Rider No 4 plane blade

The blade needed a lot of lapping to get the back flat which had a pronounced bow across the width, probably as a result of being stamped out. However once flattened, sharpened and honed it takes a very good fine shaving and seems to retain the edge. I have used in my Stanley No 4 to plane some very hard figured Bubinga and it performed well. Anyone doing the same upgrade to there Stanley or Record bench planes should be aware that because of the extra thickness of the blade the planes adjustment paul does not enter the chipbreaker as much as with the standard blade and therefore there is more backlash in the adjuster. I find that this is a small price to pay for the improvement of having a thicker blade, which sits in the plane very solidly and reduces chatter on difficult woods. I have even used it to plane end grain on the Bubinga with great results.