Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)
We are all on the journey, and seeking to gain a better understanding of how things work. ...

so I am happy to see evidence of high angle planes working, as i found the concept a little curious. I also don't have the experience with the woods that your are using.

Hi again Mark

We are all fiddlers ... fiddling away to salve our never ending curiosity.

Here is a different approach I took to dealing with the local hardwoods. This is a bevel up smoother with a high bed angle. Typically they are 12 degrees. Then you need to add a high bevel (of around 50 degrees) to get them in the half pitch range, which is tested as the ideal cutting angle. Here I used a 25 degree bed, which could lower the bevel to 35 degrees. The aim was to minimise the incursion of a wear bevel, and to make the bevel easier to freehand (35 degrees with a camber is doable. 50 degrees is not). This is one of my favourite smoothers.

Regards from Perth

Derek