Stanley 46 Knickers - Sharpening

Re: Stanley 46 Knickers - Sharpening

Ted Shuck, Centennial, CO

>I polish the backs of mine flat on a fine stone. I sharpen/polish the bevel by holding them in my fingertips and sweeping them in an arc on the stone at about a 25 degree bevel angle. You want the bottom of the nicker and the leadin edge to be sharp. It only needs to be sharp as deep as you will set the nicker, maybe 1/8" at most.

Don't bevel the flat side. This should be flat so that it exactly lines up with the sides of the plane, or just a hair wider.

Some people use jigs to hold the three-lobed 78-style nicker, but these are easier to grab with the fingers and I don't see much need for a jig here.

Ted

Sandpaper

jimreed@tallahassee

>220 grit aluminum oxide on a flat plate. Hold the knicker with a pair of needle nosed pliers and drag & rotate. I must confess that I do not use mine. I cut the sides of the dado with a 1/8" plow (#45) and use the 46 to clean out the waste.

Sharpening nickers...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>I Think it would be quite hard to try to sharpen you Fruit of the Looms;^)...

So let's sharpen "Nickers"

Polish up the face of the nicker like a plane blade. Be carefull here because you don't want to remove a lot of material because these are sized to sides of the plane. If you remove too much the blade will tear up the cut because of improper clearance.

I lock the nicker in a pair of small vice grips (with tape on the jaws as not to cause scratches) and hone on sandpaper using the vice grip as a guide for the bevel angle so to speak. I rotate/pivot it as I sharpen. Kinda like freehand sharpening a scrub plane blade.

I think LN makes a nicker holder for sharping, but I couldn't find it on their wed site.