Low Angle vs. High(?) Block Plane

Re: Low Angle vs. High(?) Block Plane

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Get the low because you can make it high.(new blade or regrind the bevel of the first blade at a higher bevel) You cannot make a high low because the blade must have too low a bevel angle to last. Clear as mud? (has to do with the bedding angle)JR

Re: Low Angle vs. High(?) Block Plane

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>BTW I have the L-N low angle adjustable mouth and it is my most used plane.JR

Like Joe says...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond,CA

>You can make a low angle plane a high angle by regrinding the blade because it blade is bevel up. A high angle planes blade is bevel down, leaving no angle adjustment.

Re: Low Angle vs. High(?) Block Plane

Glenn Madsen

>And I have the LN std angle block, and it is my most used plane. ;-)

I have three other (low angle) block planes, however, and wouldn't be without (at least two) of them. The Veritas Apron plane and the Veritas Low Angle Block plane are both gems. The Stanley Low Angle Block, of recent vintage, gets tossed into the carpentry bucket, for trim work on softwoods, mostly.

The LN Adjustable Mouth block plane is a good tool, whichever bed angle you choose. The std angle seems to work better on edge grain, however, where the low angle planes have a tendency to split or peel the grain, in my (not nearly as long as others') experience.

Enjoy your new tools!

Thanks, guys!

Ron, Neosho, Wi.

>Mine must be a low angle given that the bevel is up. Also one of my most used planes followed only by a recently tuned up smoothing plane. I think I'll opt for the low angle. Will post my opinion in due time. Thanks, again.

Re: Thanks, guys!

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>Nope, you still don't understand.

The bedding angle of bevel up block planes varies from about 20� (standard block plane) down to 12� or so (low angle block plane). If you put a cutter with a 25� bevel on a standare block plane, you get a 45� effective cutting angle, which is about where you want to be for typical face grain planing. You can increase the bevel angle from there to 30� or 35� to get a 50� or 55� effective angle for face planing gnarly, difficult wood, but decreasing the the effective cutting angle for planing end grain is not effective, because the bevel angle becomes too thin to hold up to cutting.

A low angle block plane with a 25� bevel gets you an effective cutting angle of 37�, which is low enough for end grain work, and also does ok for face grain work in easy hardwoods, especially if you close the mouth up really tight. It is easy to regrind your blade, or get a second blade, ground to 33� to get an effective cutting angle of 45� with a very robust edge. Increasing the bevel to 43� gets you an effective cutting angle of 55� for planing woods prone to tearout. Note that a low angle block plane without an adjustable mouth does not work nearly as effectively at fine face planing of hardwoods.

Re: Low Angle vs. High(?) Block Plane

R.J.Whelan

>Joe ... I once took a Hock replacement iron (block plane) and milled one of the adjustment slot all the way through; I was then able to flip the iron over, open the throat and have a 20 degree cutting angle. I gave the plane away - sometimes wish I still owned it ... rj

Re: Low Angle vs. High(?) Block Plane

Greg Sloop, Portland Oregon

>I think the point JR made is that you can get one additional iron for ($30 I think) the Low angle plane and have both worlds.

Detail follows - if you just want the summary, see the end of the post!

The low angle cut of 37 deg total angle - (12 bed + 25 iron = 37 total) will cut end grain best. On the most difficult end grain - softwoods, you will notice a very apparent difference between a 37 deg cut angle and 45-50 degrees cut angle.

When you want to do face grain, just take that additional blade you only spent $30 on and grind it at say 35-45 degrees. This will give a total cut angle of 47-52 degrees which will work wonders on most stuff. For the toughest grain, a total effective cut angle of 60-65 degrees should tackle nearly anything.

In short, you have two options.

1: Buy a high angle block (20 degree bed) and get 45 deg effective (and higher cut angles if you grind the iron at angles higher than 25 deg.)

Also buy a low angle block for the best end grain work. (I know you *CAN* do end grain at 45 deg and in many cases, but not all, it will be just fine.)

2: Buy a low angle block and at least one additional iron. Leave the one iron alone, and sharpen the other at say 38 degrees. That will give york pitch (50 deg cutting angle) and will do almost all face grain just fine.

Option 1 will cost $300 for the 60.5 LA and the 60.5 regular angle. (Or just $150 for perhaps less than optimal end grain work.)

Option 2 will cost $180 for the same performance for both end grain and face grain.

(Option 2 will however, require you to switch blades which might cost 30 seconds or so of shop time. If that aggravates you and you have the dough, then by all means, choose option 1.)

Summary:

IMVOHO (very opinionated humble opinion) I think it's nuts to buy a regular angle block plane. If it were somehow cheaper or easier, than perhaps I'd have a different tune. However, if the options are a LN HA or LA block, buy the low.

With an extra $30, you can have more capability and the best of both worlds.

Cheers,

Greg

Re: Low Angle vs. High(?) Block Plane

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>RJ that is really thinking out side the box. If you wish you still had it I'm guessing that it was functional. As usual I commend you on brilliant innovation!JR

Thanks Greg .Very detailed and just what I meant.

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>

Re: Low Angle vs. High(?) Block Plane

R.J.Whelan

>Joe ... it was a real peach on end grain - in the bevel down configuration it was all but useless for anything else. I originally built it as an experiment in how useful a really low angle would be on end grain; it was definitely better but probably not a big enough improvement to put up with the rather poor edge holding ... rj