naive question about sharpening blade for smoothing: camber the edge?

[bannock]

Hi there, here's a naive question about sharpening Japanese blades for using as smoothing planes. Sorry for my inaccurate vocabulary. With a Bailey style blade I would camber the edge for a smoothing plane, so as to avoid having the edges of the blade leave visible lines on the final work. Is this also done with Japanese blades? I've done a rather quick search for information on this, and come up empty handed, but maybe I've just used the wrong terminology. Thanks.

[derekcohen]

Yes, camber the blade. I recall Harrison Stanley refering to the camber on Japanese plane blades as "a smile".

Regards from Perth

Derek

[yojimbo]

Hi, Bannock,

I concur with Derek -- I've seen some purists who don't, but in my opinion it only leaves open the opportunity for some aggravating moments of mental vapor lock.

Absolutely camber the edges.

[Sheets]

Please forgive the minor point of correction (no mistaking to whom you are referring, but...) - "Harrelson" vice Harrison.

If you find Toshio Odate's book: "Japanese Woodworking Tools", he does mention that plane blades are given a slight convexity across the edge (keeping the bevel perfectly flat) to avoid leaving marks from the edges. Most subtle for finish planes and more pronounced on roughing planes.

He designed these products to help achieve a consistent "smile":
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/indextool.mvc?prodid=MS-ODATED.XX

Steve

[bannock]

Thanks for the replies.