LV mistake?

[Eddie Darby]

I have one of the LV block planes and needed to plane some curly maple, so I got the toothed blade for the job.

The bevel angle on the toothed blade was steeper than a cow's forehead.
Isn't the idea behind a toothed blade in wild grain, is that you don't need to have a steep angle of attack? Huh?

Shouldn't they just come with a standard 25 degree angle so the owner can change the bevel angle to whatever micro bevel is needed?

The thing about all this is to get the blade even in the area of 35 degrees, forget 25 degrees, is going to take a lot of work, and waste a lot of steel, on a blade that is already short to begin with.
Since it looks like it started out initially with the standard 25 degree angle and was ground back to something around 38 degrees, a lot of steel is gone.

All this makes me think that the planes are being designed by engineers and not woodworkers.

[Mike Henderson]

Just a question, but why choose a toothed blade for that? I always thought the toothed blades were used to rough up the wood prior to applying veneer. In that situation, the toothed blade should be almost 90* to the wood. It's more of a scraper than a cutter.

Or maybe I'm not understanding your situation.

Mike

[Ron Knapp]

There are two slightly different kinds of toothed blades one of which is useful for veneer work the other wood. I have a toothed blade from LN for wood and it has helped.
http://www.lie-nielsen.com/?pg=4


I have no knowledge of what LV did and it's possible their blades are for one use and not the other.

[Phillip Pattee]

LV sells two toothed blades for their block planes. One at 50 degrees and one at 38 degrees. If you have the 38 and use it in the low angle block (bedded at 12 degrees) you should get york pitch. The higher pitch is designed to work best in difficult grain.

There are two types of toothed blades. The one I think you want in your block plane is for planing across grain so that you minimize tear out. You create ridges that you remove by going back over the surface with a regular blade. The second type is, as Mike has pointed out ,where the blade, usually placed in a scraper plane, is nearly vertical. This is used to create a rough surface for better gluing of veneer.

The 50 would give you an effective cutting angle of 62 degrees. I'm not familiar with the purpose of an angle that high in a block plane -- perhaps it is for the veneer prep:confused:. If you got the 50, you could exchange it for the 38. LV is renouned for their customer service. They will make it right.

[Mike K Wenzloff]

Hi Ed,

Aside from the angle of the bevel as purchased, toothing planes are higher angle planes. Give it a test. If it works fine for your application, keep it. If not, exchange it for the lower angle. But my guess is that you will find an application, a wood, that appreciates the higher angle at some point.

Take care, Mike

[Eddie Darby]

I should also mention that I have an old O1 toothed blade that is quite thin, and is used in an old Stanley block plane.

It came with a 25 degree bevel, to which I put a small micro-bevel to reduce the waste of abrasives and time when sharpening, and it works like a charm on curly maple.

If I want to go to 38 degrees with a bevel, then no teeth are needed, and instead more effort is needed.

I just don't like the waste of time sharpening, abrasives and extra effort to push it, and for what reason?????

Toothed blades allow an easier push if the angle of the bevel is less, and require less abrasives and sharpening time if micro-bevels are used.