Putting a larger back bevel on a bevel up blade works great.

[Lemwise]

So I was playing around this morning and I always put a tiny back bevel on my plane blades. There's no point in putting the entire back of the blade on a stone while the only thing that matters with a bevel up blade is the edge. I use a small 1.2mm thick strip of Formica to raise the blade a tiny bit. Anyway, I was planing some end grain with my low angle block plane and I thought to myself: "What would happen if I sharpen the bevel to 25 degrees and put an 8 degree back bevel on the blade to strengthen it?" So I took a spare blade and I sharpened it to 25 degrees and I put a 8 degree back bevel on it. Well, guess what... this gives you an edge that's a lot more durable because now you've effectively created a 33 degree bevel on the blade but the angle of attack is still 37 degrees on a low angle block plane.

 

[derekcohen]

Nico, use it for a while and then report back.

The issue is how long the edge will last before the plane stops cutting?

4 degrees of clearance angle is very low.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Lemwise]

It was just an experiment but it seems to work just fine. The 4 degree of clearance shouldn't be a problem (haven't found it to be so far) because all the action takes place in front of the blade. On Monday I'll put the same 8 degree back bevel on my block plane at work so I can really test it out.

 

[Lemwise]

So today at work a I put a 6 degree back bevel on the blade of my Veritas LABP. I thought it was 8 degrees but the blade rest on the bench grinder shifted a bit without me noticing it. I was planing the edges of plywood boards which is a good test because it's very abrasive. The edge definitely held up longer on the PM-V11 blade so from now on I'm keeping the back bevel.