# Plane Blade Angles



## eystein (Jan 18, 2014)

Just bought a Record 020C Compass Plane. On the cap iron there are instructions engraved to sharpen the blade at 25degrees. This seems to be a very small angle. The blade as it is now actually has a 35 deg. edge.

Is there any particular reason that the blade angle on a compass plane should be smaller than on a normal bench plane?

The blade is quite thin (approx. 5/64 ") and the blade is set at a 53 deg angle with the sole of the plane.

I need recommendations for grinding the primary and seconday bevel of the blade.

Thanks


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## Billy De (Jul 19, 2009)

Hi and welcome to the forum, nothing really unusual with the Record plane iron.Most plane irons are ground at 25 degrees and honed at 30 its a middle of the road thing.

Never having used a metal compass plane I cant really say what would be the best angles to use,but if it was mine I would put the edge back on it at 35 and see how it handles you can always change it if it starts playing up. I do have a wooden round soled plane the iron is ground at 25 and honed at 30 and it shaves hard wood no problem, hope this is of some use to you. Billy

PS when you think about it at 53 Degrees it is more or less a york pitch so the blunter angle of 35 degrees on the iron starts to make sense.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

eystein said:


> Just bought a Record 020C Compass Plane. On the cap iron there are instructions engraved to sharpen the blade at 25degrees. This seems to be a very small angle. The blade as it is now actually has a 35 deg. edge.


I have the book "PLANECRAFT - Hand Planing by Modern Methods" which was written by engineers from the old Record company back in the 1930's.

The book states the "circular plane 020" uses the same grind and honing as for bench planes.

As Billy De mentioned, Record ground their blades to 25 deg, then applied a 30 deg edge by honing. Today this may be called a micro bevel.

I personally find it easier just to sharpen the blade to the desired angle. I use a single 30 deg angle. Works for my needs.


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## Hammer1 (Aug 1, 2010)

A compass plane is primarily used on edges. The grain changes directions each side of the apex of a curve. 25 degrees is a steep angle, it and/or 22.5 degrees is normally used for low angle block planes, too. These can do edge and end grain much better than more standard plane angles. In effect, with a compass plane you are doing end grain, so you want that long steep angle when sharpening, no secondary bevel.

Standard bench planes are a different story since those are mostly used on face grain, 30 - 35 degrees are the most common sharpening bevels. 

Chisels on the other hand are often sharpened to 25 - 22.5 degrees for the primary bevel, then a secondary bevel is done at 30 for softwoods and 35 for hard woods. If you just sharpen chisels at 25, the edge won't hold up for long. If you think your chisel isn't any good, sharpen it to the correct secondary angle.


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## eystein (Jan 18, 2014)

*Thanks*

Well this was a very nice introduction to this site with such good and rapid replies to my first post.

Just a question on the comparison to the chisel. Chisels are used a lot with end wood, and have a secondary bevel. Hence I don't quite see why a secondary bevel is not recommended for end wood with the compass plane ?

Many Thanks,

Eystein


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## acowboy (Nov 20, 2013)

Welcome to the forum.
I am not near a good as the guys who posted above me, but to understand reasons of the different bevel angles, you should familiarize yourself with sharpening.
Here is a good beginning.
http://home.comcast.net/~rexmill/sharpening/sharpening.htm


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