So the beauty of having an ugly plane that you’re going to use to do rough work is that you don’t have to spent much time cleaning it up. So i didn’t.
I did however, camber the blade .. with my Tormek. I know scandalous. 😉 What would Schwarz say??
I used a wooden template to create a consistent camber and, frankly, I thought it worked pretty well.
After about 10 minutes, I had a nice camber that I was able to hone in about 30 seconds. If you look close you can see where I colored the primary bevel with marker so I could see the honed edge.
The results, and nicely scalloped, but flat board.
Conclusion, this plane will work just fine!
PS. Information on cambering blades
Tricks-in-Action: Plane Blade Cambering Jig
Camber With a Honing Guide
Why I File the Corners of my Irons
RWW 30: Thicknessing Stock the Old Fashioned Way
BTW – I don’t a jointer, so I have to flatten my boards before I put them through power planer.
I disobey Schwarz whenever possible, sometimes on purpose. I’m not a fan of facism. 🙂
LOL!
CS says in his book, “Disobey me!”
So, if you do, doesn’t that really mean that you are obeying him after all?
That’s the genius of facism!
You got me there! 🙂
I like the jig for cambering the blade. I have tormek and I’ll give it a try too.
Kari also has a video using a different jig but using the same idea. Here it is: VIDEO – Tricks-in-Action: Plane Blade Cambering Jig – http://www.popularwoodworking.com/video/tricks-video/video_tricks_in_action_plane_blade_cambering_jig
I like mine a little better because I can duplicate the same camber every time. And I drilled a hole in the oak block and put a brass insert in it to hold the thumb screw.
I am thinking about cambering all of my plane irons. Every old plane I’ve picked up has a slight to a moderate camber. I’m not sure if that is just because of age and the amount of use/sharpenings. But it seems to have been pretty common.
I am doing the same thing with a #5 that is not pretty, but useable. It will have 2 irons. One will be cambered to about an 8″ radius for roughing pieces that are too small for the jointer, and another with just a light to medium camber for jointing edges.
You predicted and you were quit right. Thanks again for the good input.