Another blade question.

[pommyphil]

Hi I'm reviving an old tapered 2 1/4" blade from a woody marked Sandusky Tool Co, Warranted Cast Steel.
Grinding the bevel shows a line 2.5mm back from the edge, ( and no I have not cooked the edge.)
Could this be laminated steel ?

[Scribbly Gum]

Hi I'm reviving an old tapered 2 1/4" blade from a woody marked Sandusky Tool Co, Warranted Cast Steel.
Grinding the bevel shows a line 2.5mm back from the edge, ( and no I have not cooked the edge.)
Could this be laminated steel ?
Hard to say Phil. Might be.
Does the line run all the way across the blade from side to side and continue down both sides as well?
The laminated piece usually finishes just before the cap-iron slot so is quite small by comparison with the rest of the blade.
If so, then probably yes.
Can you post a picture?
Regards
SG

[mic-d]

Hi Phil,
Glad you posted this question Phil and I hope that the mystery is solved. I posted the same question last week but it got lost amongst FunkyChicken's plane gloat (and rightly so too!).

My blade is a tapered Mathieson and it has been flat ground on a diamond stone and then honed to 4000 grit waterstone so it hasn't seen a grinder (oh well I spose in my hands at least). There is grey steel on top and bright steel on the back. Is it like yours?
Oh, on the right hand side of the blade as you look at it, the grey seems to come down to meet the edge, but this is just the dirty unground steel. I didn't want to do any more work than I had to to produce a full new edge!

[pommyphil]

Hi I've been polishing and trying the photograph. I'm much better at polishing thanks to Dereks 3M wheel,but my photography stinks (I'll blame the camera).
The faint line 2mm from the cutting edge on the polished bevel does indeed run up, the now polished, sides. Almost got to be laminated ? Every day's a school day

[Scribbly Gum]

Sounds like yours is a laminated blade then Phil.
I can't tell from the photo if yours is though, mic-d.
It may be, but Mathieson blades that I have seen are well finished below the cap-iron slot, and fairly rough above the blade section proper. No real point in a super finish on what was never going to form a cutting edge I suppose.
For what it's worth I haven't yet found a bad Mathieson blade - all those that I have seen have taken a very good edge.
How well does yours shave?
Cheers
SG:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[mic-d]

Sounds like yours is a laminated blade then Phil.
I can't tell from the photo if yours is though, mic-d.
It may be, but Mathieson blades that I have seen are well finished below the cap-iron slot, and fairly rough above the blade section proper. No real point in a super finish on what was never going to form a cutting edge I suppose.
For what it's worth I haven't yet found a bad Mathieson blade - all those that I have seen have taken a very good edge.
How well does yours shave?
Cheers
SG:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

Very well indeed thanks!
Cheers
Michael

[pommyphil]

I've just been reading Paul N Hasluck 1902 woody cutter iron chapter and he talks of laminated "Cast Steel" blades as the norm. I saw on some US website reference to those old Ward firmer chisels being laminated .......

[Scribbly Gum]

Here is the best example I can find of a laminated plane blade.
You can clearly see the small piece of harder steel laminated to the softer plane iron.
As you can see, it only occupies the bottom of the blade below the chip breaker slot.
This one is a Sargent and Co made in the US.
Looks like it came straight from the factory - never been sharpened.
Cheers
SG:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup:

[pommyphil]

Thankyou one and all. It just goes to show my ignorance, I'd been hugely impressed by the Japanese toolmakers laminating their plane and chisel blades, when western smiths had been doing the same thing for hundreds of years.

If I was 20 yrs younger I'd build a forge.


Phil.