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My LN #4 bronze smoother did mark wood initially after a few days laying unused but it seems to form a surface patina after a while and no further problems. Just don't clean it.

The LN #4 bronze is straight and feels nice to use compared with a Record equivalent wish I had got the #4 1/2 I like a bit of heft in a plane, the #5 will be straight I am just a bit hacked off with it might get a Viking burial. Intention was to run the various steels on the same timber and...

Still have to harden and temper the stuff so where do you get less machining? Base product will cost more because of the manufacturing. I bet you don't use TCT blades on your circular saws and router bits do you? Modern Record blister pack blades are pretty much junk IMO so you have to go to the...

Thanks for the response DW. LN is definitely out more than that and will be taken to the lapping glass when I can be bothered, it's probably over 20 years old and was bought as a present along with a bronze #4, not the silver bullet. Perhaps I should have kept it on display in a glass case! My...

OK so if a close set CB is the business why did Bailey bother to design his planes with an adjustable frog? I mean he had planes for every purpose and the frog is in my planes at least the worst example of machining imaginable, I don't doubt his original creations were superior. His CB design...

Never used one but I reckon the wedge would exert more consistent pressure all along the contact area with the CB. You can buy Norris style lever caps on US ebay. Will also watch your progress with interest.

Problem with Record irons is finding good ones the modern versions sharpen up OK but seem somewhat soft and can deform in use, yes there are good ones out there but good luck on finding one. The LV PM blade is a good one but at 80 quid for a double iron is a bit on the expensive side. I don't...

Gone up a lot in price since I bought one but they are excellent blades even better than the laminated Smoothcut blades. For some reason mine came ground at 30 degrees which seems a bit odd but easily resolved. I pushed mine honed at 25 degrees with some knotty cherry, just to test it, and it...

Reckon that panel plane will weigh in at 20 lbs plus I think the steel base was thicker possibly the sides as well. I do have a #1 Norris rosewood infill but I have never tried getting a date for it. Never had a Norris adjuster so don't know how good they are, adjust mine the same way as DW. I...

Grecian stones are LI not Greek. Hazeon also sold a lot of other stones including Turkey or Cretan. Not sure what Welsh Stone refers to but I doubt it was slate at that price, LM and Cutlers Green spring to mind. I only have page 4 & 5 from the TATHS publication. Apparently Hazeon's cutting gear...

I did know that but thanks for the heads up. Hazeon 1893 lists Arkansas at between 6 and 7 shillings per pound and Washitas, American cut, at one and tuppence per pound. Grecian, Charnley and Welsh stone are all 56 shiilings per cwt so about the same price as Arkansas. Hazeon imported the...

Probably the consistency of supply as well as quality. I get the feeling that a lot of UK stones were a bit of a cottage industry while the US got the extraction and shaping mechanised very quickly. Odd that Washita stones seem to outnumber the various other Arkansas stones by a considerable...

Seem to come in several flavours with the finest probably sold as Grecian Hones in days gone by. Not sure that all of these LI stones actually come from LI they did extract Novaculite hones from Llyn Melynllyn but I do not know what Salmen were digging out. Most of the stones sold in those red...

I did refurb a couple of Mathieson wooden planes last year, the irons were a bit of a mess but cleaned up and sharpened OK. They worked OK but not great just did not feel right so I tried a steeper bevel on the CB about 45 degrees. Accordion shavings and continual jams, returning to a CB bevel...

Never found any plane where tightening down the CB did not flex the iron that's from woodies, infills to Bailey type and some of those infill irons are pretty thick. Obviously it has been done that way for a reason and as long as the iron beds solidly at the bevel and the top then I have not had...

Personally I would be very careful mixing petroleum jelly with solvents or you may end up inventing napalm. Some of the SiC stones produced had no pre load applied. Interesting experiment Stewie and I am glad it has worked out well. My limited experience with using Washita or Ark stones...

Definitely not for the amateur then! Well none of mine need doing anyway and most of the naturals work just fine with water or cutting fluid. Keep them clean and you will never have the problem. Hmmm heated petroleum jelly ;0)

The secret is not to boil the stone so long that it removes whatever Norton have loaded the stone with, something I never quite achieved. Having just turned a grey Cretan stone in to black Turkey stone using oil and heat then I suppose I could use a similar procedure on a Norton stone but kindly...

Only cleaned up man made oilstones by boiling with a bio active detergent, problem there is that it also removes the pre-treatment that Norton use so the stone becomes very porous. Never seen nor had the need to do this to a Washita just dressing the stone improves it's cutting ability unless...

I did see that stone on ebay and noted the patterning but guessed it was a Dalmore so left it alone already having an example. I believe they are a sandstone which would make it sedimentary. I would rate mine at somewhat less than 4K, fast cutting and consistent grit size a good knife sharpener...