Originally Posted by
george wilson
You can grind a small bevel on the back of the blade, which will get rid of the pits, and give the plane a higher cutting angle, more suitable for planing hard or figured woods. Many a 18th and 19th. C. plane blade I have seen had the blade beveled anyway for exactly this reason.
The blade so treated will be a little harder to push, but will resist taking hunks of wood out due to figure, which always favored by craftsmen long ago,and by those who know this "secret" today.