A tapered iron.....in the wrong direction?

[ac445ab]

Hi all,
I have seen many plane irons tapered and thicker at the cutting edge, but never the opposite.
I acquired a 2" vintage Stormont iron with this feature. It measures 5 mm at the top and 3,5 mm at cutting edge. Makes this sense?
Could it be a solution to contrasting the mouth widening caused by wear in the woodies?

Ciao
Giuliano

 

[bugbear]

I have no answers, but (like you) I've never seen or heard of such a thing before. Thank you for posting it.

BugBear

 

[Harbo]

A QA issue?

Rod

 

[Richard T]

I think your theory is probably the best explanation Giuliano.

Unless whoever welded it was a little too much of a perfectionist and kept hammering.

 

[carlb40]

Maybe an apprentices first blade he made. Shaped it wrong etc and hope no one would notice :mrgreen:

 

[Jacob]

Maybe an apprentices first blade he made. Shaped it wrong etc and hope no one would notice :mrgreen:

That's what I thought too. Simplest explanations are usually the best!

 

[Noel]

Too much flattening and polishing on the back.....

 

[GazPal]

Too much flattening and polishing on the back.....

It began life as a 6mm thick parallel iron.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

That IS unusual.

From the style of the maker's stamp, that's a relatively modern iron - 1950s, maybe. Could it be an early attempt at a 'thicker' iron for Bailey-type planes?

 

[ac445ab]

Thanks all

Whatever was the explanation, do you think its shape could decrease its performances?

That IS unusual.

From the style of the maker's stamp, that's a relatively modern iron - 1950s, maybe. Could it be an early attempt at a 'thicker' iron for Bailey-type planes?

I'll do a try but I think is too much thicker at point where the Y lever should engage into cap iron.

 

[Corneel]

Your anti-tapered iron won't help in wedging the blade in a wedged plane.

You could make a Japanes plane with it.

 

[Klaus Kretschmar]

Your anti-tapered iron won't help in wedging the blade in a wedged plane.

You could make a Japanes plane with it.

That's what I thought. The "reversed" taper is usual on Japanese planes. So my guess would be that this blade never was inserted into a wedged plane but into one with a cross pin similar to a Japanese plane.

Klaus

 

[GazPal]

Your anti-tapered iron won't help in wedging the blade in a wedged plane.

You could make a Japanes plane with it.

The maker's stamp in place leads me to believe the reverse taper was intentional and not accidental, because maker's would normally scrap mistakes rather than allow faulted goods out of their doors. Being a slotted iron I'd expect it should wedge with a correctly fitted cap iron in place. Perhaps it's original cap iron compensated for the iron's taper reversal?

 

[bugbear]

Your anti-tapered iron won't help in wedging the blade in a wedged plane.

You could make a Japanes plane with it.

The maker's stamp in place leads me to believe the reverse taper was intentional and not accidental, because maker's would normally scrap mistakes rather than allow faulted goods out of their doors.

In some cases the logo must have been put on prior to Q/C, since I've a couple of blades where the logo has been "crossed out" with a star of cold chisel cuts.

I assume these were sold as seconds.

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

Your anti-tapered iron won't help in wedging the blade in a wedged plane.

You could make a Japanes plane with it.

The maker's stamp in place leads me to believe the reverse taper was intentional and not accidental, because maker's would normally scrap mistakes rather than allow faulted goods out of their doors.

In some cases the logo must have been put on prior to Q/C, since I've a couple of blades where the logo has been "crossed out" with a star of cold chisel cuts.

I assume these were sold as seconds.

BugBear

This is quite common with many 2nd quality things, as well as tools. I've got tools with a line through the makers mark and I've got a Gordon Russell coffee table ditto.

 

[ac445ab]

......Being a slotted iron I'd expect it should wedge with a correctly fitted cap iron in place. Perhaps it's original cap iron compensated for the iron's taper reversal?

This seems a good point, I was thinking the same.

Giuliano

 

[GazPal]

Your anti-tapered iron won't help in wedging the blade in a wedged plane.

You could make a Japanes plane with it.

The maker's stamp in place leads me to believe the reverse taper was intentional and not accidental, because maker's would normally scrap mistakes rather than allow faulted goods out of their doors.

In some cases the logo must have been put on prior to Q/C, since I've a couple of blades where the logo has been "crossed out" with a star of cold chisel cuts.

I assume these were sold as seconds.

BugBear

I agree and have seen quite a few seconds with maker's stamp crossed out, although the one in question seems to have an unaltered stamp.

I still think the iron was a post production adaptation and tapered in such a way so it could be used as a replacement iron in an already fine mouthed infill plane with bronze lever cap. The thicker tail on this iron is more akin to that of a parallel iron than tapered one and - being the disposable element of any plane - would have been the most sensible adjustment to make if one couldn't source a suitably thin replacement.

 

[ac445ab]

I mounted a chipbreaker on this reverse tapered iron and took a pic with a standard double iron (top of picture).
Seems to me the geometry has not changed and a wedge could work correctly.

Giuliano

 

[Corneel]

Well, I would say, make a wedged plane and plane some knotty stuff with it. Don't forget to report back!

I don't really know of course. It looks almost parallel now with the capiron. The original setup has a lot more taper to it.