New Iron For Norris 51

[Mark Baldwin III]

I haven't been around here much, and haven't done a whole lot of woodwork for quite some time (mainly for inexcusable reasons). Anywho, something I wanted to do and finally found the time for was to make a new iron for my Norris 51.
I made it about .015" thicker than the original to close the mouth up a little bit. A-2 tool steel.

[Richard Line]

Clearly the new blade really needs a maker's mark. Looks good, but the shaving is even better.

[george wilson]

How did you harden and temper the A2 blade? Looks very nice!

[Mark Baldwin III]

Thanks, guys!

Richard-It is marked, instead of writing 2015 on my first check of the year...I stamped 2015 into my first iron of the year! Doh! So no close up.

George-I have a knife kiln. I wrap everything up in stainless foil during the heat treat. Temper was done in my kitchen oven, after verifying the temperature.

[Terry Beadle]

That's sharp !! ( no charge for the pun...;-)

That must give you a lot of satisfaction being able to put the ole 51 back to spec. The blade shaving shows the edge works great.

Supurb!

[Mark Baldwin III]

Thanks, Terry.
This new iron leaves me wondering if I want to fettle the plane completely. To really make it sing, I need to flatten the bottom a bit. I can't decide if I should do it, or just leave it alone and enjoy looking at it.

[Terry Beadle]

From the looks of that photo showing a shaving, it's probably flat enough. Can you take a 2 thou shaving? If so, it's plenty flat enough IMO.

Also, beauty is in the eye of the beholder.....it sure passes the beauty test for me !!

Enjoy the shavings !

[Frank Drew]

Nice work, Mark, and the iron certainly does the job well.

Not being a metal worker, I was able to find replacement irons for both my Norris smoother and Spiers panel plane from the short-lived but lamented Henley Optical Plane Company. No maker's stamps but fine irons.

[Mark Baldwin III]

Terry-I need to really spend some time with this plane. Also feel that I need to make a chip breaker to match the new blade instead of using the original. There may be a decarb issue with the "new" edge of the new iron, and that could be why I'm not getting the perfection I'm after. Lots of stuff going on.

Frank, thank you! The only irons that I really looked at for this plane were from Hock. Although I know that Hock's are top notch, I honestly didn't feel like spending the money. Being a home machinist who dropped the dough on a mill and knife kiln...I had no excuse not to make it myself.

[Chris Hachet]

Neat looking old infill lane!

[Mark Baldwin III]

Neat looking old infill lane!

I have been enamored with infill planes ever since seeing one the first time. I love how they blur the lines between tools and art. A few years ago I saved up the pennies required to get one of my very own. Obviously not a cheap purchase, but people pay many times more than that for a painting that just sits on a wall. I love tools, tool making, and all things mechanical. I enjoy just looking at this plane...which to me, makes it worth every penny.