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Back bevel

I use a regular Bailey's too, with a 50 degree honed edge on my cap irons.....
I regularly polish the leading face of my cap irons on the strop, but they're curved, so I am not sure how you can tell what angle they are. Besides, they're not in the wood. The plane irons are, so you're really talking about your variation on the close-set cap iron (which I do already), rather than about back bevels.
 
Just a word of caution - some plane irons are laminated. On a cheap Acorn #3 I played with, the hard layer is not terribly thick. Don't get too carried away with your back bevel or you might find it doesn't hold an edge so we'll.
The back bevel, though, is in the same steel as the front secondary bevel*, so unless you are making a monstrous back bevel this shouldn't be an issue. Even if you were, the pointy bit would still be in the good steel.


*If you have one. I don't.
 
Sorry to be a heathen: very awkward grain is what a belt sander is for.

Very interesting discussion of plane bevels nevertheless. It's a bit confusing as so much different terminology is used. Pretty sure I have a book somewhere on planes and will dig it out. I've just had to resurrect the blade on my small bronze quangsheng blocker having realised I let it get in a state.
 
I use the family of Veritas low angle planes, where one of the advantages is that the blades can be honed at 47deg in the Veritas guide. When this is combined with the 12deg bed angle of the planes, the 'effective pitch' is 59deg. I was recently planing quarter sawn Bubinga which is nasty stuff at the best of times and a freshly stropped, really sharp blade taking a wafer thin shaving reduced any tear out to virtually zero. Back bevels not required - Rob
 
I agree, Rob, they're not a required item. It's just an interesting alternative for someone who has been planing with Bailey-pattern planes for 40+ years and thought he knew the limits.
 
I regularly polish the leading face of my cap irons on the strop, but they're curved, so I am not sure how you can tell what angle they are. Besides, they're not in the wood. The plane irons are, so you're really talking about your variation on the close-set cap iron (which I do already), rather than about back bevels.
I don't polish the cap irons, just honed on the fine stone.
Re-curved, pretend the curve is non existent... regarding geometry, treated like those new fangled types.
I've not got my own variation on this, it's either you use the cap iron, or you don't.
i.e the shaving straightens up when it's being used, and don't have to be pinched outta the plane, stays rigid and burnished..
or it doesn't, and the shaving rolls up when the cap is not being used.

Cosman would be one of the only persons who has their own variation on how much influence one wishes,
i.e in-between being properly involved, though isn't guaranteed like a steeper edge on the cap is...
should you see the comparison video between his regular setup vs back bevels.
Just worth the mention, seeing as many still seem in the woods about this.

Back bevels look rather miserable compared, i.e to suit the thinnest of shavings only, one or two thou max as mentioned in Charlesworth's videos.
Perhaps buffed for the very densest of tropical stuff with higher silica content is the only application I can see the use for,
and not for cranky grain without such deposits, stuff what's highest up on the janka scale.

All the best
Tom
 
The back bevel, though, is in the same steel as the front secondary bevel*, so unless you are making a monstrous back bevel this shouldn't be an issue. Even if you were, the pointy bit would still be in the good steel.

You mentioned using a back bevel to avoid corrosion. Thought it could be quite deep hence a big-ish bevel. That's what I was doing with the Acorn #3, some pitting in the back of the iron where the cap iron was sitting and presumably damp wicked in. Eventually just ground away about 1/4".
 
You mentioned using a back bevel to avoid corrosion. Thought it could be quite deep hence a big-ish bevel. That's what I was doing with the Acorn #3, some pitting in the back of the iron where the cap iron was sitting and presumably damp wicked in. Eventually just ground away about 1/4".
I actually found a better candidate. A spare blade in reasonable order, with a dusting of light rust and no pitting. It came with its own cap iron, so I can keep them on one side already set up, and just swap into a No. 4 body when needed.
 
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