Popular Woodworking 2002-06 № 128, страница 14

Letters

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You mentioned that a Stanley Type 11 jack plane is the best bang for the buck and that equipping this relic with a Hock iron will increase the performance of this jewel. Caution! I'm not familiar with the mouth of the Type 11, but the mouth on my No. 5 jack and No. 7 jointer planes is a mere ⁵/32". On my No. 5 the bed angle of my frog is at 45° and with the Hock iron installed there's a scant 0.02" (less than ¹/32") for the shaving to pass. On planes with a lower bed angle, the mouth opening needs to be even larger.

I'm not a purist with regards to ensuring that my planes are not used to maintain their value, but I would dread using a flat file to open the mouth to accommodate a plane iron that I paid about the same price for as my No. 5 from the antique mall. Also, these thicker irons claim to and probably do hold an edge longer because of their hardness of Rc60 or better. Blade hardness is a two-way street. The harder the steel the longer it takes to hone (or worse, remove a nick in the micro-bevel). The harder irons are better ground on a grinder such as a Tormek unit, which is out of my and most woodworker's budgets.

I almost purchased a thicker iron for my No. 5 because there is slight pitting on the face of the iron. By fortune I had my No. 5 with me in the big city and tried to fit a Hock iron in it only to find out what I explained above. Needless to say I kept the iron with "character" and have enjoyed good planing ever since - and saved $35 to boot.

Tom Normington Athens, Wisconsin

Editor's note: You raise a good point. I've only run into the problem with the Clifton aftermar-ket irons (which are even thicker at .116") but there are some plane mouths that simply are too small to accept thicker irons. The Type 11 planes we recommended work fine with a Hock. I've restored four of these planes, and the Hock has always had plenty of room. However, if you're looking to upgrade a plane with an af-termarket iron, try the iron in the plane body before you buy it (or make sure you can return it to the catalog company).

One last note, I've never found sharpening Hock irons to be difficult and have flat ground them on my sharpening stones for years. PW — Christopher Schwarz, senior editor

12 Popular Woodworking June 2002