I have a Clifton #5 jack plane.
It has a 2 inch blade.
Is it advisable to chamber this blade or leave it square??
Actually, the plane gets little use, but if leveling a table top I can see that a slight chamber could prevent blade tracks.
But wonder on a blade this narrow if adviseable??
On large surfaces now I use a L-N bevel up plane.
Thanks for the imput.
Bill
Replies
You can take the sharp points off the ends of the blade, it only takes a stroke or two on the stone. I wouldn't camber my #5.
When to camber a plane iron
Bill:
It sounds like you use the #5 basically as a long smoothing plane. If so, a very slight camber will help prevent plane tracks. If you are using the plane to remove thicker shaves for the purpose of flattening a glued up panel you want to give the iron more camber to make removing those thick shavings easier. Since you have a BU plane I would suggest you use it as your smoother, give the #5 enough camber to be able to take a shaving about 1/32" (.03" on a dial caliper) thick without digging.
gdblake
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled