Ron wrote:

> anybody made one of these to use on your shooting board? Results?  I Am
> having a hard time pulling the trigger on a 400 plane purchase.

A metal low-angle plane usually has a 12-degree bed angle plus a 25-degree
bevel on the iron, for a total cutting angle of 37 degrees. .

A 12-degree bed angle would be impractical in wood. However, if you make
the bed angle 37 degrees and go with a bevel-down iron, then your cutting
angle is also 37 degrees. The cutting angle is what the wood sees; it 
doesn't care about the bed angle.  A 37-degree bed angle would work fine
on a Krenov-style plane. 

Bevel angle on a bevel-down plane doesn't affect the cutting angle, but 
it does affect the clearance angle. Clearance angle is bed angle minus
bevel angle, and needs to be at least 10 degrees. Keep the bevel angle on 
the iron at 27 degrees or less and you should be fine.

Whelan talks about American wooden miter planes as having bed angles of 
30-40 degrees.

Cheers,
Chuck Taylor
north of Seattle