Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
The club had a shop tour at my shop yesterday featuring a discussion of the bed side chest of drawers I am building. Participants were invited to bring a plane if they had questions. To my surprise most planes showed up with their blades back beveled. Their owners had learned of this technique on the Internet or at a Woodcraft class.

I don't know anything about back beveling so I never use it. Some of the blades that showed up had a lot of back bevel, a bevel readily seen without aid of a 10X lens, and more of less steep. And some had secondary front bevels.

I showed some of the visitors how to hollow grind and they were enthusiastic about this aid. I had no idea how to deal with the back bevels so I just left them as they turned out after sharpening the front bevel.

What is the consensus about these extra bevels? Are they something a learning woodworker should be using or relying on?

It seemed a great help to the new to planing participants to experience what sharp felt like and what a sharp adjusted plane felt like.