"Richards" wrote

: You've made a very good point. If the blade projects beneath the plane,
: the piece of wood that you're working on will never be perfectly flat
: because the reference surface is not the same as the cutting edge.
:
: To cut the wood perfectly flat, it seems that the plane should be
: divided into two separate pieces. The part of the plane that is in
: front of the blade could be raised to the height of the cut desired.
: The part of the plane that is behind the blade should be set so that the
: blade and the sole of the plane are at the same level.

On my web site is the result of an experiment that relates to this point.

Please look at 'Planing Notes' - 'Plane Body Deflection'.

Jeff G

--
Jeff Gorman, West Yorkshire, UK
Email address is username@ISP
username is amgron
ISP is clara.co.uk
Website www.amgron.clara.net