Infill plane project

[Bob Glenn]

A co-worker brought in a beat up rusty iron jack plane. I am going to make an infill plane out of it. I am ready to start fitting the rear wood infill that will form the bed for the iron. I plan on making an A2 plane iron, and will use it bevel up.

What angle should I cut the infill bed holding the iron. I'm thinking thirty degrees on the plane iron and a twenty five or thirty degree bevel with the bevel up.

Any suggestions?

[Steve Rozmiarek]

Bob, I've been using my newest plane this weekend, a Norris A5, on QS white oak, and it is the best plane I have ever used. Period. It is York pitch, or 50 degrees, bevel down. I think part of what makes an infill better, is the large bearing area where the frog would be on a normal plane. The lower the angle, the less advantage you might see from the infill, because of less straight back force on the stuffing, I'd think. Why do bevel up?

[Bob Glenn]

I was thinking bevel up would have more support from the infill, close to the cutting edge. Also, I would like to eliminate the chip breaker.

[Jim Koepke]

I do not know about these things, so this question is from a position of one who does not know.

Give me time to duck if you are going to start throwing things.

Could the bed angle be such so as to let the blade be used either bevel up or bevel down?

jim

[Bob Glenn]

Good question,Jim.......Curious minds want to know. I was looking around on the Holtey Planes website and noticed that he makes a plane that you can use bevel up or down.

I've thought about trying that, but I plan on making my plane iron 3/16 thick, and I think turning it over would dramitically change the mouth opening.

I am planning on making a levered iron hold down with a knurled knob tightening screw, thus no chip breaker.

[Doug Shepard]

...
Could the bed angle be such so as to let the blade be used either bevel up or bevel down?

jim

Ron Brese is making one that the blade can be reversed.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=79570

[Steve Rozmiarek]

I was thinking bevel up would have more support from the infill, close to the cutting edge. Also, I would like to eliminate the chip breaker.

What the heck, give it a try! Your tag line cracks me up by the way.

[Bob Glenn]

What the heck, give it a try! Your tag line cracks me up by the way.

Since I;m still in the design/exploration stage, after reading Ron Brese' website, I'm now inclined to go bevel down with a quarter inch thick plane iron.

I'll keep you posted as to the progress.

[rick fulton]

I've thought about trying that, but I plan on making my plane iron 3/16 thick, and I think turning it over would dramitically change the mouth opening.


Bob,

Flipping a 30 deg iron in a 60 deg plane bed will get you a nice solid 90 deg scraper on a HNT Gordon plane. At that point, the mouth opening is just about as important as the mouth opening on a hand held scraper blade.

But, I would still rather use a bare blade than flip the blade on my smoother.

Keep us posted.
rick

[Barry Vabeach]

Bob, I suggest you reconsider the thickness issue. I have not read Ron's website, but I remember reading somewhere that a test was done of different thicknesses and that somewhere in the range of 1/8 was the "best". Don't forget that while a 1/4 will be plenty stiff, in a bevel down, the nearest contact point for the blade is much higher from the sole than an 1/8 thick iron. Thus the cutting edge is projecting farther from the support of the bed. In modifying a Stanley, I started with a 1/4 and then went to a 1/8 blade and thought I got better performance. Also, having established the primary bevel and drilled the cap screw slot on a 1/4 blade or two, it is a lot more work than a 1/8 blade. Now I still have an infill with a 1/4 blade that works fine, I am suggesting that you will go to much more work and expense for not much, if any, benefit. Barry

[Ron Brese]

Bob,

If you use a 3/16" or 1/4" iron you will not need a cap iron in a bevel down plane. A .125 thick iron would need a cap iron in order to be anywhere nearly as stiff as a 1/4" thick iron. However in my planes I use either a 5/16" thick or 3/8" inch thick sole and this provides plenty of bearing surface for the back of the iron without adding an additional metal block. If the sole in your plane does not provide enough thickness for the back of the iron to be supported by the sole then you may need to consider adding what would normally be called an anti-chatter block to the sole of your plane. Of course in a wooden plane the back of the iron would be bedded on the wooden bed so you may want to attached your rear infill with screws initially in order to give yourself the opportunity to experiment and see what feels acceptable to you.

Ron Brese