Polishing backs of plane blades

Re: Polishing backs of plane blades

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Hi Stephen

Which 8000 waterstone are you using? I gather some do not leave a mirror finish. My King 8000 does.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Polishing backs of plane blades

Dean in Burlington

>Do the Charlesworth ruler trick and you won't have to worry about it. That's what I do...I flatten my blade with 1000 & 4000 stone and then just use the ruler trick everytime I sharpen the blade with the 8000 stone.

Re: Polishing backs of plane blades

Ron in Kokomo

>Are you using a nagura stone to create a slurry???

There is most always a haze from high grit stones.

Ed Snow

>My shapton pro 8000 does it and so does my 15000. I rarely ever use those two stones as it is. 4000 is pretty sharp, I usually stop at 5000. Good enough works most of the time. If I am being reverent or about to do something important I take them all the way up.

Re: Polishing backs of plane blades

Stephen in Ottawa

>Norton 4000 and 8000 grit stones and a King 800 grit.

Re: Polishing backs of plane blades

Sanford Levy

>Stephen, I have seen this question asked several times in this message board -- do a search. It seems that some stones do not polish the way others do. Mine do not either, but most people who say this also say their irons and chisels seem sharp! (Mine are just okay, but I am not a great sharpener.) I often finish off my chisel backs on sandpaper, but I am not sure it makes a huge difference. Sanford

Shiny is not always sharpest *LINK*

Steve Elliott

>I've had the same experience with my Norton 8000x stone, going from a bright surface produced on a Shapton 2000x and getting a somewhat matte surface from the 8000. Despite the look of the surface, the sharpness of the blade was better with two intersecting surfaces that looked sort of hazy.

There's a discussion of this on my web site, linked below.


Surfaces on Steel

My Norton 8000 polishes real fast!

Doug Littlejohn

>I mean like 5-10 strokes and if I held it flat, it's a mirror. Are you spending enough time on the 4000 before moving to the 8000? I know if you do not, it leaves too many scrathces from the coarser stone before and then it doesn't polish worth a hoot.

Good luck,

Sherwood

Re: My Norton 8000 polishes real fast!

Stephen in Ottawa

>That could be possible. About how long do you spend on the 4000? Also, do you soak you Norton 8000 in water or do you basically use it try with a little misting of water?

Thanks,

- Stephen

Re: Shiny is not always sharpest

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>I agree shiny isn't sharp. Use a jewlers loop or magnifing glass you'll be suprised how much better at sharpening you'll get when you can see the results.

Re: Polishing backs of plane blades

John Hoffman

>To fix your problem stroke in one direction only. A back and forth stroking on the 8,000 gives the haze.

JH