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David

wrote:
I have read in an article that some people can obtain a "glass-like"
finish using a scraper plane (e.g. Stanley #112). I can use my #112 to
avoid tearout issues, but the results are not as smooth as a regular
plane. Do you find that you can get a better finish with a #5 or a
scraper plane? If you get a better result with the scraper plane, do
you have any tips you can share?

Thanks.

I get fantastic results with my Veritas scraping plane, much smoother
than "just" planing. The trick is in knowing at what angle to turn the
burr, what angle to set the blade, and how far to have the blade
protrude. When I took mine out of it's box a couple years ago, it
worked like a dream. After a short period of time, I honed the edge and
turned a burr, reinstalled it and couldn't scrape worth a damn. I
called LV, got a few tips, followed them, and now it's all good!

My first mistake in turning the burr was to turn it too far. The "angle
of attack" is critical for getting the edge to scrape the wood at the
precise angle necessary for optimal results. Try scraping some wood
with the blade out of the plane and duplicate that angle when you set
the plane's blade angle adjusters. I put the blade into the plane while
it sits on a flat surface. tighten the blade lock knob and take a test
scraping. If it's not aggressive enough, loosen the rear adjuster about
1 turn, tighten the front one and test again. Doing that causes the
blade to protrude ever so slightly further than the original position.

Dave