I don't work with very hard wood, but it sounds like it is slipping to me.
If it were dulling, then advancing the blade wouldn't help.

-Jack

"Alan W" wrote in message
om...
Need some real world advise on an issue:

No 4 Stanley Handyman smoother, stock blade. Very small mouth
opening, around .005 pasing shavings around .002. The sole is flat to
under a .001 according to my starrett straight edge and a source of
light.

Very hard wood, purpleheart in my case, 3" x 12"

How many minutes of smoothing are you getting from stock stanley
blades before you are rehonning the edge? Is this a 5 times and hour
event, or 10 times an hour? Or once every 3 minutes.

I find I get 3-4 good minutes of shavings at a stroke every 5-8
seconds, and then I need to advance the blade just a fraction to keep
shaving.

Thoughts a

The blade is advancing back into the plane because the lever cab is
not terribly tight.

The blade is dull already.

I'm off to pick up a flat tip for a dial indicator today, and will
pull a blade next time I have to advance it and see if it still shaves
arm hairs or if the edge has dulled.

What's the wreck's consensus?