Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)
>In an earlier thread, the question arose whether rebate (and shoulder) plane blades should be set flush or slightly proud of the sides of the body.

I was taught to use the plane with the side of the blade slightly proud of the body. We are talking a miniscule amount here. I am not sure it one can realistically qualitify it. About .001 - .002"?

However in practice this did not work as expected and I began to set the blade flush with the side of the body. This worked for me.

So which way should it be?

So .. a scrap of pine and a Record #778. The only problem was that I realised later that I planed across the grain and not with the grain. So we will call this Part I.

Record #778 ...

.. and freshly sharpened blade ..

Set square and flush against plane body ..

Shavings look like this ..

And the frebate is square with a perpendicular side ..

OK. What about a blade set fractionally proud? Here it is (and I have added an insert as well). The blade was tapped with my trusty genno, gently ..

The nicker is no longer helpful now, so it is retracted and the board is knifed..

This is the result. The side is ragged and not perpendicular ..

Comments?

Regards from Perth

Derek