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David Cefai
03-21-2010, 5:43 PM
At the flea market this morning I found two old but unused plane blades. They are "warranted steel" and substantially thicker than those on my Stanley and clone planes.

The irons taper from the cutting edge backwards.

I bought them for one euro ($1.10) each. There is however a little problem with them. The slots in which the screw for the cap iron fits are too short for my planes. I will need to lengthen the slots by about 1" and 1 1/2". (Thus reducing the usable length of the blades)

Before I start destroying the blades and possibly my drill bits I need to ask: Is it feasible to drill and cut plane irons? Is the steel too hard to work?

"Is it worth doing?" doesn't factor in this equation. However I don't want to ruin something which somebody else may find useful.
Jeff Willard
03-21-2010, 8:13 PM
Before I start destroying the blades and possibly my drill bits I need to ask: Is it feasible to drill and cut plane irons? Is the steel too hard to work?

Save the drill bits. Stuff's probably too hard for 'em. The one time I've attempted such a task, I used an abrasive emery wheel in a Foredom.
Steve knight
03-22-2010, 12:43 PM
The steel can be soft where the slot is. but it is easy to test just use a file if it does not cut it is too hard.
Jim Koepke
03-22-2010, 2:27 PM
A lot of blades are laminated. This would be hard on the business area and soft where it doesn't need to be hard.

You may find there is a market for these blades and they may sell for enough to buy a blade more fitting to your planes.

The other idea would be to make some planes to use these blades.

jim
David Cefai
03-22-2010, 3:27 PM
"The other idea would be to make some planes to use these blades."

That's plan B :-)

Thanks for the responses. I'l try the file and see what happens. However I think that "warranted steel" means that the all the blade is tool steel.
george wilson
03-22-2010, 10:28 PM
As said,those blades when new had about 2" of thin high carbon steel that usually came up to the BOTTOM of the slot. The rest is soft steel,maybe wrought iron,even softer. Look carefully at the blade if it isn't rusted. you can see where the tool steel was laminated onto the FRONT edge.