{"id":796,"date":"2010-06-26T22:40:10","date_gmt":"2010-06-27T03:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/?p=796"},"modified":"2019-07-30T22:44:10","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T02:44:10","slug":"thoughts-on-bevel-up-low-angle-plane-design","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/2010\/06\/26\/thoughts-on-bevel-up-low-angle-plane-design\/","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts on bevel-up, low angle plane design"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Bevel-up, low-angle smoothing, jack, and jointer planes<\/strong> made by Lie-Nielsen<\/a> and Lee Valley<\/a> have 12 degree beds<\/strong> for their blades. This style of plane is simple to set up and especially versatile. The use of a thick blade, 3\/16″ or more, supported very close to its cutting edge, and an easily adjustable throat opening contribute to effective planing.<\/p>\n

One of the most important advantages of these planes is their ability to employ blades sharpened at different angles to manage a range of woods<\/strong>. With the 12 degree bed, a blade sharpened with a 33 or 38 degree bevel (secondary bevel) results in a 45 or 50 degree cutting angle, respectively. Either would be a reasonable choice for general work.<\/p>\n

To get a 60 degree cutting angle for difficult figured woods,<\/strong> the blade needs a 48 degree bevel. The result is effective but this makes the blade more difficult to sharpen to a keen edge. Furthermore, this is a large wedge<\/strong> to drive through the wood. I believe this creates more resistance at the cutting edge, making the tool cut less cleanly and harder to push, even aside from the effects of the higher cutting angle.<\/p>\n

If the blade bed was 20 degrees,<\/strong> it would require a more manageable 40 degree blade bevel to achieve the 60 degree cutting angle. A 25 degree (perhaps in O-1 steel) or 30 degree blade bevel (giving a 45 or 50 degree cutting angle, respectively) could be used for tamer woods. Another point, minor but helpful, is that a blade bedded at 20 degrees does not require as much actual camber to achieve the same functional camber<\/strong> as does one bedded at 12 degrees. Explanation here.<\/a><\/p>\n

I imagine a 20 degree bed would also make the sole of the plane less prone to distortion<\/strong> from the pressure of the lever cap. Supporting this idea, I have not found distortion to be a problem with Lie-Nielsen\u2019s shoulder planes<\/strong> with their 18 degree beds, but Lee Valley\u2019s shoulder planes with their 15 degree beds have been a problem for me, even with rather gentle tightening of the lever cap. The 3 degrees seems to make a difference.<\/p>\n

Considering other bevel-up planes,<\/strong> the fabulous Lie-Nielsen #9<\/a> “iron miter plane,” which I use for shooting end grain as well as long grain, has a 20 degree bed. Block planes come in 12 and 20 degree beds. The 20 degree tools seem to work just fine on long grain. Karl Holtey\u2019s #98 Smoother<\/a> has a 22.5 degree bed, and Philip Marcou\u2019s S20A<\/a>, which is designed to use standard Veritas blades, has a 20 degree bed. I\u2019ve never used the Holtey or Marcou but I can\u2019t imagine they are anything less than wonderful.<\/p>\n

I also do not think cutting end grain<\/strong> is good justification for the 12 degree beds on the smoothing, jack, and jointer planes. I do not think end grain requires a 12 degree blade bed and I am skeptical of even an advantage over a 20 degree bed. Indeed, my Lie-Nielsen shoulder plane at 18 degrees works beautifully on end grain.<\/p>\n

I own the Veritas bevel-up, low angle smoother and jack and have used the Lie-Nielsen bevel up planes. While their features differ, both makers produce superb planes. It is the 12 degree bed that I question.<\/strong><\/p>\n

I am a plane user, not a plane maker, and certainly have room to learn more. I wonder if any of these makers would care to comment on this issue.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bevel-up, low-angle smoothing, jack, and jointer planes made by Lie-Nielsen and Lee Valley have 12 degree beds for their blades. This style of plane is simple to set up and especially versatile. The use of a thick blade, 3\/16″ or more, supported very close to its cutting edge, and an easily adjustable throat opening contribute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[40],"class_list":["post-796","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tools-and-shop","tag-bevel-up-plane-design"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=796"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5896,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/796\/revisions\/5896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=796"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rpwoodwork.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}