Replies

1. 
   PlaneWood | Mar 25, 2003 07:32am | #1

   Kevin -

   If I nick a blade, I regrind it using my 10" circular stone running at 500 rpm with a small water drip.  I then use my diamond lap to put about a 1/16" 'micro' bevel at the point, then go on up progressively to 1500 grit silicon carbide w/d paper.  I then use a piece of leather saturated with white rough for the last buffing.

   Point is, only the last 1/16" or so has a flat bevel when I finish. The bevel gets wider each time I re-hone.  Eventually, if I don't nick the blade, I do the initial grind again.

   I find it harder to make the cutting edge absolutely straight.  During the final honing, I typically wind up with slight rounding of the corners.

   The above is just the way I do it.  Don't think you will find two people that do it the same!!!

   Have you checked the bottom of the wood based plane for flatness?  Wood based planes usually will have a slightly rounded bottom due to wear.  If they were only used for jointing, they will be more wear in the center.   If you use a planer to flatten the bottom, then cradle the plane body between two longer boards so as not to get snipe on the ends.  Or, use an overhead sander.  Don't take off to much or you may screw up the blade adjustment as well as getting the throat to wide.

   PlaneWood by Mike_in_Katy (maker of fine sawdust!)
   PlaneWood

2. 
   eddiefromaustralia | Mar 25, 2003 09:10am | #2

   Hi Kevin,

   The slight radius is just put on at the grindstone.

   The easiest (but longest) way to do this is years of practice.

   A few tips for the regrind:

   Firstly and foremost, never force the blade onto the wheel.  This will overheat the blade, and with the older blades, (which are tempered at 150 degrees C for 1 hour to get their hardness), the slightest overheating destroys the temper.

   Instead, just 'kiss' the surface of the grindstone with the blade, or put another way by the tradesman that trained me, "pretend you're trying to shave the tiniest sliver off the stone".  Don't go at it too fast and things will be fine. 

   In the early days, check the temperature of the blade by feel frequently (before it gets too hot to touch).

   Remember, that as the blade gets thinner, there is less steel to absorb the heat from the grindstone, so the risk of overheating the edge increases markedly

   White Alumina wheels work better on tool steel than the black silicon carbide wheels (the plane blade, etc... doesn't get anywhere near as hot.)

   The above five reasons are why wet grinders are popular, as they remove the risk of overheating.

   Set your toolrest on the grinder to give a grind angle of approx 25 degrees to the plane blade.  This gives you the accurate bevel to whatever profile you're grinding.

   Move the plane blade across the face of the grinding wheel at a medium speed.  Be careful at the end of the stroke to make sure that the blade doesn't rock too much as you change direction.

   In the early stages of learning how to grind, get a pencil and draw a line square across the plane blade to grind to.  Will help alot.

   If you are not using a honing guide, the final hone will give you a slight crown until you are used to controlling the blade on the stone, through accidentally over-honing the edges.

   If you are using a honing guide, spend a bit more time on the edges to give you the cambered iron.

   If you want a dead straight iron surface, the only way to achieve this is a dead flat stone, which gives the back of the iron lapped dead flat and the bevel lapped dead flat.  The intersection of these two dead flat surfaces gives a straight blade.

   Hope this makes sense.  Email me if you want more info.

   Cheers,

   eddie

   (Who probably has about 60 woodies, but hasn't bothered counting)

   ps:  I grind and hone all blades straight (no crown), just makes them a little more finickity to adjust.

   Many schools of thought and none are right or wrong on this one.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 3/25/2003 5:05:53 AM ET by eddie (aust)

3. 
   MarkRoderick | Mar 25, 2003 07:55pm | #3

   You can avoid driving yourself crazy by purchasing a couple of books: The HandPlane Book from Taunton Press and Sharpending by Leonard Lee (available at Lee Valley Tools) Read both of those books and you'll be an expert. 

1. 
   UncleDunc | Mar 25, 2003 09:14pm | #4

   >> Read both of those books and you'll be an expert.

   I would say read both of those books and you'll have a pretty good idea of what manual skills you're going to have to acquire to become an expert. ;)

   To the original poster - I've has pretty good sucess at just dubbing the corners off instead of going for a radius all the way across the edge. The way I do it is after I've finished with each grit size, I tilt my honing guide and take ten or a dozen strokes on each corner, spreading them across the stone so I don't gouge a groove in it.

   But - I've only done this with my block plane with an 1-1/4" wide iron that I usually have adjusted for a very thin shaving. I can't promise this will work for a wider iron or or a deeper cut.

1. 
   MarkRoderick | Mar 25, 2003 09:19pm | #5

   I've used your message on wider plane blades and it definitely works. It takes off just enough to avoid the sharp edge, which is all you're looking for. Boy, I'd like to be able to put a nice radius on by hand, but that would take actual skill.

1. 
   KevinLBS | Mar 25, 2003 10:10pm | #6

   Well Mark, actual skill is what I'm pretty short on for now :)

   Hopefully I can cure that though. I'll try Uncle Dunc's method on the corners to start with, and I have got to get those books. I've heard so many people say they were must-haves for people without the experience.  It's kind of like a hand scraper: everyone who uses one says it's a must have and it's simple, blah, blah, but then when I actually broke down, got one, and learned how to use it (which was easy), I could see why everyone was so emphatic.

   Go figure.

   Can't wait to go hope and start lapping... I'm doing this one by hand (no holder/angle guide) just because I don't have one, but my preliminary work last night proved to be pretty easy to keep it flat to the stone because the steel is so thick.

   Must remember to check the bottom of the plane body for flat and square to the sides...

   Hey, one last question to everyone and anyone: when I'm lapping the back (flat side) of the plane blade, do I need to make the whole piece of metal flat over the whole length, or can I just flatten the bottom couple of inches?

   Okay, second last question (Jeez, will this guy ever shut up?) Is the blade of the plane called the iron? What's the proper name again?

   Thanks,

   Kevin

1. 
   MarkRoderick | Mar 25, 2003 10:23pm | #7

   Yes, the blade is called the iron.

   You only need to flatten the front inch, thank god.