"Bow" blade
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Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Tools and Tool Maintenance/Restoration / "Bow" blade
Good evening you all ( mmm it’s midnight here..) . Now i own different vintage planes, all Stanley with thin blade. The issue i encountered is that blade is not straight: it’s bowed. This is true in my No.4 , No.5, No.7 and short 60 1/2 blade, also. Why did this happen? What’s the correct way to straighten them ( admitted there’s one)? I cannot find a solution.
From what I am reading, you are talking about from the cutting edge back to the end with the maker’s mark? Is it enough to keep it from sitting flat on the frog?
Maybe you can post a picture of the blades that bow?
Thanks.
If it is bowed along the length, that is from the blade edge to the uppermost part when mounted in the plane, try putting a small block of wood under each end and using a clamp, pull the bow down towards the workbench. Work slowly and be careful lest the blade come shooting out when under compression.
In one of Mr Sellers posts, he suggested to place the blade on a firm flat surface and gently hammer it back into shape.
I tried it on one of my Stanley blades and I was able to straighten it enough so that I could then polish the back properly.
I don’t know how brittle the blades are, but I think they are malleable enough to yield to a hammer blow.
Good luck!