Refurbished French Smoothing Plane

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swagman

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Location
Victoria, Australia
Maker; PEUGEOT FRERES ;
stock length 7 1/2" ;
Cormier Wood ;
Bed angle 50 * + 10* backbevel = (60* approach angle)
BD Single Iron, 1 3/8"

Bed Reworked.


Wedge abutments reworked.


Sole reworked.


Iron was resharpened and finely set, before being tested out on 2 types of tear-out prone Aussie Hardwoods.


No attempt was made to close up the existing mouth opening.


Single Iron at Cabinet Pitch (60*) works extremely well at eliminating tear-out during final surface prep. If your struggling to control tear out with a single iron bedded at York Pitch (50*) you may wish to experiment with adding a back bevel to further increase the effective approach angle to a higher range of Middle Pitch (55*) to Cabinet Pitch (60*).

Stewie;
 
Nice little plane!

The point about using a high effective pitch to control tearout when smoothing is noted, too. Yes - it's not the only approach, but it works, and the disadvantage that it takes more effort to push a plane with a high EP is negated by the thinner shavings usually taken when smoothing.

Other approaches are to use a plane with common pitch and a double iron with the cap-iron set very close to the cutting edge, to use a plane with a very tight mouth (sometimes in conjunction with a higher EP), or to use a toothing plane and finish by scraping. The latter process can also be useful for removing the last traces of tearout. Another approach is to machine sand. They all work, and some prefer prefer one method over others.

(By the way - just in passing - 'Acier Fondu' is French for 'Cast Steel' - so that's a good quality cutting iron!)
 
Hi , Thank you for posting this.
I have recently finished a beech smoother with a single iron. This was bedded at 50 degrees. I was a bit disappointed as I didn't get the mouth as tight as I would have liked, but was pleasantly surprised with how well it coped with tear out. I think a razor sharp iron, well bedded iron, and a perfectly fitting wedge can help with a lot of problems.
 
Hi Richard. Seasonal movement is also something that needs to be closely monitored within a wooden bodied plane. At a minimum twice a year. Chalk is a good medium to rely on.

Stewie;
 
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