block plane question

[Jake Helmboldt]

Did any of the 60 1/2 block planes (or any other plane for that matter) ever come with a factory bevel at the front of the mouth? By that I mean the adjustable sole at the front of the mouth having a bevel that would roughly parallel the bevel on the iron?

Did people routinely do this themselves for some benefit? It certainly wouldn't be good for a bevel down plane, but would it have any benefit on a BU plane such that the edge of the mouth would be tight against the iron? There is one on the "bay" that the seller says appears to have a factory machined bevel. Seems odd to me.

JH

[Mike Henderson]

I don't know why having a bevel on the shoe on a block plane would be an advantage. To plane face grain, the thing you want is to have the shoe pressing on the wood just in front of the blade edge so that the shaving breaks quickly and doesn't "run" or "split".

To plane end grain, it almost doesn't matter how far the shoe is from the blade because the end grain breaks quickly by itself.

Having the shoe beveled to match the bevel on the blade would just restrict the shaving. It would almost be better to have the shoe beveled opposite the bevel on the blade to give more room for the shaving (to reduce clogging).

Or maybe I didn't understand your question.

Mike

[added note: on a 60 1/2 with a 25* bevel, the bevel is at an angle of 45* to the sole. The back of the shoe is normally at 90* to the sole, giving an opening that expands upward. This is what you want on a plane, IMO.]

[Jake Helmboldt]

Mike, I don't understand either, which is why I asked. You are getting it exactly and what you posted reflects my understanding. I couldn't figure out why someone would do that to a plane.

[Steve Beadle]

It seems to me that having such a bevel defeats the purpose of having an adjustable mouth. Wouldn't this arrangement lead to an increase in tear-out?

[Chuck Nickerson]

mouth into their blade edge one time too many. It would seem to defeat the purpose of the adjustable mouth, but that wouldn't keep someone from doing it.

[Bill Houghton]

The base of the back of the adjustable portion of the sole slants back, for a thickness of maybe 1/16" (not sure about that, I eyeballed it), has a moderately sharp edge, and then is scalloped above that. It's very clean-looking, so I've always assumed it was a factory feature. Patrick Leach's Blood and Gore makes no reference to it.

No idea why Stanley might have done that.