Toothed Plane Irons

[Larry Rose]

Does anyone have any experience with them? Are they worth the effort and price ($40 at L-N)?

[Joel Ficke]

I used a toothed blade regularly. The primary applications are for roughing glue surfaces like the backside of mouldings etc and the other is for working difficult grain like crotch panels. In the later a toothed plane blade followed by scraping works well for me.

There are probably other applications as well.

[Alan DuBoff]

I use one in my LN #62 Low Angle Bevel Up jack plane.

Well worth it for not only rough work, but for difficult grains also, you can use it to plane the surface, and then take the grooves down with a smoother, that gives a better finish than just going right for a smoother on the worst of grains which will often cause tearout. All of our mileage will vary, however...;)

[Frank Drew]

I think they used to use them to lightly score the surface of a substrate before veneering; current thinking, I believe, is that this isn't necessary for well prepared stock (and assuming your veneer is reasonably smooth on the underside).

[Steve Clardy]

I got one from LN along with the 55 degree frog, and use it in my LN 4.5 anniversary plane.
I worked glue joints down on a 4x8 oak dinging table and it sure made it easier to remove stock with.

[Eddie Darby]

Does anyone have any experience with them? Are they worth the effort and price ($40 at L-N)?

Instrument makers use them because they are working in curly grain woods a lot. They help to reduce tear-out.

I would try a tight mouth, and a steeper angle of attack first, and if you still have tear-out, then buy a toothed blade.