In a message dated 96-02-07 20:10:36 EST,
Gary Roberts writes:

> However, the blade, a tapered blade that appeared to have
>been in place for a good long time, was ground to a fairly low angle bevel.
>Makes me wonder if, due to the thickness of the blade, if you could get
>away with a lower angle bevel than you would with a thin, modern blade.

  The blade in mine (non-tapered) was ground to a low angle also. Looks to be
about 20 degrees or so, then they honed a steeper working angle. I think it
was done this way because a previous owner was lazy and didn't want to hone a
full width bevel on the thick blade. It gives up some blade support from the
bed, which should be a positive feature.

  I had a problem with it only once though, about halfway across a piece of
white oak, I ran into some grain reversal and the blade chattered enough to
leave a half dollar sized area with ripple marks at about 1/32" intervals in
it. A subsequent skewed pass cleaned it up nicely, but if the iron didn't
have that long bevel, I don't think it would have happened to begin with.

  Norris steel being precious, I just hone a 30 degree secondary bevel on it.
I'm not going to hone it back to a straight bevel since it would take about
an 1/8" or so off the blade. My Hock replacement is on order, and will be my
'working' blade when it arrives. 

Ray T. Smith