Does anybody know where I could get a radiused wheel or thin wheel (probaby less that 1/4″) that I could put a tight radius on to roughly profile hollows and hollowed sections of a molding plane irons? I can’t imagine that Mr. Williams is using a Dremel and going through $3 in bits to profile each iron he sells. Where would I buy something like this? I’m begging for help…
Thanks, Matt
Replies
Matt,
Do you mean that the blades are already shaped into a concave curve and that you want to sharpen/hone them?
If so, Tormek do a leather honing wheel with a thin and thick curved rim, if you have access to such a machine.
Another technique I use with a concave spokeshave blade is to sharpen and hone it on a drum sander mounted in a drill press. It's a techique explained in the blurb that comes with the Lee Valley concave spokeshave. I imagine it would work with concave plane irons if you find drums of the required diameter. Use wet and dry or any other hard grit meant for metal, moving up to the very fine grits; or even honing compound on a dowel, if you want the ultimate edge.
Watch out for the snatch! :-)
Lataxe
No, the irons are blanks and I need to shape them. I'm able to do it with small dremel bits but it's tedious and expensive. I'm able to sharpen and hone the shapes once I have them roughed out.
Edited 3/22/2008 5:08 pm ET by MattInPA
Matt,
If you get wheels thin enough from the source that Larry mentions, or Norton Abrasives, you can then profile shape them as you like with a cluster diamond dresser: any shape such as vee shaped , radiused, dished, rounded, angled , knife edged etc.Philip Marcou
This is exactly what I was looking to do. Due to uncontrollable circumstances I've been forced to work only on very small projects for a few months. I'm making a half set of hollows and rounds along with a few others. I initially thought I'd be done inside of 60 hours. If I have to use that dremel any more it will add on an extra 20.
The internet spoils us all. I wish I could see prices and order online. I'm definitely going to have to deal with a distributor that will, no doubt, not stock what I'm looking for. I've been to the local Fastenal before (listed as Norton distributor) and have left disappointed each time. This wheel is going to take 2 weeks...I can feel it.
Thanks for the input.
Matt
Edited 3/23/2008 1:17 am ET by MattInPA
Go to http://www.nortonabrasives.com/, then you'll know what you are looking for.Philip Marcou
Watch out for the snatch! :-) Oh God.. I did that and saw this wonderful girl I married! SHE was the best ever in my life!
Hi Matt,
You can get small diameter cut-off wheels and an arbor that'll fit a flex shaft grinder. One of the other options, if you have an 8" grinder, is the variety of narrow grinding wheels available from Foley/Belsaw. They have 8" grinding wheels for their "Sharp-all" that range from 1/16" thick to 1/2" thick.
The grinding wheel option is exactly what I'm looking for. I will give them a call tomorrow. Thank you
Matt
Larry, what kind of oil do you use when heat treating the irons? also, approximately how hot do you make it? I don't think you stated these in your video.
Matt,I use peanut oil but any thin vegetable oil will work fine. I preheat the oil to something close to body temperature.Philip mentioned searching Norton's web site and that's a good idea. Foley/Belsaw's grinding wheels are finer than I'd like, usually in the neighborhood of 60 grit. Something closer to 36 or 46 grit would be better.I think you'll find a single point diamond dresser better for profiling grinding wheels. I even prefer them for dressing when I want a straight wheel. Grizzly sells a 3/4 caret dresser for about $11 which seems a very good price to me.
I appreciate your lightening fast help.
For anybody who happens to be following this thread...I purchased Larry Williams new DVD "Making Traditional Side Escapement Planes" from Lie-Nielsen. I have never seen Todd Herli's DVD that I believe covers a similar topic. I am currently through about 16 of the 18 DVD chapters while making a 1/2 set along with him (18 planes total). No stone has been left unturned up until these few questions. The DVD is phenomenal and I would highly recommend it to anybody interested in making these planes. You will not need a single other source.
The planes are not too difficult and have been pretty fun. As a reference, a pair will probably take me 6 hours once I'm done with these. The instruction will not only help you build hollows and rounds. I believe there will be much carry over to different shapes.
Let the record show that I'm really not looking forward to heat treating the irons (also purchased from Lie-Nielsen).
Enough plugs
Thanks, Matt
Matt,
Make sure you post some pictures when you're done, eh?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
Here are a few pictures to whet your appetite...
Matt;
Nice work! I'm in the midst of gathering materials and tools to make a set of hollows from Larry's DVD also. What wood are you using? I would like to use Beech and am having a difficult time finding it in the proper sizes and grain orientation.
Bill
I couldn't get 4/4 quarter sawn anything other than oak and a few others. You'd probably need to get 8/4, which definitely wasn't happening. Larry recommended cherry as an option so I bought 16/4 and made my own.
Very cool. Can you use the same wedge shape for each plane, varying only the width?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
Only the width of the wedge differs. The profile and angle stays the same. The 18 has a 1/2" wedge and the 2 has an 1/8" wedge.
Matt
Fascinating project, especially considering what a set of hollows and rounds costs. Please continue to keep us posted with more pics and updates, and I'm especially interested in hearing your take on the heat treating after you've done a few <G>.
Let us know!!
Jeff
How about a rat-tail file?
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
Matt,
FWIW, We used to dress standard wheels in specific shapes for dressing die details.
Using a single point diamond dresser, you can refigure standard grinding wheels easily. There is no need to buy any special wheel. In fact a narrow wheel would bother me as it has little resistance to sideways loads and might fracture and explode. A nice half inch or three quarter, with a pointy crown on it would be MUCH safer.
Thinking further, I would start by crowning it to match your largest radius, and then reshape step by step to the narrowest. Shaping takes only a couple minutes, and a jig to swing the dresser in an arc is simple.
Mike
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled