I recently finished building my first coffin smoother. Overall I'm happy with how it came out, but I'm finding that the edge on the tapered double iron I'm using is not very durable; I get perhaps 15-20 minutes of nice shavings (using the plane primarily on poplar) before it starts to feel dull.
Some Details:
- I purchased my iron used on ebay and was surprised that the bevel on the iron is 20 degrees; I had expected 25-30 degrees. (There isn't a microbevel.)
- The iron is 2 1/8" x 8", with a small amount of camber.
- I don't think the iron has been overheated by a previous owner; it sharpened about as fast as my other irons.
- I've performed the usual steps to initialize an old iron (removed all rust, flattened the back, checked the fit of the cap iron, etc.)
- The bed angle for the plane is 47 degrees.
- I've been working from the directions in this article: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/p...ooth-operator/
Is the problem that a 20 degree bevel is just too fragile and I should re-grind to a larger angle? I'd also like to know if there's some reason the iron is set up the way it currently is. (Perhaps it's intended for a different type of plane entirely?)