steve voigt
Bill, I don't disagree with what Warren just wrote, but let me put it a little differently. In a loose sense, you are right. The double iron, like a very steep angle plane, turns the shaving at at a steeper angle than say a common pitch single iron plane. The difference though, is that with the double iron it's a two-step process: the shaving is first cut at a lower angle, and then almost immediately turned at a steeper angle, which deprives the shaving of the ability to split ahead of the cut and cause tearout. In that sense it's the best of both worlds. Maybe there are no free lunches, but the double iron is as close to a free lunch as you can get.