Sharpening Plane Irons

Sounds pretty complicated

Jim Reed @Tallahassee

>I flaten the back first on 220 AO sandpaper. Then I grind on a Tormek at 30 degrees. Back to the sandpaper to stroke off the wire.

Re: Sharpening Plane Irons

GolfSteve in Calgary

>Works great, although I don't remember him talking about a 23 degree primary bevel.

I hollow grind around 25-30 degrees.

I establish a primary bevel on the 1000 stone around 32 degrees to establish a wire edge.

I hone around 35 degrees on the 8000 stone until the wire edge falls off.

I flip the blade over and give the back a few strokes on the 8000 stone - probably more from habit than anything else.

I then plop the ruler onto the stone and give a few more strokes to the back - the "Charlesworth ruler trick". This establishes a tiny back bevel and ensures that backside of the cutting edge has been polished.

I freehand sharpen, so the above is very quick. Charlesworth loves jigs and extreme precision and I have almost no doubt that he gets his plane blades sharper than mine.

Even with the ruler trick I still think it's a good idea to flatten the backs of your irons - there's just no need to polish the backs.

I tried it for the...

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>first time last night.

I did some things different.

1) I followed his flattening process completely. I think the ruler trick helps. I'm not convinced it's perfect but so far it seems to work well.

2) He does not use a stone between 1000 and 8000 on the bevel. I use a 4000 (just a few strokes) in between.

3) I use a 25 degree bevel with a 27 degree microbevel. I DO like that he performs 3-4 passes to make the microbevel. I'm not sold on the coarse micro-bevel that he uses.

I tried it out last night on a Hock Cryo blade for my Record 05. I dished my 220 grit norton stone last night cause I was not paying attention. I then broke down after holding out for as long as I can and realized that I probably need some form of mechanical tool to assist with creating an initial bevel and grind. Using a 220 by hand is SLOOOOOWWWW. Charlesworth even mentions that he uses a wet grinder? to form the initial grind.

In any case, I followed his steps for the back and I think it did fine. It certainly is a labor savor.

I am flattening some Poplar I am going to use for my hand tool cabinet.

Oh yeah...

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>I'm going to try out one of the cheapo horizontal wet grinders and see how they work.

I only plan on using it to grind an initial bevel so I should be fine.

Re: Sharpening Plane Irons

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>The ruler trick I tried it in october on a old plane blade and was convinced. Bought his video and and I'm hooked. It seems to go faster than my standard routine and produce sharper blades. I havne't tried it on my bevel up planes yet.

Re: Sharpening Plane Irons

David Charlesworth

>Jim,

I use it on all bevel up blades as well. Not to mention, spokeshave blades, scraper plane blades, hand scrapers. In fact evertything EXCEPT chisels.

Delighted to hear it works for you.

David Charlesworth

David: What...

Christopher Fitch @ Memphis

>type of grinder do you use?

Just wondering..

Thanks!

Re: Sharpening Plane Irons

Alan Hamilton

>Tom,

I dunno. I see the sense of the ruler trick, but for some reason it makes me cringe. Perhaps it offends my sense of history; it might be a reflex of some kind; I may see it as an inexcusable break with tradition; maybe I've turned into an old dog; I dunno.

I dunno. As much as I want to, I can't really see anything terribly wrong using Charlesworth's method. He's obviously much, much, MUCH more skilled than I am--his work speaks for itself. I still dunno.

Not very helpful post. It's just some rambling kinds of thoughts from a rambling kind of guy,

Alan

Re: Sharpening Plane Irons

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>It's probaly not a good idea for incanal patternmaker's gouges, either, for the same reason it shouldn't be used on chisels, because the direction of cut depends on the indexing of the surface of the wood to the back of the chisel.

I would make one other observation: The back bevel can cause an increase in tearout in low angle, bevel up smoothers, because it decreases the relief angle. This results in increasing the springback force of the wood against the plane blade, and therefore pushes the whole plane, and thus the front of the mouth, up and away from the surface of the wood. This force is in reaction to the weight of the plane and the downward force the cabinetmaker exerts on the plane. So, if your bevel-up is having difficulty smoothing a particularly gnarly piece of wood, this sharpening method may marginally exacerbate the problem.

Re: David: What...

David Charlesworth

>Christopher,

I use a Tormek, and grind plane blades at 23 to 25 degrees.

Shape and get small wire edge on 800 grit stone at 33 degrees.

A few gentle strokes for final polish at 35 degrees on a King or Norton 8000 grit.

Resharpening is very quick as the honing bevels are kept very narrow.

David