Now we know how, how do we know when

Re: When there is resistance and push harder.

Rum

This exactly. If there is an increase in effort that is noticeable its time to sharpen.

The problem with this advice

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

If I planed enough in one session to get dull the suggested metric for sharpening could be useful. But I don't plan that way. Essentially all my planing is fitting parts. I don't plane show surfaces nor dimension lumber. So it's a stroke or two here and a stroke or two there. Rarely it's full width shaving. Rather is the top of a 7/16" drawer side or a 3/4" drawer divider or a high spot on a panel glue up is the task at hand. The only time I plane for even a couple of minutes is fitting a drawer width and even here it's a stroke or two in between fiddling with the drawer. There is no way for me to know the plane is getting harder to push with this planing schedule. It takes weeks to get a plane so dull it won't pick up a shaving.

It may be that what I do is best. When the plane doesn't do what is needed, stop and sharpen. It is just that these unanticipated needs for sharpening are an annoying interruption. I have a back up plane that could meet the need but I like the one I use the most so I use it the most.

Re: The problem with this advice

Brian Holcombe

Bill,

Sometimes I just knock my regulars apart at the start or end of the day and sharpen. You might do the same once a week and solve yourself this annoyance.

Re: The problem with this advice

Rum

I agree with your problem with this advice, I've struggled as well with knowing when sharp is sharp. It seems to be something that seems to need to be learned through use and with sharp tools so there is a wee bit of a chicken and an egg problem. There is also the "frog into cold water on the stove" problem where just a little bit duller (hotter) doesn't seem that bad until suddenly you're trying to do things with a butterknife (the water is boiling). The less you've trained yourself what a sharp tool feels like the harder this is to recognize.

My current strategy is if I'm in doubt at all I sharpen, if it seems like maybe its been a little to long, I sharpen. The memory still leaves the hands much to quickly but I kind of think it might be starting to stick just a little.

In general I would rather risk spending to much time sharpening than to little, especially until my hands get used to it (and like you my frequency of use is such that I'm not sure they ever will).

Re: sharpening overdue

TomD

Well said, and it applies in variations to a lot of things in life. Today I learned of a device that allows one to weave a beautiful patch and darn it to clothes, efficiently. But my second reaction was that if you left the hole so long that a beautiful patch was required, you had left it far too long.

Re: What is good? Is good enough good?

TomD

Derek, I think you would be good at placing the comments in a way where people would get the dilemma you faced in making them, and learn from it. That said, the internet taught me that nobody agrees about anything much. There are so many relevant criteria, and so many different experiences that one really wonders if any of it is worth talking about.

For the last month I have been doing swing the big hammer and play with the worm drive carpentry. I actually used a Japanese hand plane a few times even there, but in general the tool are soft and fileable in this trade. How does one make any definitive statement, other than out of habit.

Re: I use two "water stones" and no strop

David Charlesworth

Similar reason to before.

!0 or 15,000 grit is finer than most stropping pastes.

David

when I can't easily cut 110 lb. card stock

Bruce Mack

Not facetious. I keep the stuff cut into 4x5 pieces as shims or for note taking. I consider my chisel or plane iron sharp when it cleanly slices the card with a push stroke, not a slice. The iron is removed from the plane for this, not much of a nuisance as the test process is quick. A blade that passes is always plenty sharp for wood cutting.

By the by, thanks to Paul Sellers whose sharpening method has freed me from guides and (heresy) consideration of grinding a hollow bevel. Thanks also to Derek who suggested some dishwasher liquid in the spray on my waterstones. The 5000 Shapton no longer sticks. Derek's application of the green stuff to a small hardwood board has been the best final edge treatment I have used. Thanks also to David W., whose compilation of data taught me close placement of the cap iron to the edge of the plane iron. These people, and a few others of you, have taken the grief out of edge prep.

Two kinds of people

Mark Hennebury

Those that sharpen when their tools are dull,

Those that sharpen when they know their tools can be sharper.

Bill, I believe that we discussed that once before.