Ray Iles Replacement Block Plane Toothing Irons

A long time ago some luthier figured out that if you cut a series of parallel grooves perpendicular to the edge on the back of a plane iron, you can plane the long-grain woods typically used in instrument-making across the wood grain, without tear-out. The grooves break up the cutting edge to a series of tiny cutters that don�t have the collective strength to lift out and tear wood ahead of the blade. The irons do leave a rough finish, but for sculpting soundboards they are just the ticket, and have been for centuries. Another side benefit is that you don�t need a fancy plane to get this performance. Ray Iles re-introduced toothing blades at the request of an English violin making school. The students, like most students the world over, were very budget conscious, and they wanted irons to fit their frugal Stanley block planes. These irons are made of carbon steel, are very easy to sharpen and are also thicker than the stock Stanley irons, so you�ll get less chatter and increased performance � all in addition to the reduced tear-out mentioned at the start of this story. Made of high carbon steel, approx. 0.10" thick. Made in England.