Good info! I have a beater Duke that I keep on the bench, and I always wondered
where the heck it came from.

As long we we’re talking about laminated blades . . . . . 

I use a lot of wooden bench planes. Almost all of them have very very thick
laminated irons.

I have no trouble at all getting a good edge on a typical Stanley iron. I have
no trouble at all keeping my chisels sharp. My left arm is completely bald.

I don’t know what I’m doing wrong but when I sharpen those big thick laminated
irons, I feel like it’s binary. I either get it perfect, or I spend 8 hours and
only manage to rub 1/4” of length off the iron.

I prefer to sharpen “by hand” even though I have 2 low speed grinders and a
tabletop belt sander. But with these big fat irons I’ve compromised with Thomas
Edison and I use the finest wheel of my 2 grinders, get it to hollow ground,
then use the stones. I don’t make a point of taking the hollow out, because of
course several stone sharpenings do that anyway.

If the Galoot consensus is that this is just the nature of big fat irons, I will
be satisfied and move on. But if I’m missing something in my sharpening
technique I’d love to know . . . . .

MPf.