# Awesome product, exactly as advertised



## dfdye

I have an IBC A2-Cryo blade in my No 7 and No 4, and I'll absolutely agree that they are wonderful blades. I have been using mine for a while now, and I can say with certainty that they hold up to a lot of work before needing sharpening. They came fairly well sharpened out of the box, but they still needed touch-up honing. The backs were nice and flat, and I didn't have to spend much time to get them in "easy shaving" shape.

I'll definitely keep them near the top of my list for replacement blades, though with the durability of the A2-cryo, I am not sure if I will ever come close to wearing a blade out in my lifetime!


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## Marc5

I may try this set up on a #4 iI am getting ready to tune. On question, did you have to modify the throat due to the additional thickness of the blade and ship breaker?


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## JasonD

@David, after my experience with this blade, I'm definitely going to get the IBC 2" blade for my #4 Stanley.

@Marc, I was expected to need to modify the throat, but I didn't have to. When I first got the plane, I filed the throat a little to square it up when I was first tuning it, but I'm guessing the original owner opened the throat a bit when they had it.

The blade set comes with paperwork that tells you to expect to widen it along with simple how-to instructions. It also comes with a free DVD that shows you how to completely tune up an old plane and modify it to use the IBC blades. The DVD had a handful of tips I'd never seen before.


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## Rick_Boyett

Just a counter point here:

The Rob Cosman IBC Pinnacle blade that is featured here cost $106.00

Jason's #7 was $60.

That's $166 for the tool and blade. That doesn't cover the cost of his time refurbishing the blade.

Now for comparison is the Veritas Bevel-Up Jointer at $275.00.

The Veritas is $109 more but you get a plane made of ductile iron instead of gray iron. It has an adjustable throat and the option to put a fence ($35 option) on it without any modification. As with any Veritas tool you don't have to do ANY fine tuning. It comes sharp and square, right out of the box. The same goes for any LN tool.

So if you want a tool with more features and durability, you should consider the Veritas (or an LN). This should also be the case if you don't want to spend your time refurbishing an old plane. Some folks (like myself) like taking a 75 to 100+ year old plane and returning it to its usable glory. Others want to spend more of their time actually working on projects. Neither direction is wrong, I'm just offering differing points of view.

As for the Pinnacle blade itself. I have found that they are usable right out of the box but they will really shine if you give them a good lapping before use. What really impresses me about the Rob Cosman Pinnacle blade is the very innovative method they came up with to let you use a thick blade with a new chip maker and still be able to fully utilize the blade depth adjuster. That was truly a "why didn't I think of that" kind of creation.


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## JasonD

Good points, Rick. I was telling my wife the other day that I'd still like to get a Veritas eventually.

For one thing, I'd like to have a modern premium plane just for the sake of the tool collector in me. Secondly, for the reasons you mentioned: mainly, the newer innovative features.

In the meantime, though, I'm more than happy with the quality that I'm able to get out of a vintage Stanley with the IBC blade.


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## TheDane

Anybody have any sense about how these compare with Ron Hock's blades?

The IBC Pinnacle blades are a little higher in price … are they better than Hock blades?

-Gerry


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## yuri

Interesting, how is this blade set different from Hock's similar set?
Cheapbraker
A2 Iron
Together they come to $78


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## JasonD

@Gerry, I can't comment since I haven't had a chance to try the Hock blades yet. I would love to know if anyone has used them both.

@Yuri, actually, it would be a little cheaper. The A2 blade you linked is a block plane blade for $45. The blade to compare to my IBC would be a 2-3/8" blade which is surprisingly cheaper ($40) than the smaller 1-3/8" block plane blade.

Btw, I forgot to mention it above, but the success I had with the IBC blade was directly out of the package. I didn't tune the new blade up at all.


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## yuri

Oops, I got corrected, I messed up the link. It should be Corrected link to A2 Iron 2-3/8 which is $49 instead of $45, so total will be $82, still better than $106


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## dfdye

I have not personally witnessed this, but I have heard a couple of reports of Hock blades being received a little out of flat. I was going back through post to see if I could find where I read this, but no luck. Obviously with the "ruler trick" this isn't too big of a deal, but both of my IBC blades were spot on out of the package.

For what it is worth, the blade I am buying for my "new" type 13 No 4 Bailey will be a Hock blade, just so I can compare the two brands. I seriously doubt I'll notice any difference between them once they are set up, but I'll most definitely be posting observations!


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## TheDane

David-I'd be interested in your reactions once you have a chance to compare. I have a #4 with a pretty marginal blade that I was thinking of fitting out with either a Hock or a Pinnacle (both the blade and the chip breaker).

FWIW, I have Hock blades in my #4, one of my #5's, and in my #7. When I first got them (about 18 months ago) I did lap the backs on them and run through the sharpening regimen with my Work Sharp 3000. I have used them quite a bit, and do not recall having to re-sharpen (the Hock blades do hold an edge) ... just an occasional touch-up with 3000-grit in the WS. Tonight I did some work with my #7, and that old war horse fairly glides through maple stock, throwing off thin, full width shavings. I love that plane!

-Gerry


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## JasonD

Yuri, 
Curious to see the 2nd link you posted. The one I was talking about is here which is only $40. Unless I'm missing something they're selling the same blade at two different prices. Both blades are 7" long 3/32" thick A2 hardened to RC62.


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## yuri

Jason,

The link I posted leads to A2 blade. Your link is for O1 (high carbon, not A2) blade.
Hocks A2 is also cryogenicaly treated like Pinnacle one. Usually A2 stays sharp longer, but more difficult to sharpen. O1 sharpens pretty easy to very fine edge, but requires a little bit more frequent trips to a waterstone. A lot of people do not mind extra trip and just love high carbon blades.


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## JasonD

Yuri, thanks for the clarification. It looked like both descriptions read the same to me. I didn't see where they said A2 or O1.


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## dbhost

I am looking to add a #6 and a #7 to my plane collection. I am wanting to go with old iron Stanleys this time around and figure I will need to modernize the iron and chipbreaker. I am on the fence between IBC and Hock. Has anyone done a side by side comparison between the two? Depending on the sales they are close enough in cost to not matter much…

I may upgrade my Groz #5 first though. I have done everything I can for the OE blade and it just cuts lousy. I can swap over the blade from the #4 and its fine, but that blade from the #5 stinks…


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## dfdye

Woodcraft does not sell the Hock A2 blades any more since they started carrying the IBC A2 blades. I guess they didn't want to compete with themselves. Who knows. Regardless, you can still get the Hock A2 blades directly from Hock Tools.

Regarding the premium chip breakers, I honestly am not sure why they are charging so much for what amounts to a flat piece of steel with a slight bend. The cost of blades isn't in the materials nor the shaping, but in the hardening, tempering, and final preparation for cutting. You don't have to do ANY of this for chip breakers. Even if you are machining/polishing a good mating surface for the blade, the chip breaker steel isn't hardened, so it won't take nearly the time to get into shape as a blade. Honestly, the chip breakers shouldn't cost more than $20! Anybody can make a premium chip breaker out of 1/8" cold rolled steel, a belt sander, a hack saw, a drill press, a small file, and a bench grinder. It MIGHT take an hour of your time, and $5 worth of materials and electricity. I have a 4' bar of 1/8" X 3" cold rolled steel in my garage that I bought to make chip breakers, but I never found it worth my time to actually get around to doing anything with it. I polished the mating surface of my stock chip breakers, and they honestly work fairly well.

I am sure I will eventually get around to making them, but replacing chip breakers definitely isn't going to make a big difference in the way I work. Somebody is making a KILLING by convincing people that they need a "matched" chip breaker to go along with their blade. Honestly, though I really do like the upgraded chip breakers, they will not make NEARLY the difference in cut quality and usability as the blade, yet they are quite close to the same price! I just don't get that logic, but then again who am I to judge people for trying to make a buck?


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## dfdye

dbhost,

One other suggestion: I use a cheap Footprint No 5 as a scrub plane/fore plane (yes, I know there really is a difference, but I use them both the same way), and use the cheap irons from that and my No 4 as rough/scrub blades since they take so much abuse. I figure I have to eat my Wheaties any time I use the scrub plane, I don't notice much of a difference between an uber-sharp blade and a sort of OK sharp blade in that plane, and the finish isn't going to look good no matter how sharp my blade is, so rather than having to deal with trying to get knicks out of an A2 blade, I figure the cheap stock blades can be put to some good use after all!

Just a thought.

(This did just remind me that I need to re-grind those suckers!  )


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