaping mouth. In this case, the
function of the cap iron is assisted by increasing the iron's pitch, where 
the two (cap iron and pitch) both work in unison to overcome the shavings' 
leverage as soon as possible lest tearout results.

  About Michael Dunbar's quote -

>   However, some planes were made specifically for working hard
>   woods and have a pitch of 50 degrees, called a York pitch.
>   Cabinetmakers who regularly worked heavily figured woods such
>   as walnut or mahongany might own a smoothing plane with its
>   blade set at an even steeper angle of 55 degrees.  This is
>   called the middle pitch.  There is a more extreme set of 60
>   degrees known as the half pitch, also intended for heavily
>   figured woods such as curly maple.

  I suspect that he's simply regurgitating or paraphrasing information
he gleaned elsewhere (I'll bet it's Salaman's Dictionary of Woodworking
Tools that's the source of his information). What he says is true, for 
wooden planes. Again, I stress that bench planes pitched greater than 
common pitch are the exception rather than the rule, in both wooden and
metallic versions.

  It's quite possible that he meant to refer the above quote to wooden
planes. I suppose we could ask Dunbar directly for an explanation. 
Furthermore, we could also ask him how many bench planes he's observed,
and then of that number how many are pitched steeper than common pitch.

  But, I'm sorta thinking he's talking for talking's sake here, since 
I've gotten perfect results on the bitchiest curly maple with my common
pitch smoothers.

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Patrick Leach
Just say The proof is found in the original infills and not in a book.
etc.
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