Squaring an older iron

Re: Squaring an older iron

mike recchione

>Maybe this would work: Insert the iron into the plane and extend it so that it protrudes just enough that the shorter end is even with the sole. Use a sharpy or whatever to draw a line across the iron, using the sole as a guide. Remove the iron from the plane and grind down to the line.

Re: Squaring an older iron

David Miller from Iowa

>Not sure if you are asking how to mark it or how to grind it. I usually just eyeball it, but you could find the midpoint of the top end and bottom end of the cutter, connect the dots with a pencil, and use a square off of that.

Good luck, David

Re: Squaring an older iron

Adam Cherubini, NJ

>You should have a little slop between the irons and the inner cheeks. Do you? Dunbar wrote that cracked cheeks were the result of hamfisted lateral adjustment attempts. I think he�s wrong. I think cheeks crack when the body of an english plane shrinks around it�s iron. I�ve seen many planes with little or no slop there.

If so, you have your choice of either grinding away iron (probably the right thing to do) or chiseling away some of the inner cheeks (what I do). That done, you won�t need too too much precision in the squareness of your iron. You may be able to get away with what you have.

If the edge is square to one of the sides, it should work as is. If its square to neither, then you must regrind. I also recommend grinding a curve to the edge of your iron. This will also help some.

Adam

Re: Squaring an older iron

Rossmoor Galoot

>Mike,

Since I already put a patch in the throat the iron has very little clearance between the iron and the front of the throat. I can't push it though enough to mark.

David,

I like your idea of center points, I'll try it tonight.

Adam,

There is a small amount of slop between the cheeks and the iron but not enough to make up how out of square the beveled edge is from the center line of the iron. One side is indeed square to the edge which created the problem to start with (I think one of this plane's previous owners ground it that way in ignorance) and I want to correct this very issue. I think I'll see how David's suggestion works before I start chiseling away at on the inner cheeks.

Thanks to all three for your suggestions, I now have a couple of directions to travel.

Re: Squaring an older iron

Ed Thomas, Leaside (Toronto) Ontario

>If you can't push the iron through enough to mark it, can you bottom the iron in the throat and grind in place with a shim or dowel under the sole? This would give a reference edge that is parallel to the sole.

Re: Squaring an older iron

paul womack

>A lot of older irons are tapered in width as well as thickness, possible to allow for lateral adjustement.

Whatever the reason, this means that sharpening the edge square to the centre line is NOT the same as sharpening square to the left or right edge.

Depending on how square you think your bed is to your plane sole, you two choices,

Grind your blade square to the mean line by using a bevel (just use trial and error until your bevel indicates the same grind-to line from BOTH sides)

Alternatively (and more definitively) just grind a little off which ever side of the edge shows proud when placed in the tool. This can be done quite roughly. Then finish the sharpening process in your usual way.

This latter approach is invariably (and continuously) used for skew blades - every time I sharpen a skew blade, I just take a note of which way I'm having to use the lateral adjustment, and LEAN a little duing the honing.

BugBear

Re: Squaring an older iron

Bob Hackett

>If you want to square the edge to center of the iron put blueing or magic marker on the back of the iron.Measure across the bevel end of the iron with dial calipers and half the measurement and mark.Measure across the upper corners near the maker`s mark and do the thing there.Scribe a line from one mark to the other and that will be a rough centerline.Use centerline as a reference to square from.

Mainely,Bob