Bevel Up or Bevel Down

[Don Wurscher]

I recently had someone who had removed the plane iron from his jack plane to sharpen it. then forgot which way was up. He then asked me this question, is the bevel up (as viewed from the top) or down? As I have only a block plane, in which the bevel is up, I though what better place to ask then here.

[Doug Shepard]

A Jack plane would normally be bevel-down, unless he's got some mutant. The bevel-up planes don't have a chip breaker so if his has one, that's confirmation.

[Eddie Darby]

If your friends plane is what they call a double iron, then it's bevel down. The chip-breaker goes on the top so that it can break the chip, and is place close to the cutting edge. 1/32" or so.