Grooving plane blade wider than skate.

[Richard Hutchings]

I recently bought a wooden grooving plane and it seems to work fine but the blade cut's 1/4" and the skate is quite a bit smaller. Possibly an 1/8". Is this normal or did I get the wrong blade with my plane?

[Jim Matthews]

Lots of my planes are like this.

I'm not really sure what the skate does,
other than extend the bed below the wood body.

Perhaps the front of the skate is there to help it track?

[steven c newman]

Mine is from the 1860s, skate is a skinny 1/8" thick. Might be so a user can plough with a narrower iron. Skinny skates will not bind in a groove wider than they are, also.

[george wilson]

I don't use those type planes,being mostly a musical instrument maker. But,I think the skate is there to limit the depth of the cut,and keep the iron from just trying to dive into the wood. It is narrower than the iron. Though I was also the toolmaker,I never was asked to make that type of plane.

[Derek Cohen]

I recently bought a wooden grooving plane and it seems to work fine but the blade cut's 1/4" and the skate is quite a bit smaller. Possibly an 1/8". Is this normal or did I get the wrong blade with my plane?

The irons on a wooden plough plane usually range from 1/8" through 5/8" in a full set of 8. If the skate was wider than 1/8", then the 1/8" blade could not plough a groove unless the iron was extended.

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/BridlePloughBuild_html_m3b4ede39.jpg

The skate runs in the groove, and the leading edge of iron extends just beyond the skate.

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/BridlePloughBuild_html_m9a17a9c.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

as you can see from Derek's picture,the skate is a substitute for the bottom of the blade,so it controls the depth of cut that the blade can make on each pass. I do not mean the depth of the whole groove the plane is cutting,just the bite that the iron can take.