Plane sole wear, bronze vs iron

[JohnPW]

How does a bronze plane compare with an iron plane with regards to sole wear?

I'm thinking of block planes, where it will be used to plane a curved surface so the wear will be concentrated in the middle of the sole.

I'm not too concerned about rust or weight. Current decent block planes all seem to be much heavier than the old Stanley/Record 9 1/2 and I prefer a lighter plane so there's no choice there.

EDIT: added "wear" to thread title.

 

[D_W]

Bronze covers a lot of territory. Let's use a straw example- LN's Manganese Bronze. That type wears great, doesn't rust, looks great, but...

....it's very sticky without wax. Sole friction goes like this generally in order (the heavier and larger the plane, the easier it is to notice).

1) wood (FAR below anything else)
2) Cast iron (more dry and less sticky - cast varies some, the softer coarser casts are my favorite, but probably considered less good). A fresh ground finish or a coarse finish or a very fine polished finish - all three can have excess friction for different reasons.
3) Mild steel (like dovetailed infills)
4) Brass/Bronze/Gunmetal

That's a list from least to most friction. Wax on any makes them go. A 10% effort on waxing a plane will yield a huge decrease in effort expended, even though you may feel like it's the plane getting dull and not friction making you tired.

To illustrate this, take 100 shavings on a plane on a test piece of wood, wax at the beginning.

Don't even bother to resharpen. Re-wax, then take 100 shavings pulling a wax bar across the sole backwards to forwards (one quick swipe) every 20 (let's say on a 3-4 inch stroke).

Notice the difference in effort. Despite the latter being on an iron that's traveling down the wear curve.

I mentioned once to George Wilson that I was thinking about making a brass infill shooter so that I'd have soft metal to machine by hand to square. His instant response was "why would you want to make a plane out of sticky metal??!!"

 

[Jacob]

How does a bronze plane compare with an iron plane with regards to sole wear?

I'm thinking of block planes, where it will be used to plane a curved surface so the wear will be concentrated in the middle of the sole.

I'm not too concerned about rust or weight. Current decent block planes all seem to be much heavier than the old Stanley/Record 9 1/2 and I prefer a lighter plane so there's no choice there.

You'd have to do a phenomenal amount of work to cause any wear on a steel block-plane. Really not an issue. Newer planes are heavier which is why a prefer my old and noticeably lighter Stanley 220 (wooden knob) to the newer versions.

 

[D_W]

I may need more coffee - to answer the first line of the question, agree with jacob -wear isn't an issue. You can correct a year's worth of wear on a cast iron plane in one minute.

I also prefer lighter planes unless planing something bonkers (you won't be able to plane something totally bonkers, at least not much at a time - with a block plane).

Brass and gunmetal planes will take deeper dents, though, and show more. I didn't notice the same with LN's bronze, but I think their manganese bronze is hard.

 

[JohnPW]

Perhaps I'm overthinking it. I've got a Record 9 1/2 and 18 and they both have noticeable sole wear but they're probably at least 50 years old.

Sole wear probably isn't significant over the rest of my working life but I would still like to have a plane made from a harder wearing material if I'm going to buy a new plane.

 

[D_W]

nearly every plane I've gotten has some kind of sole wear, except for modern boutique planes (nobody uses them enough).

I've never seen appreciable wear in any of my planes after truing the soles (the metal ones). I think a lot of the wear that's present on them is from using them on filthy surfaces, and not from wood rubbing metal off.

 

[cowtown_eric]

Either will probably outlive you and I

Eric

 

[Jacob]

Come to think the only issue I ever had with excess wear was with a Clifton 4. I scraped across an unseen nail and it left a deep scratch in the sole. Wouldn't have happened with an old Stanley or Record.
Very disappointing as it was new and they are so finely finished - but also meant reduced resale value.
They are made of "malleable" steel apparently. Seems to mean softer - and in fact it wasn't difficult to remove the scratch on wet n dry sand paper.
Hence - avoid planes made of malleable steel (and nails!)

 

[Doug B]

Malleable steel is much less likely to break than cast iron if dropped as cast iron is more brittle, something to be avoided (dropping planes) but unfortunately accidents happen

 

[Jacob]

Malleable steel is much less likely to break than cast iron if dropped as cast iron is more brittle, something to be avoided (dropping planes) but unfortunately accidents happen

I saw it happen with a new plane (Record 5 1/2) just issued to the proud new owner. It slipped out of the box and snapped in half on the concrete floor. He burst into tears!
Luckily it was in the Kirkby in Ashfield Skill Centre (R.I.P.) and it was taken off to be brazed back together in the metal work shop.
They also brazed the handle back on my own broken 151 spokeshave which is still going strong and hasn't been dropped a second time!
Worth bearing brazing in mind - and softer floor covering - chip board perfect.