I seem to have acquired a large number of plane blades. Not counting specialists, like shoulder or block planes, there are 13 of the buggers! They are of various metals (A2, D2, O2) with various grinds, microbevel angles, and even back-bevels.
Now, not being entirely stupid, the blades all got written on with a marker pen as to their various attributes. Well, perhaps I am stupid, as the three I decided to take out for a sharpening session still have some black marks on but most of the ink has turned to dust and fallen off!
So, I am asking: how do you multiple-configuration-of-plane-blade owners keep track of your blade’s attributes? Must I etch them into the metal or is there a better way?
Lataxe
Replies
Buy a few small bottles of various color model paint (preferably enamel - Humbrol is the main brand in the UK I believe - but acrylic will probably stay on well enough too). Paint the thin edge at the top of the blade. Make yourself a note sheet with a color key giving notations e.g., red 2" A2 ground 30 degrees. The paint will stay on as long as you want it to give that placement (i.e., routine use and sharpening will not abrade it), but would also be easy to remove.
I don't do this; I've not had the need. But it occurs to me as a possible solution.
Edited 2/21/2008 4:08 pm ET by Samson
You can write on a plane blade using an ordinary machinist's carbide-tipped scriber, a $5 item.
-Steve
yep
Brother Froe, I was doing it with pay envelopes, zip top lunch bags, original mfg packaging-carefully opened- all well noted with a sharpie marker on the bag.
In the future, I will be using Mr. Lee's little blue rust proof zip top bags properly marked for each plane's original iron(for the fettled baileys or bed rocks), replacement irons or spare irons in the case of my Clifton, Millers Falls 140, Record 778 and alternative irons for my LN 5 1/2 yorky.
Is that what you had in mind? Paddy
Ps, Oh yes, there will also be an empty properly annotated blue baggies in the space that the plane is stored for the currently installed iron. It took the move to Tenn. to make me realize that those LN and Clifton irons are NOT $1.95 each and need more TLC and some better management to be useful.
I'd a thought the experienced Lataxe coulda just eyeballed the blade and spat out the width, bevel and microbevel angle, the plane it is intended for and the Rockwell hardness....I feel abit let down..
Neil, trying to figure out which blade goes where
Neil,
Perhaps the answer is to not think about these sharpy, angly things - merely put the blade in any old way (upside down will suffice) and "just do it"! (It is allowed to scrape the working end on a bit of old concrete to improve performance, but for no longer than 10 seconds). After all, this is the manly WW way to go (and it is The Only Way)!
Meanwhile I can't decide on which of the three systems of identification offered so far to employ (or maybe a totally different one).
I yam suffering the dilemma of all filing clerks everywhere.
Lataxe, not too sharp hisself.
All good suggestions but I would vote for the "rust proof bags of Mr Lee" (is that Christopher Lee I wonder) described by Paddy...in my neck of the woods the term "rust proof" is akin to tax proof, a mythological condition enjoyed by the ultra rich..very desirable but impossible to attain..
Neil, preparing to prepare his taxes
Lataxe, laddiebuck,
Firstly, what you need is a plane for each blade, so there will be no mixing them up. The larger surface area of the plane body will admit of more legibly writing on it what the bevel angle, microbevel, backbevel, secondary, and tertiary bevels are.
Secondly, I recommend they be placed on shelves (easily purchased), using a modified dewey decimal system of classification, for future reference and easy, reliable access. This means an item #, cross referenced by plane maker's name, bevel up or bevel down, body type (bronze, cast iron, malleable iron, wood, infill), handle species and type ( rosewood, narra, beech, mdf, open, closed), pitch angle (York, common, middle, low-angle, etc, etc).
Thirdly, you will need a cabinet with a series of small drawers to keep the requisite card catalogue in, but it will be worth it, to store your life's work. Don't you think best in quartersawn English oak, panelled ends, Mission style, but carved with mottos a la John Ruskin, with hand dovetailed drawers. I know several people who can make it for you. Just ask. Hee-hee.
Ray
Ray
I applaud you .. you have thought of nearly everything. There is one more, however. What is needed is a WorkSharp machine set to a dedicated bevel angle (these may require a little modification to get the appropriate angle), located in a pigeon box below each plane ... we wouldn't want to mix up the sharpening system either.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Sir Lataxe;While the anal retentive side of me leans towards Rays solution and Philip's has the virtue of ease and indelibility, I must vote for the colored paint on the non working edge advocated by your nemesis Samson. It has the advantages of being easily alterable should your angles bevels etc. change in the future and of being reasonably indelible under normal use.Dolt that I am I only sharpen one at a time before returning it home to its housing.
Ray,
Bravo! Then when he gets bored and needs something to do he can make a list to keep track of his lists.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Lataxe,
You could do it the traditional way. The makers of wooden molding planes often placed numbers on the body, wedge, and blade to keep things coordinated. English numbers on the wedge and body, roman on the blade to be really traditional.
Of course this does not solve the current dilemma.
Perhaps you could send me the Marcous and the blades and I will sort those out for you? (news flash - Hell has frozen over! grinnnn)
Mike
Well, many choices.
First choice might well be Ray's detailed plan, which he has obviously spent a great deal of time devising - albeit I must add an additional parameter to his plot: I will capture the man hisself and chain him to my workbench with that Injun as the grab-weight on his ankle. (I will remove an essential part to prevent him riding away with my bench on his back).
Ray will then use his expertise for proper purposes - a kind of Lataxe' apprentice. He will make nice tool cupboards, perhaps with curlicues on them. In between he will adminster the plane blades, not to mention polish the planes, clean out the shavings, make the tea and possibly other duties which we cannot elaborate on here as lady woodworkers might blush and turn away with a gasp. In all events, I will keep him healthy with a nutricious gruel and a turn or two on the stationary bicycle trainer. Hooplah!
Or; I could pinch nail varnish from the ladywife, who buys it yet never uses it, to do the Samson method. This method has the advantage of being able to decipher what blade is actually in the plane at a glance. And, as mentioned, one may repaint the dots to match any changes to blade configuration. The nail polish comes with its own tiny brush (don't ask how I know) in many garish colours. I already have nail polish remover in the shed to take that nasty varnish off the two cherries chisels (yes it is).
Meanwhile the blades not in use can continue to live in them anti-rust blue bags which are in turn kept in a suede multi-pocket thang made for plane blades and soaked in camelia oil to keep rust gremlins out altogether. Perhaps it is this regime which has destroyed my inkings? Camelia oil is pow'ful stuff.
I must away to devise a colour-code system. Black for BD blades and white for BU; red for 25 degree main bevels; green for 30, etc.. Perhaps repeating numbers will describe the microbevel: 1 dot = no MB; 2 dots = 1 degree MB, etc.. But what colours for back bevels? Perhaps exotics such as gold lame, bruised purple or crushed pink!
Lataxe, wondering what eye liner might be used for (she nivver puts that on either).
Lataxe, old chum,
Best you set yer trap for friend Richard, he of the gimlet eye, wit' the smoking cig wafting its incense over the whetstone. He's closer by ye, idn'e? Besides, I wager, ye'd not care for my tea. Hereabouts, we like to make it sweet, and ice-cold.
The gruel, and stationary bike though, sound all too familiar since my little run in with the cardio care unit. That'd be a bit like home, as well as the blushing ladies turning awa--never mind.
Ray
I used to use a tungsten tipped engineer's scriber, to mark pertinent information on plane blades, but now find that a dremel diamond point makes for easier reading.
Paint, felt tip and nail varnish tend to get obliterated when cleaning, or just from abrasion.
David
Obviously the blades need to be professionally laser-etched. Macintosh computer running "Filemaker Pro" to keep track of them. After all, these are bench planes, for chrissakes, comparable to fine European diesel touring cars! No expense is too much. Luck, Ed.
Lataxe,
no need for color coding. As many have said, etch. There are many cheap ways to etch. I recommend using Morse code to make notes on each blade. It is much easier than letters. You just use dashes and dots. No one answered the question of how to determine which blade goes to which plane. I recommend inviting Ron Hock over for a visit. He'll do it. MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
Braille. No dashes, all dots, and you can even identify 'em in the dark. (Ouch! Thats a ##%^@* sharp O2 triple bevel!)
Ray
Ray,
You are a sick, sick man.
Well, maybe not.
Maybe you are a healthy man with a sick mind.
--- Braile on planer blades ---- I suppose you could use the same coding scheme on my new Lancelot chain saw blades for my angle grinder.By the way, I used a pair of them on my new Ridgid angle grinder. WOW. It is much faster than a 60mm #7 and a 2.5lb mallet. MUCH FASTER. I made 32 bowls between 4:02 and 4:06 pm today. Damn, that thing is fast. Actually I just practiced with it. I had another piece of sycamore that had been cut down the middle (long grain), but still included the pith, so I removed two "layers" with the Lancelots. Very very nice. I had visions of me carving those big bears. But then again, those visions come and go. I'll stick to bowls for a while.Have fun.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
So you went with the Lancelot Chainsaw wheel, did you? How is the control with it? Have you had it try to kick back? I hope you are exaggerating when you state that you "made 32 bowls between 4:02 and 4:06 pm". Do you carve inside or out?
Happy power carving,Chris @ flairwoodworks
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
Chris,
I was joking about making lotsa bowls quick. Ray knows that I am the opposite of quick. I didn't make any bowls yesterday. As I said in my message, I took a half of a slice of a sycamore tree and used the Lancelot to remove the top (center -- long grain) two inches. If I had a real chain saw, that would have been the thing to use. However, I wanted to get the feel for the Lancelot, so I had my wife come out and be nearby. I donned a thick leather apron, thick leather gloves, a face shield, and took a deep breath.
I used a pair of 22 tooth Lancelots together. They worked beautifully. No kickback. Easy to use. Even my wife said that it didn't look very dangerous if you pay attention. She is right.
I practiced the basic short vertical cut, and it removes a half inch swath from the middle of the wood out to the edge. Then I practiced the side to side cut and the raker cut. It does take a while to get used to those two cuts. They work better when you have smoothed out the surface.
So all is well. I am ready to proceed with actually hollowing out the bowl, and then doing the outside. Unfortunately, I work at Woodcraft today and tomorrow and then will be away for a week. So there won't be any reports of my learning for a while.
The Lancelots are much much easier to handle than I had envisioned. I will, however, remain fully on guard while using them.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mel,
I've never seen one of those Lancelot things in action. Do you wear chainsaw chaps upside down when using it? With the chap parts on your arms, and the waist buckled around your belly?
I don't know if the braille id on a lancelot will work. Can you read that fast?
Ray
Ray,
I just sent a message to Chris on this thread, describing my attire while using the Lancelots, and my lessons learned. It went well. They were very easy to use. Very intuitive. My wife was standing nearby (but out of range of the sawdust) just in case.
I have used a chainsaw many times. An 18" chainsaw is much more dangerous than this because of its heft and length, and because you use it in different positions.
With the twin Lancelots, I used my portable Work Mate to clamp the wood at the correct height for easy use of the angle grinder. I wore leather gloves meant for handling very hot stuff. They are thick and weigh a ton. I was wearing my heavy leather apron which is sewn together with kevlar thread (REALLY). I had studied the directions and had watched the DVD a few times, so I was pretty well prepared.
If you show me how to write in Braille, I'll let you use my twin lancelots. I bet that you could do Cabriole legs very fast, and then if you remove one of the two Lancelots, you could do the carving on the legs. I don't think it will work for the fine detail on the ball and claw feet. :-)
On Saturday, I go to Big Sky Montana for a week. They call it an IEEE Aerospace Conference, but everyone skis every day too. I am looking forward to this. I have done it every year for a decade and this will be the last year, since I have retired, and am no longer an "expert" in aerospace matters. However, I am gaining prominence in the field of Lancelot carving. Yuk yuk.
Have fun.
MelMeasure your output in smiles per board foot.
Mi Lud,
There is an item called a machinists pencil which seems to somehow write indelibly via some sort of almost instant chemical reaction - but I haven't got one and would like one and I don't know where they come from. I have seen the results on machine parts such as hardened helical gears and certain measuring instruments-very good.Perhaps I shall search the metal munchers forums for this item.
Meanwhile I wish all these chaps would take things seriously on this forum instead of dikking about-this is a tremendous dilemna you have, and so far only Ray has come up with a half suitable suggestion....(;)Philip Marcou
Edited 2/22/2008 11:20 pm by philip
Lataxe, I would recommend etching the steel type on each blade. It won't change, and makes a difference in how hard it is to sharpen, and how well the edge holds.
Dabbing a bit of paint or nail polish on the nonworking end would make a good way to distinguish the bevel. I would recommend the nail polish, as you can buy it inexpensively when it is last years color, and it has it's own little brush in the bottle.
Alternatively, you could number the blades, and then keep a chart of what bevel(s) are on each blade. As I am color blind it would be the way I would tend towards.
Another option would be one of the nifty label makers. I have one, a Brother P-Touch, that I can get a special tape with high strength adhesive for. That tape would probably stay on a plane blade until I made a conscious effort to remove it with a razor blade and solvent. I put my medical information on the back of my dog tags with it four years ago, (and wear the dog tags every day), it is still looking like it did the day I put it on.
Have you tried the metal they use on the planet Zirandia. It never needs sharpening but is highly radio active, but doesn't hurt Zirandians. If you want to contact one of them you just go out at night in your back yard and play your boom box as loud as you can for at least an hour. Somehow the small spaceship will land next to you, and you say to the little guy who emerges, (yazot kupla) and he will hand you a piece of the metal that measures 3"x 9" which you can make another super blade from.
Huh, we played music outside last December and this funky guy showed up in a red suit, big belly and a white beard. All he kept saying is HO HO HO!
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
That guy you want to stay away from because he lies to children, also never trust him around your wife.
Michael,
In Galgatia (centre of the universe) playing a boom box loud outside calls up red-faced neighbours followed by rozzers eager to exercise their accoutrements, such as cuffs and truncheons (they stop short of electrifying you).
Anyway, I have Marcou blades, which are hardened by witch doctor and kept sharp by emanations from New Zealand. Shurely them off-planet ones cannot be as good, especially if they cause an over-ripe suntan.
***
Currently I am thinking of Mr Charlesworth's recommendation to use a carbide-tipped pen to write informative runes on the blades. Of course this may invoke one of the witch-doctor's side-spells and they may then cut me, nasty-like.
Lataxe, tired out from fashioning endless medieval oak plugs for his table, all day.
LOL
Lud,
The carbide tipped scriber is not recommended because it is designed to make very thin lines, straight lines. When you try to write it will be a spider scribbling which you will not be able to read easily at all- the proof of this lies in the fact that there is some of this scribbling on certain of those blades, done by my own spider(s)-did you see it?
Apart from that etching pen I mentioned previously I think the most practical thing to use is an electric Dremel engraver with diamond tip -high speed vibrator.....Philip Marcou
Philip,
"I think the most practical thing to use is an electric Dremel engraver with diamond tip -high speed vibrator....."
Even now I am about to search for a vibrator, here and there about the house. In reality, I hope not to find one.....
Lataxe, considering nail varnish once more (for the blades, the blades)!
high speed vibrator
Excellent idea! I like when you can multi-purpose tools. Gotta love it!
Lud, I mean Lataxe, think of all the uses one can use a vibrator for. Scuttle legs are scared to death of vibrators, work quite well when compacting cement, can be employed to aching muscles for therapy and have an amazing power to distract on-lookers in parades.
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
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