Woooden Plow Plane Irons

[lowell holmes]

I recently acquired a nice wooden plow plane. It came with a 3/8" iron. I bought some irons that would fit it except they are about 1/8" too wide and will not fit in the plane.

I need to remove about 1/16" on both sides of the top half of the irons. They are tapered thickness and appear to be cast steel. A double cut file will grab the metal, but I'm not eager to attack them with a file.

I think one option is to make a fixture to use on my inexpensive 6" PC variable speed bench grinder and attempt to grind the top sides (sounds like a boat doesn't it).

I'm not too sure that a better solution is to take them to a machine shop and have the work done. I think my time would be better spent working wood.

Does anyone have other suggestions to make?

[george wilson]

A machine shop will charge you more than the plane is worth.

[James Taglienti]

Arent they laminated? It shouldnt be too hard to grind them, especially since you dont have to worry too much about burning the narrower ones.

Also could you alter the plane instead?

[Joshua Clark]

Rather than try to grind the irons you have, I'd look for a set of irons that fit. Grinding them is going to take a lot of time and effort and it's not worth it, like George said.

There are really two measurements you need to be concerned with. The width of the top iron is important, as you found out. The iron can't fit too snugly in the mortise as there has to be enough play for the groove in the blade to engage the skate. Different irons may also have different angles of taper as they approach the bevel. If the angle of the wedge doesn't match the taper of the blade they won't mate properly. Modifying the angle of the wedge is easy. Just make sure all of the blades have the same taper angle.

Fitting blades to a plow is sort of a crap-shoot if you aren't buying in person. When I put together a set of blades for a plow plane I test the fit of each blade to make sure it works with that particular plow. This is the same reason I don't sell mixed sets of plow irons. There's no guarantee they will all work together.

Josh

[Mel Miller]

If you still want to reshape the irons you have, a good stationary belt sander is the way to go.

Mel

[David Weaver]

Rather than try to grind the irons you have, I'd look for a set of irons that fit.

I would, too - either a different set of irons or a different plow plane.

[Larry Williams]

What people don't seem to understand is that there are a number of features of skated plane irons that just weren't uniform or standardized. Each plow plane was made to fit the irons on hand rather than the other way around. Plow irons not only vary in body width they also vary in thickness. The depth and length of the groove in the back of the iron also varies. For the wedge to properly grip the iron the fit of the wedge, the placement of the skate (which acts as the bed of the iron), and the iron's various dimensions all need to be uniform. All the irons need to have uniform dimensions if you want them to all work properly. While one can make a new wedge and modify irons, I don't know of a way to reposition the skate of a plow plane skate. You have to be able to do all three if you want to fit different irons to a plow plane unless you get very lucky in finding old irons. There's also a slow curve at the cutting edge end of a plow plane iron. This curve allows the iron to wrap around the skate and combined with the groove and the shaped skate bed provides for secure bedding of the iron and lateral stability. The location of the spring line of this curve and the radius of the curve were also not standardized and vary between irons. Even sets of irons from the same maker vary according to when they were made or which set of dies were uses to make the irons.

[lowell holmes]

Wow, responses from the all stars.

That's exactly the kind of feedback I was looking for. Thanks for responding.

One of the irons is 1/4" width all the way, so I think it will work after sharpening.

The irons are not laminated.

George and Larry, I guessed your points already, but didn't want to accept it.

Being a bit pig headed, (I'm sure the only one in this forum :) ) I think I will attack the 1/2" iron and see if it works out.

I would have 1/4, 3/8, and 1/2 irons. That might take care of it.

Otherwise, the pretty plane may sit on display next to my Indian Pots.

I didn't pay much for the plane or the irons, so all is not lost.

[lowell holmes]

I do have a stationary belt sander, I hadn't considerd that.