Tom H. wrote:

>   The standard bench plane configuration, as I contemplate it, is a
>(nominally) flat surface or sort of platform with the cutting edge of the
>iron protruding from it. Again speaking "nominally," the plane won't cut
>unless the cutting edge protrudes from the (nominally) flat sole. I would
>like to focus our attention on those little strips of the sole that flank
>the cutting edge in either side, preventing the body of the plane from
>falling into a lower *plane* behind the cut than in front of the cut.
>   If I'm right about this, then all surfacing is like a delicate
>version of a scrub, in which the shaving is a slice of wood scalloped out
>from between those little strips of sole on each side of the mouth.

Yes! And a revelation trumpets across the world in these millenial times.
This is why bench planes are NOT like p*wer planers or jointers and why
trying to think of them as such is a fallacy. If we could visually
exaggerate the differences in height on the board surface as we plane we
would see a series of broad shallow grooves flanked by narrow twin
plateaus. If you are smoothing a surface with a bench plane (or a scraper
plane, for that matter) you are ridin' the rails. You are NOT simply
picking up a non-powered version of a tailed jointer, turning it over and
applying it to the wood. Nope.

Even when the wood is narrower than the width of the mouth, we often skew
the plane body somewhat and the 'rails' adjacent to the mouth are brought
into play to some extent.

In fact, I submit that for a bench plane to behave properly, the edges of
the sole flanking the mouth should be included in the 'co-planar' regions
oft-mentioned previously, i.e. the toe, front of the mouth, and rear of
the sole.

>   Am I crazy, or just silly?

Heck, no, you ain't any of the above. You just one very observant Galoot.
****************************
Tom Price (TomPrice@a...)
Will Work For Tools
The Galoot's Progress Old Tools site is at:
http://members.aol.com/tomprice/galootp/galtprog.html