Plane Blade Geometry, Part 2

Last issue we saw that as a blade edge wears away in use you get a curved surface around the original sharp edge. Here we’ll look at how the worn curved surface between the blade and the wood affects plane performance.

The angular space between the blade and the wood being planed is called clearance angle, and we need positive clearance (any angle greater than zero) until the blade is blunt.

We saw in the bevel angle article that as the blade edge wears the bevel angle geometry is constantly changing. As the bevel angle changes, so too does the clearance angle. This affects