Fit plow plane irons to plane

[lowell holmes]

I have a wooden plow plane, a piece of art to look at.
I bought it from the SMC classified a couple years back, maybe more, it's been awhile.
It came with one iron and works with that iron.

I bought a collection of irons from an auction.

These irons are of varying widths and the taper does not fit my plane. I can grind the irons on my belt sander
to width to fit in the plane, but the angle of the bevel just doesn't cut it.

I have the one iron that is correct and am considering taking the collection of irons to a machine shop to
be ground to fit. The machine shop would use the good iron as a pattern to grind to.

Have any of you dealt with this issue? If so, how did it work out?

[David Weaver]

Those irons are likely going to be water hardening steel that's very temperature sensitive.

I would personally rather make a couple of junk wedges (really, I'd rather find a set of matching irons and do what needs to be done to make a wedge that works with that set - keeping track of the old wedge to go with the plane, of course).

This is a topic that doesn't get much traffic, but I'll bet there are plenty of folks with plow planes who wish they just all worked better or fit better.

I can't really offer good advice on finding a good matched set now like you used to be able to do - used to be able to put up an automatic search on ebay and have a good matched set reasonable in a month or two of listings.

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Lowell

Don't waste your time re-shaping all the irons. Get a matched set and use the same wedge for all. Plough irons are not particularly expensive. I've seen a set of 8 good ones go for about $25. I have two sets - a NOS set purchased at a David Stanley auction. They cost about $100 - and I cannot use them until I re-heat treat them (too soft). Another vintage set - used but good - I paid $30 on eBay, and they are fantastic. It is worth keeping an eye out.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Steve Voigt]

Derek, I congratulate you on your good luck, but I have never seen any that cheap. On Ebay, they typically go for about $70-$120.
I bought a set for about $75 last year. They appear to be a matched set, but in reality the tapers are all over the place. I should have sent them back, but I wasn't ready to use them so I didn't look at them very carefully, and it's too late now. :(
Jim Bode often has sets for around $100. I wouldn't normally buy from him, but it might be worth seeing if he will stand behind them, if he will take them back if the tapers don't match within pretty tight tolerances. I think it would be worth paying up for that kind of assurance. I have also heard that Lee Richmond might be able to supply a set.
Lowell, As far as grinding goes, it would be tricky. You can't really grind the soft side, because you'll eliminate the groove for the skate. And the irons are sure to be laminated, so you would have to be very careful about grinding the hard side--if you go too far, you'll break through the lamination and then you'll have a worthless piece of mild steel. You can usually see on the side how thick the laminations are.

[lowell holmes]

Ok, I kind of figured as much. The set of irons I bought on line are apparently a matched set.

My next question is can the skate be successfully to match the bevel on the irons? If not, the plane will become a nice ornament in the office.

As cheap as the LV plow is, it wouldn't make sense to spend a lot on the old plane.