Hello,
There Is no doubt that a closely set capiron is an excellent way of controlling tearout in ornery timber. BUT it is not the only way and preferences are decided on based on a lot of different criteria. Having a single iron plane, for a start, will certainly preclude a close cap iron effect! Just for starters, a super sharp blade is the first desirable thng, but I cannot beleive how many here moan at, "not needing it that sharp, didnt in my granddad's day whaa, whaa!" Well we can now and it demonsterably helps. A very fine mouth goes a long way to controlling tear out. Some people do not want to set the frog forward to close the mouth, I understand the reasoning, if you only have one smoother and don't want to limit the plane to super fine shavings. But some have a few smothers and can dedicate one to a super fine mouth. Or others argue ALL smoothers should have a superfine mouth, because only superfine shavings are removed with them. It is arguable that all plane irons should have a back bevel, at least a ruler trick back bevel, since honing only on the bevel might not remove enough material to get past the wear bevel on the back. It is a valid and logical point of view, not necessarily mine. But a back bevel really isn't hard to, in the scheme of things, lets face it. Knives are sharpened on 2 planes, as are axes and other things, so that argument is moot. If you want to do it, no sweat. Lots of different ways, all work, dependant on the users predilection. Advice on different ways is helpful but continually poo-pooing others methods is a bore.
Mike.
