Tips on squaring plane and chisel blades

Re: Tips on squaring plane and chisel blades

Ed Mulligan, Cape Cod

>Stephen -

I use a stone to bring an edge back to square.

Orient the iron edge on the stone with the top tipped slightly toward you. Hold the iron with both hands. Pull the iron toward you, maintaining the relative angle. Apply more down force to the side that's high. Inspect and repeat until satisfied.

Then, grind and hone, retaining the square edge.

Ed

What I do

Jim Reed@Tallahassee

>Use a smoothie pen to mark about 3/8" from the tip on the back of the blade. Put your square on the side and scribe a mark as close to the end as you can get. Grind to this mark. Quench frequently. Now you can grind your bevel as normal. Good luck.

I do it this way...

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

>Mark a line across the blade usine a square (provided you blade is stright) then grind down to the line freehand on a grinding rest. Then hone. You should be good to go.

BTW, this is a good way to do skewed blades too. Just use the plane mouth as the guide.

Re: Tips on squaring plane and chisel blades

mikew

>Hi Stephen,

While the new LV guide addresses the issue of holding the edge tool square to the guide, the MK.I can also be used.

The instruction to apply pressure to the high (long) side does work. However, if you are honing A2 tools, progress relates directly to how much steel there is to remove. Small corrections obviously taking less effort.

A small square can be used to square the blade to the front of the jig. In the past I used a 4" double square that is never far from my side anyway.

However, the "best" solution is to make a simple jig from scraps that will square an edge tool to the jig. A 3" wide by 4" long piece of any wood that is truly square (I used a piece of 1/4" ply) with a narrow (1/4" x 1/4") fence down one side is fine.

With this jig, one would insert the edge tool into the MK.I and lightly tighen the bolt. Adjust projection to your desired angle.

Place the flat portion of the MK.I against the front edge of the jig with the blade against the fence. Once both the MK.I is flat against the front of the jig and the blade is flat against the side of the fence, they are square to each other.

Check your angle and readjust projection and squareness as necessary. Once you have the proper projection for the desired angle, let's say 30*, place the whole thing in position on the jig and with a sharpie, mark the length on the jig. This way all you need to do to set the projection to achieve 30* and square the tool to the jig is place the tip of the tool on the mark and against the fence, slide the MK.I to the jig and tighten the MK.I's bolt.

Mark other projections as necessary for other angles and setup is a snap then.

Should you choose to grind to correct the present situation, just don't overheat the edge. Then I think you'll find keeping them square is easy with the MK.I and the jig.

Mike

Re: Tips on squaring plane and chisel blades

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown PA

>That seems like a good idea, and easy to set up. I don't have to change the blade much, so I'll try to stay away from grinding, for now.

Thanks!

Do you

Jim in Burlington On

>Sharpen in both directions? I find it's alot easier for smaller chisels to sharpen on the pull stroke. I also constantly check with a square after a few strokes to make sure it's not going to far off.

Re: Do you

ThomD

>Pretty much always sharpen in both directions. hard to believe the one way only thing was comon back 20 years or so. There used to be big arguments about whether you could get good results the other way. Japanese influence pretty much crushed that line of thought.

If i have a really small tool where digging in might be a problem, I would use a harder stone if required, or sharpen side to side until the last part of the process.

Different question

Jim in Burlington On

>I wasn't talking about wether push pull was better or worse. Stephen asked for tips on getting his blade more square. When you push it's generally not in a straight line. Chuck a pencil up in your jig and just try. Pull you make a lot straight line. As for side to side that only ends up in rounded back of your chisel or plane blade. After you have a straight chisel and need to resharpen the maker trick will show you which side you push too hard on quickly. As Adam says it takes practice. Stephen to bad you don't live closer it's alot easier to have some one show you and speed you down the slope.:)

A squaring jig for the Mk I

Derek Cohen (in Perth Australia)

>Hi Stephen

Several similar jigs have been posted over the years. Here is one of mine, set for 25 and 30 degrees.

Note: you only need the depth gauge end, not the side fences.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Different question

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown PA

>Well, I haven't been to good old Canada lately. Furthest I've been is camping in Algonquin Provincial Park. Been through Ottowa as well. Bit of a long trek though, so I guess I'll have to go this one alone.

Say, would the blade not being square cause me to have shavings of an uneven thickness (resulting in an angle planed on the board), or is that just my technique. I haven't been planing long at all, so I figure there's a good chance it's technique. I do adjust the blade so it is square in the mouth.

Re: A squaring jig for the Mk I

mikew

>Hi Derek,

I rejected using a fixed stop because if the blade was ground out of square to begin with it did not help in determining how much I needed to cock the blade to account for it.

By using the version posted one can add other projections easily to represent other angles more easily. It is also more "compact."

The 90* formed by the front edge/fence better ensures a quick set up...which is why the new MK.II uses a side fence perhaps?

Take care, Mike

Re: Different question

mikew

>Hi Again, Stephen.

If the blade is truly square to the mouth and in its projection below the sole, any tapering of the workpiece is due to technique.

That the shaving is tapered, is it thicker on one side and thin on the other, or is it thicker in the center and taper out to both sides?

Does this thick/thin shaving show up on more than one plane? and does it start out that way or does it "begin" to happen during planing?

Mike

Re: Different question

Stephen Kirk in Quakertown PA

>I noticed this a while back when planing down some edge strips with my little Stanley block plane (not an LV or LN, but I gotta start somewhere). After a few passes, I saw that was cutting more off on the outside of the strip. It looked like the blade was square to the mouth, though. So, perhaps I was putting more pressure on the outside (which was to the left, in this case). I'll have to experiment some more.