# Camber on irons



## eschatz (Feb 12, 2014)

Why do I need to camber? How much camber? On all irons (jack, joint, block, smooth)? What is life? Why are we here?


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## john sayles (May 27, 2013)

All good questions

There are really two reasons for cambering:

1. in finished work - to avoid having the corners of the blade leave steps or tracks

2. in rough work - to increase the aggressive of the cut -- such as the deep camber of a scrub plane

a smooth planes needs only the most subtle rounding of the outside corners (not a true camber); a foreplane (when used as one) is often cambered with a radius of between 8 and 10 inches.









Image from "A Woodworker's Musings"
http://dblaney.wordpress.com/


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

+1 on what John says and the illustration is pretty spot on - but I would replace "typical scrub plane" with fore plane in the description:


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