# Reusing worn plane irons



## islandboy85 (Sep 17, 2011)

Have an old #6 plane iron that's way past it's prime. Any suggestions on what to make with what's left of it? A DIY scratch stock, wooden block plane, or a shoulder plane have crossed my mind.


----------



## ACP (Jan 24, 2009)

I have a list of things I want to do with my misfit irons if I ever get around to it. They include; chamfer plane, toothing plane, chisel plane, banding inlay thicknesser I saw in a magazine awhile back, etc. Lots of uses.


----------



## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

Marking knife, marking gauge..........


----------



## islandboy85 (Sep 17, 2011)

trc65 said:


> Marking knife, marking gauge..........


Yeah...I thought of this after I just bought one at woodcraft this past weekend. Oh well.


----------



## tc65 (Jan 9, 2012)

islandboy85 said:


> Yeah...I thought of this after I just bought one at woodcraft this past weekend. Oh well.


You can never have too many marking knives or gauges:yes:. I thought that one each was enough until I took part in the marking knife swap and the marking gauge swap. Now I find myself wanting even more of each.

Check out the marking gauge swap and the marking knife swap threads for ideas and different styles if you haven't already seen them.


----------



## islandboy85 (Sep 17, 2011)

trc65 said:


> You can never have too many marking knives or gauges:yes:. I thought that one each was enough until I took part in the marking knife swap and the marking gauge swap. Now I find myself wanting even more of each. Check out the marking gauge swap and the marking knife swap threads for ideas and different styles if you haven't already seen them.


Very cool.


----------



## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Do you have a picture of it... or a description of what "past it's prime" is?

If it's nearly to or at the screw hole/slot it's no better than a piece of mild steel. If not It's still a usable iron unless it is severely pitted.


----------



## islandboy85 (Sep 17, 2011)




----------



## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

islandboy85 said:


> View attachment 82566


I have a couple which look like that. As Firemedic said, mild steel at this point, but can be used for marking gauge etc, just may get dull fast, but such tools are easily sharpened.


----------



## islandboy85 (Sep 17, 2011)

Dave Paine said:


> I have a couple which look like that. As Firemedic said, mild steel at this point, but can be used for marking gauge etc, just may get dull fast, but such tools are easily sharpened.


Shouldn't the blade still be hardened?


----------



## ryan50hrl (Jun 30, 2012)

Typically just the end of the blade is from what I've read.


----------



## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

islandboy85 said:


> Shouldn't the blade still be hardened?


Most irons of that style are laminated. Tool steel is laminated to a mild steel or low carbon steel blank. The tool steel will be on what is the back (technically the front) of the iron or rather the non-beveled side. 

Some irons have mild steel all the way to the end on one side meaning if you beveled the wrong end it would not hold an edge for Winnie the Pooh.

More recent cheap irons, Home Depot Buck Brothers for example, are not laminations but just poor quality steel throughout. The cost of time / tech to laminate has outpaced the price of cheap "carbon steel."

Premium makers such as Hock, LN, Pinnacle and some other use a single blank of good steel and also are not laminations.

Back to the iron in question - if you are not already to the mild steel you are quite close. The harder steel flexes less than mild - hence the hole and area surrounding being mild steel. If the tool steel was laminated past the eye the flex would cause a separation due to uneven flexion. 

Them guys thought it through pretty well and took the cheapest / bare minimum route for an iron that would hold an edge and be durable.


----------



## Gilgaron (Mar 16, 2012)

So do you think that the reasons modern irons are unlaminated is because labor outpaces material costs so easily these days? Or is it just branding/pride that would have Hock et al. use solid tool steel throughout?


----------



## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Gilgaron said:


> So do you think that the reasons modern irons are unlaminated is because labor outpaces material costs so easily these days? Or is it just branding/pride that would have Hock et al. use solid tool steel throughout?


I think it's a bit of both, actually. The thing to keep in mind with companies like Hock though is they aren't forging. They purchasing tool steel to spec then milling it and hardening and tempering it. Division of labor is cheaper today - Hock can't manufacture and roll steel at a cost a large company can sell it for.

Other, unnamed, companies are %100 outsourced. They pay one person for materials shipped to another guy who then mills it. That guy then ships it over to a heat treatment co that tempers and treats the pieces and then finally they arrive to a warehouse that ships em out to customers.

ps. This is all purely speculation, of course :smile:


----------



## islandboy85 (Sep 17, 2011)

That makes sense. I guess I just assumed the whole blade would've been heat treated, but I hadn't thought about the lamination possibility.


----------

