Originally Posted by
Derek Cohen
I wonder what advantage there is with a smoother having a bed angle above 45 degrees if it uses a double iron? A lower cutting angle should produce a clearer finish. Bearing in mind that the lower the bed, and the more interlocked the grain, the greater commitment there must be to use the chipbreaker to control tearout.
Two views of a 50 degree bed: for one building a plane for others, it offers a range of choices (i.e. to use chipbreaker, or not). On the other hand, if the plane is for oneself, the choice of the 50 degree bed angle is wishy-washy (sitting on the fence, so to speak). When I chose the frogs to keep in my Veritas Custom planes, they were 40 degrees (#7) and 42 degrees (#4). This was a commitment to using the chipbreaker.
Regards from Perth
Derek