Hand plane question

[Rafael Herrera]

That's debatable. My opinion is that it only matters that the iron is contacting and pressed against the frog under the spot where the lever cap is pressing down.

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Shoot, how did I missed that one. Thanks Jim.

I'm going to check my planes later, I'm going to verify that my chipbreakers rest on the iron as shown in the patent. I don't know if all of them do or not.

I also don't think older style chipbrakers have a gap between it and the iron when installed. Once you tighten the screw, the cb is brought to make contact with the iron, there's no gap.

[Rafael Herrera]

Regarding the Dec. 24, 1867. I examined several of my Stanley planes. If the second bend of the chipbraker, the subject of the patent, was meant to avoid chatter, then it does not look like it is crucial. The chipbreakers in all these planes do not fit like it is shown in the patent picture.
Screenshot_20240322_155325.jpg

Old style, tapered iron and chipbreaker. When assembled, this type of cb and iron don't fit the way shown in the patent.
20240319_003234.jpg

Three smoothing planes examples, all work without issues. All three, even with the lever cap on have the chipbreaker's second bend resting on the iron. These and the double iron above look, essentially, the same way.
20240319_002918.jpg20240319_094508.jpg20240319_094402.jpg

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The frog iron bed on most of these planes is hollow, except the type 11 plane above, it has more surface. The iron should rest flat on the bed, but the key contact points are where the lever cap is exerting pressure. The other areas are not that important, iron and bed need to touch, but they're not under pressure, they don't contribute to retaining the iron or prevent chatter.
20240319_002942.jpg