Zeddedhed":20ek8sxw said:
Maybe its not friction at all.
I'm no physicist but I've often noticed that two smooth flat surfaces together are hard to move. Two panes of float glass for example. Lay one flat on the other and then try and slide the top one without touching the edge (just the top) - it can sometimes seem as though it's stuck there.
On the other hand maybe I'm talking pea's.
No, you're not talking peas. If anybody is familiar with engineering slip gauges (Johansson gauges, slip blocks, Joey blocks, etc) they'll know that small blocks of metal can be 'wrung' together face to face with quite amazing holding power. The matching faces need to be lapped VERY flat and VERY smooth to achieve that, though - a very different proposition to even a nicely-polished plane sole.
For what it's worth, I don't know the answer. I did once have (still got, somewhere...) a very rough-soled Record plane that to me at least always seemed a bit 'grippier' than smoother-soled planes. It's a long time since I've used it, though.
Since I don't have two metal-bodied planes of equal size with differently finished soles, I can't do a proper trial. One thing mentioned that I do wholeheartedly agree with is that a bit of candle-wax or beeswax on the sole of almost any metal plane reduces the effort of pushing the plane quite noticably, though the effect doesn't always last very long, for me at least.
It's not really a big issue, though. Planes with smooth or linished soles both work; a plane sole would have to be REALLY rough to stop it working at all! It was just idle curiosity as which was 'slicker'. Jacob - as always - was very quick to give us his opinion (several times), and it seems a couple of others hold much the same view. I must admit to being not wholly convinced, but I'll have to dig out the old Record sometime and try for myself.