I've often experienced the plane sole heating up, and expanding a bit.
It either expands or warps enough to seem as though the blade has
retracted a bit.

Try just advancing the blade until you no longer get a decent cut.

Also, make sure the sole is waxed and polished so it glides easily on
the wood. Try not to push down too much, this will cut the friction
too.

You can see if your blade is really dull by holding it under a light
and looking for sparkles on the edge. Point the iron right at your
face (removed from the plane), with a light behind your head. Angle it
around until you see the sparkles. To get an idea of how this works
more easily, try it with a kitchen knife. If you don't see any
sparkles, it's not dull.

You might also try burnishing rather than honing. You're not leaving
hunks of metal behind in the wood. You're just bending the edge. A
burnishing will straighten it out. It works like a steel in the
kitchen.

-Mike

(Alan W) wrote in message . com...
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?