Est. 1998 — 27 years of woodworking knowledge
Skew angle of #46
Derek Cohen (in Perth Australia)
>Merry Christmas all!
Can someone tell me what the skew angle is for the #46 blades?
I have a set of original blades, but these have all been sharpened freehand in years past. The bevels are slightly rounded and it is difficult to determine the correct skew angle at which they need to be honed. My readings indicate that they is possibly 67.5 degrees.
Just how critical is the correct skew angle?
Regards from Perth
Derek
Re: Skew angle of #46
mikew
>Hi Derek...I assume you just have the blades, not the plane itself? If you also have the plane, you can just mark the blades off of the mouth--which you know because of the previous article on sharpening the #140 you have. Then measure the angle, determine to the nearest 1/2 degree [round up or down to nearest half]. Sharpen one and test the angle in a cut. Shant take more than a try or two on one of the wider blades [easier to detect being off] to ensure the proper angle.
The angle from what I remember is more critical than your 140 as both sides are used and iirc there isn't that much correction possible without one side or the other lifting or digging in.
Merry Ho Ho.
Mike
Re: Skew angle of #46 *LINK*
mikew
>Once again, the OT archives are our friend...
Entered here for everyone's perusing enjoyment...
Ho Ho, Mike
Old Tools archive message
Re: Skew angle of #46
Derek Cohen (in Perth Australia)
>Thanks Mike.
I do have a #46 plane to go with the blades. The reason why I did not simply measure the angle at the mouth is that the #46 has such a small mouth that it is easy for errors to creep in.
My attempts so far have produced a skew angle of 70 degrees, which is close to the 69.5 degrees recorded in the Old Tools archives. Do Stanleys vary much? The skew angle of my Stanley #140 is 69 degrees, which is an odd number, and I assume the the original skew angle was intended to be 70 degrees, a nice round number.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Re: Skew angle of #46
mikew
>I think that like many things involving cast iron, time and machining intent, there are variances/tolerances.
The archives indicate the variance. I have two #39s and they are ever so slightly off from each other. Within being able to hone them the same, but I need to slightly adjust them after setting for depth to one side or another.
Take care, Mike
who always wanted a #46, and an 043, and a ...
Here is what I do
Jim Reed @ Tallahassee
>My measurements are all across the board just like the archives. When I make blades, I use an original tongue blade as a *master*. It is large enough to work with. Final sharpening is done on a Tormek with the angle marked on the guide. When seating the blade, I always put it in the plane and put the plane on my bench to square the blade to the sole. When it is right, I tighten it up. What is important is to square the cutting edge of the blade to the sole. The #46 cutter fastening system makes this easy to do.