I finally got to the prep of the hefty plane iron on my brand new Lie-Nielsen No. 4-1/2. Out of the box, the back of the iron was lapped quite well across the width of the blade — no ridges to feel running on the long axis. I did feel ridges running along the width so I only need to take those out in the back lapping: a couple dozen short strokes on 1000, 4000, and 8000 grit Norton stones and it was done.
The blade came ground to a 25 degree bevel, with obvious grinding marks. I followed David Charlesworth’s method to hone and polish, and then to put on the camber. So fast, so sharp. I do expect that I’ll be returning to the stones frequently, because I’ve polished only the tiniest sliver of the edge. Looks like I’ll want to set up a dedicated sharpening space, and experiment with how much to hone and polish each time.
But what a tool. My fifth stroke over a hunk of figured maple that’s been around for a few years gave me a continuous 0.001″ slice off the edge and left a furniture-ready surface. My goodness. I’ve been relying on sandpaper until now.
Just wanted to crow.
Oh, I do have a question if you’ve lasted this far! My plane’s sole is corrugated, and it seems to my hand that there may be the slightest ridge (wire edge?) at the tops of some of the corrugation “valleys”. I’m inclined to run the plane lightly over 400 or 600 grit wet/dry sandpaper on my float glass. Any comments from the gallery before I do it? Charlesworth starts his DVD talking about sole flatness but then says nothing about how to achieve (or maintain) it.
Replies
....... because I've polished only the tiniest sliver of the edge."
What angle did you hone at? If you honed at about 30 degrees plus you will get a narrow bevel and that is all you want-no need to polish the whole 25 degrees, unless I am getting you wrong. As soon as the wire edge is formed stop honing and remove that wire edge. Again , no need to polish much of the back- a narrow area about 5 to 10mm wide will do.
Your question:it can't hurt to run over some 400grit if you feel the ridges are rough, but don't go overboard about sole flatness until you are more familiar with planes....Coming from Lie Nielsen it ought to be plenty flat enough for woodworking purposes.
What project is to hand now???
Philip,
Like a god student, I followed Charlesworth's numbers. I honed at 33 degrees and polished at 35. When we say "narrow," the bevel is maybe 1/4 mm. I felt a wire edge but only a very small one. For the back, I'd begun to try his ruler trick but chickened out because the ruler I found in the store is thicker than 1/2 mm (it's 0.032") and I didn't want to do that to the blade. But maybe I will as I work with it more.
My excuse for breaking down to buy this gem is a simple-looking A&C bookcase from FWW Sept/Oct 2005 in cherry. There will be lots of straight, flat surfaces, and I just thought I'd try to move beyond the random orbital sander this time.
This means I need to build a bench. I think I'm going to face-join two birch laminate slabs from IKEA and hinge it to the wall in my garage shop, where I still park my car. I have a Taiwanese knockoff of a Record-style vise with a dog that will work fine.
So all this will take me a while, I'm sure.
Thanks for your reply.
I meant good student, of course...
B,
1 thou shavings - Mmmmmm! Fluffy and nice.
I like to test the sole flatness of planes that have just arrived in the post - even them Marcous! I use a 600 grit 10" X 3" diamond stone on a piece of MDF on my TS or other flat surface. You can use wet&dry on plate glass or (good quality, i.e. flat) MDF instead of the diamond plate, if you like.
I draw a cross hatch of black lines all over the plane sole using a marker pen. I prefer an older pen with the ink near gone, as it leaves a very thin coat of ink - less than a thou I hope (a guess). Then I grip the plane body with one hand across it's middle and rub it back/forth over the diamond plate with a little pressure (weight of plane + arm, basically). After 3 - 6 rubs, have a look at the ink to see if it's worn off evenly.
Don't forget to wind the blade back into the plane body. :-)
Hopefully there is no significant dips or bulges. The ink should ideally be gone from across the nose, along both sides of the mouth and at the tail, right across the width of the sole. The remaining ink, if any, will show the likely degree of dip or bump by its extent. Lots of cross-hatch lines remaining means probably deeper dips or higher bumps.
If you feel the dips/bumps are significant, then you flatten using thick plate glass or other dead flat surface and stick-on sandpaper. David Charlesworth's book 3 Page 24 gives a flattening procedure (coarse sandpaper then finer grades until the dips/bumps are gone). There are similar procedures on the FWW website.
****
Happily them Marcou planes are flat to within a thou or two and can be made dead flat with a few passes on the aforementioned diamond plate - no need for coarse grits, plate glass and so forth. Lie Nielsen are reputedly pretty good so maybe you too will get away with minimal flattening starting on the fine grit stuff.....?
Every now and then I do the ink-lines test again, as plane soles do change a bit with use, time and temperature. Them Marcous have stayed flat but the Veritas I have do move a little - still only requiring that minimal work on the large diamond stone however; and only if the nose/mouth/tail flatness has been affected. It seems to be the mouth that changes most, possibly due to the adjustable feature but also because that is the area where there is most stress on the metal when planing.....? Marcous have BEEF; but "lesser" planes are a comparatively weedly here and there. ('Scuse my boasting). :-)
Lataxe
PS Why did you elect for a corragated sole, may I ask?
I thought the corrugated sole would lessen the friction force of the stroke. What do I know? It sounded like a good idea.
I think I'm going to take a leap of faith that Lie-Nielsen Toolworks sent me a flat plane, and start working with it for now. I don't want to get the sole out of square with the sides or anything.
Thank you for your advice.
I haven't purchased a Lie-Nielsen plane in a few years, so I don't remember the off-the-shelf state of their plane blades (and it could well be different now), but Lee Valley plane blades come truly ready to go. I can take a Lee Valley plane out of the box, install the blade, and cut a perfect 0.001" shaving immediately.
-Steve
I do love my L-N 4 ½ (York pitch). I get the biggest smile every time I use it. I only hone mine on that ancient technology, a hard white Arkansas oil stone, but then I’m a jig-less Ludite when it comes to sharpening. One cheap grinder one oil stone.
As to the sole, one reason you pay more for the L-N is that you don’t have to flatten the sole.
Nap,
I yam tempted to do an altruistic act and send you a diamond "stone". But then you would probably toss it in the bin after biting it to see if is really hard! (The stone would show the teeth marks but only because you yoursen' are so 'ard). :-)
By the way, David Charlesworth insists that well-used oilstones all have central dips and so give the chisel-backs a fat belly. Just thought I'd toss that in to see if you will bite a bit.
Lataxe, a gizmo fool.
"By the way, David Charlesworth insists that well-used oilstones all have central dips and so give the chisel-backs a fat belly. Just thought I'd toss that in to see if you will bite a bit."A 'vintage' oilstone used by somebody who knew what they were doing will likely show one surface to be dished (making it easier to hone a crown on the bevel side), and one side will be flat - that side of course seeing only chisel and plane iron backs. And somebody who elected to keep both faces flat would simply freehand in a zig-zag pattern to keep the central portion from dishing and flip the stone over for each use. But, most were allowed to become dished FOR A REASON (these guys weren't idiots).Toshio Odate knows, check out:http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/indextool.mvc?prodid=MS-ODATED.XXOtherwise, one wonders if Mr. Charlesworth didn't get the memo that oilstones have two sides. I've found that by grasping one between thumb and forefinger it is remarkably easy to flip over.
Edited 4/18/2008 4:00 pm ET by TaunTonMacoute
ROFLMAO, I can add nothing to that!!!!
You are still in fine form.Did you work all of this out while using the David Charlesworth Ruler Trick©?
Now I'm laughing... thanks!! I could use it today.
You should come up with some sort of jig to make that flip. You can design it. Derek can review it. Lee Valley can stock different models for different widths/thicknesses/lengths. We can all fall in love with it. I'm thinking there would be a market for it up to $89.95.
Ya buncha miserable ole cynics! Leave my toyshop alone!
Lataxe, tired of whiney old blokes muttering about new fangles they don't understand. (Yes, yes - I know you think you do).
Ed,
Shurely time you made a wicked post of your own instead of riding on the back of Charles or Nap? You are in danger of becoming Little Sir Echo.
Have you got that book published yet? I'm just dying to read it! Will it have any New Thoughts in it or will it just be reiterating those of someone else you read once? :->
Lataxe
>published<
No, but thanks for asking. I don't know how many "New Thoughts" you want to put into crime fiction, Lataxe. It's pretty simple, really, blood, gore, mayhem, somebody tries to get away with it and somebody tries to catch 'em. Along the way, more mayhem, guns, body count, naked chicks and loose morals. Basically a pretty old formula. I think Sophocles was doing a version of that gig back in the days of the Greek Theatre.No characters who are tired old British windbags who frequently rant about "thoughts, beliefs, attitudes, dispositions of the ladywife," or, "catlike behavior of the cat," so I'm not sure there would be much for you to identify with. Try H.R.F. Keating. Take care, Ed
Ed,
It's a bit disappointing to hear you ain't published yet - I was looking forward to reading your stuff. I read plenty crime fiction although not as much as the ladywife, who devours many scurrilous texts containing unpleasant events detailed at great length.
Of course I prefer the thoughtful stuff, such as James Elroy. Plenty od Bad Thangs in there but also some bright lights on the human condition - them thoughts, beliefs and attitudes that so fascinate we wondering windbags. :-)
You could send me your manuscript and get helpful criticism in return. It would not be of the sycophantic kind.
Lataxe, book fetishist.
I think I just broke a rib laughing so hard....
Edited 4/19/2008 8:09 am ET by TaunTonMacoute
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