Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Source for plane Irons
Bob Sobieck
>I would like to make a wooden smoothing plane. I have done a few tests with inferior metal just to see if I can do it. Now I would like to build a nice one that I will actually use. I know I can purchase a Hock blade and breaker, but I was hoping to get started for a little less money, but still have some grasp of quality. Any recommendations?
Bob
Re: Source for plane Irons
William Duffield, on the Cohansey
>As I see it, you have two recourses. I don't think Ron Hock or any of the other quality blade manufacturers is making exorbitant profits on their blades. There's just too much competition.
Your first choice is to visit flea markets, yard sales, MWTCA meetings, etc. and purchase an old woodie with a destroyed body and a usable, high quality blade.
Your second choice is to buy fully annealed O1 steel from someone like MSC (search the archives for other viable sources), and grind and harden and temper it yourself. If that process doesn't give you an appreciation for the price of new blades...well, you get the idea. Still, you will not get the advantages of blades made from the tougher A-2 steel offered by Hock, L-N, LV, Jim Reed and others.
Re: Source for plane Irons
Jack Guzman from Maine
>Bob,
I found a basket case woodie smoother that had screws holding the body together but the style was one I liked.I made a pretty close copy and used the original iron.It was a success. Since then I've been looking for old woodies for their irons and plan on building more. The iron handles years of abuse alot better than wood.There's alot of good iron out there for cheap money.---Jack
Re: Source for plane Irons
Mike Swindell
>I have a spares from old woodies, these are all the cast steel ones from such names as Butcher, Ohio and others. Let me know what width you want. I can sharpen if you want, a few of the blades have nicks.
I also have 2 never used blade with chipbreaker, 1 1/2 wide, these are nice and thick - say $10, ea delivered. I also have one 2" wide, 1/4" thick made from O-1, That one would be $20 - no chipbreaker and you don't one anyway with thick blades.
Mike
Re: Source for plane Irons
ThomD
>I would suggest getting the Hock blades, or ordering a blade from Clark and Williams. They are roughly the same price. ECE blades for things like scrubs are OK those the bench plane blades aren't good. Planes live and die by their blades. So making a plane for an inferior blade is going to largely waste your time. I wouldn't touch most any blade that comes from a modern plane, though things have been looking up recently
O1 tool steel is an excellent choice, and the foundation for the reputation of A number of the expensive super plane companies. I haven't been impressed with most A2 blades I have tried. In more sophisticated venues than most woodwoking groops, A2 is not universally regarded as an improvement over O1.
O1 tools are pretty easy to make yourself. You can heat treat plane blades in home made forges of extreme cheapness. Google coffee can forge, or one brick forge. Getting really high performance will require a little more research, but O1 works very nicely with pretty simple heat treating.
Yuor Statemunt....
A.J. Byrd
>Dun an ruffled my feathers!!! What do you meen by sayin
" In more sophisticated venues than most woodwoking groops"
why are spellins just as good as yorn!!!!!
Sorry I couldn't resist. If it's any consolation I do agree with you about 01 steel, after buying my first A2 steel blade and using it in a K5 Jack plane to flatten a pine bench top I was pleased with how long it held an edge but disappointed in the "chippy" way the edge broke down. My preference is moving steadily toward old laminated Stanley blades partnered with a good thick Hock chipbreaker as my final finishing Combo. The stanley blades are common enough and a Hock chipbreaker will only set you back about $20.00 and will outlive many plane blades.
A.J.