-----Original Message-----
From: Nuno Souto 
To: oldtools@l... 
Date: Thursday, April 22, 1999 1:51 AM
Subject: Re: Iron thicknesses was Re: FWW Smoothing Plane Article


> If you have an old plane with a narrow mouth, when you put
>a thick blade on it you have to push the frog back to end up with
>a mouth at all!  If the angle of the bevel of the new iron is not
>correct, what then happens is that the base of the bevel will rest
>on the sole instead of the end of the frog where it should be (remember,
>the frog has been pushed back, so there is now a "lip" between its
>lower edge and the rear end of the mouth in the sole). Result is
>instant chatter.  Remedy is to change the bevel angle until its base
>rests in the frog instead of the sole.

Can we explore this a wee bit further?

I've just started fooling around with my new Hock irons in a type 14 (or so)
#3C (small corrugated smoother, Jeff) and also in a type 11 #4 (smoother,
Jeff). In both, I'm still fiddlin the frog around to try to find the perfect
compromise between having no mouth at all versus having the frog so far back
that the iron rests on the lip of the sole instead of the frog.

IOW, with the frog back far enough to have an opening for shavings to pass
thru, the blade hits the rear edge of the mouth, and cannot bed properly on
the frog. If I move the frog forward a bit to make the leading edge of the
frog even with the rear lip of the mouth, there's almost no mouth at all,
and it chokes.

Do I need to regrind the bevel at a bit sharper angle? They've got the bevel
supplied by Mr. Hock. What angle should I shoot for? Don't want to start any
holy wars here, just my usual quest for knowledge and I'm not embarrassed to
ask stupid questions - don't know of any other way to learn...

- Bill Taggart
- At home in Califon, NJ, USA