One last plane method for bill

Details and an editorial

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I tried honing a small microbevel on the bevel side and then buffing the flat face of the iron.

You explore so many variables the reader becomes lost as to where you are now at. What is the primary bevel angle? What is the secondary bevel angle? What is the reason for two bevels? Most of us have gotten by with one, so two must have a compelling justification.

Details of buffing the flat face? Same amount and attack angle as a chisel?

It feels like a 55 degree plane. Does it work like one? Will it make getting an optimum effect from the cap iron easier to achieve (greater tolerance for cap iron to edge distance?

Most importantly: For a member of PPA, is there any benefit to the procedure you explored? Any disadvantage other than "feel"?

Editorial: It seems that most who hang out here plane to support a woodworking life style and/or to achieve a surface appearance. Fortunately, a few of the things you all do and discover apply to the members of Pedestrian Planers Anonymous (PPA).

Our pedestrian goals for planing are to make wood go away in controlled increments while avoiding the dreaded tear-out. Making wood go away in controlled increments without tear-out is a critical step to finely crafted furniture. The resulting finish off the plane isn't. If you want to make a significant impact on people building furniture discover and teach pedestrian planing skills. Participation in PPA would be greatly enhanced by any discovery that aids our pedestrian planing objectives.

Durability Results of the not bill method

David Weaver

working both sides of the bevel with the buff appears to be repeatable even at the microscope level, indefinitely.

(microscope shows buffed work gets all the way to the edge on the back, but is removed by back lapping for 10 seconds with washita. This also works even if the edge is created with a medium diamond hone only front and back, but the edge is slightly less good, even with buffing - additional buffing will make a duller or steeper feeling plane).

I checked scope pictures with diamond hone and didn't love the feel in wood (it was good, probably better than most will sharpen to, but it didn't match 1 micron diamond and 32 degrees - surface was fine, no defects and the amount of buffing needed to clean off diamond strokes did make the edge protective to the rosewood -tested that, too).

This is a very doable method for everyone, and again avoids needing fine stones to get a fine edge, extensive back flattening after a medium stone, etc, and stropping is gone because this is doing it.

But I wanted to see if I could match feel and duration of the 1 micron diamond edge. Didn't test in rosewood with silica yet as the whole edge was consumed in the test.

* 10 seconds on medium diamond hone on the bevel

* 10 seconds on the washita, one stroke then on the bevel side with washita to thin the wire edge

* 10-15 seconds on buffer alternating back and forth

This is the method that's infinitely repeatable. Walking around, etc, brings total sharpening time to just under a minute, and less steep "unicorn", this is now just buffing an edge to a finish and not the whole concept behind preventing chisel damage.

(and this has been done before. As I was working this up yesterday, graham gave more input about just what dunbar's book says, and it pretty much says hone minimal metal, then buff and be careful not to round over the edge. We're almost there. We want just a tiny bit of rounding here - far less than the unicorn, both for edge protection and to ensure that the buffer gets around the edge a little and gets good sharpness)

At any rate. I can't remember exact footage - it's in a post below, but I remember how many strokes - 150 for the 1 micron diamond edge.

buffed edge off of medium diamond and washita felt nearly identical.

157 strokes, edge quality at least as good in feel and similar in resistance. no clearance issues (no surprise, it's almost the same as honing).

Weight planed in 2 thousandth shavings, 110 grams (105 for 1 micron diamond flat bevel with back washita finish).

So, this is excellent for my own benefit - two methods. One that is very protective of the edge, and another that is nearly identical to an edge that lasts longer than an oilstone only honing method. Or put differently, this should be a lasting edge as long as anything else, require no fine stones, be repeatable indefinitely and take less than a minute.

I will make a small revision to the forthcoming article to provide both methods.

better read in summary

David Weaver

Both of these plane sharpening methods will be taken out of the body of the forthcoming article and added as an addendum at the end. YOu're along for the trials, but all you'll be interested in is the results. That's true - most people who read the article won't be exposed to my tree branch like communication ("which branch are we on? I'm in the wrong part of the tree - I thought this branch was dead and we were going somewhere else with this?)

Summary -

- 20 degree primary grind

- 23-25 secondary

- back lap with washita to remove any prior wear

- alternating buffing for about 10 seconds on bevel and back of the blade nearly tangent to contact with the wheel. Only the tiniest bright stripe exists at the edge.

Separate point - like the unicorned edge from buffer, this one is also protective in rosewood.

It also retains the extremely bright finish characteristics of the unicorned plane iron, and it can also be done just with a medium stone without losing much (as in, hone bevel, lap back, buff. Little is lost using diamond stone on both sides for most people (I feel a slight improvement from the washita stone - it permits less back buffing, and I will keep doing that because I guess being in the handwork group, am a bit particular).

This is far too much work for a strop to do, though. It is buffer territory and the more speed, the better.

The edge meets the game theory of being dominant to the hand honed edge on stones.

My work in adapting to the buffer is finished. ebay used stone purchases will soon be swimming in a rich field of options.

by the way...

David Weaver

...buffing the face side and making the plane harder to push didn't eliminate tearout

The updated method ends up meeting the needs of both the peculiar types who finish off of the plane or do a lot of heavy work, as well as the PPA types.

It is the volkswagen of plane honing methods (couldn't resist).

Re: better read in summary

Eric Rathhaus

David - your original summary noted that you finished with a buff on the bevel side at a steeper angle, much like unicorning. Is this part of the method?

Eric

sort of....

David Weaver

The second method is to buff both sides but closer to the angle of the bevel that's already there, and with an attempt to pretend the buffing on the back is right at parallel to the back. Of course, the buffer will go over the edge a little bit and still round some, but we're trying to make sure it does that in a minimal way. Same on the bevel side. Just a little rounding happens on both sides.

We start with a thinner bevel than if we were just using stones, which gives us the room to do that.

My grade for this is both durability and feel (we already have the bevel side method that provides superb edge protection and mitigates any typical damage that spoils smoothing to finish - it feels different, like there's less clearance).

That's durability in feet, not in durability to silica and other contaminants.

At any rate, the first method feels slightly low clearance but is strong and will take fine shavings.

This second method is less strong, but still stronger than sharpening to a two-plane point, and it feels like an edge that saw stones and not the buffer.

Both work well, and both aren't that hard to get the hang of (But it may take a couple of tries).

The edge of this second method is still just barely visible as a tiny stripe instead of a very apparent one.

Questions

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

- 20 degree primary grind this is grinder grinding, or can be, right?

- 23-25 secondary fine diamond plate ok here ?

- back lap with washita to remove any prior wear fine diamond plate or 1 micron?

I am unsure what the washita on the back is doing. Spread over a square inch my experience would be that some small fraction of a thousandth of an inch would be removed from the back by any stoning of the back. I am not understanding how this tiny amount of metal removal would be significant.

I presume resharpnening would begin with extending the 23-25+/- bevel to reestablish flat bevel and remove loss of clearance wear by free hand hone?

Re: Questions

David Weaver

All of that is correct. The washita stone is probably equivalent to an 8000 grit waterstone, but more pleasant to use. Less fine than 1 micron diamonds.

with some extra buffing, the 1000 grit diamond hone can be used for everything but the buffing and grinding.

Yes on the grinding, by the way - in a grinder.

one questionnot answered

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I am unsure what the washita on the back is doing. Spread over a square inch my experience would be that some small fraction of a thousandth of an inch would be removed from the back by any stoning of the back. I am not understanding how this tiny amount of metal removal would be significant.

this is unchanged...

David Weaver

..from just buffing the bevel side, partly.

First, the washita does what any fine stone would do

* it abrades some metal to remove wear

* it leaves scratches in place that are in a desirable size and shape

But it has a second function here (that may not matter to you). I can see the scratches that it leaves and ensure that all of the previously buffed or worn area is gone.

The other part of this is when the fine stone follows the bevel side, it weakens the wire edge so that the buffer doesn't rip a big wire edge off of the tool and leave scars.

we have no clearance to protect on chisels, and little back wear, so there's no reason to stone the back. If the edge gets torn some fraction of a thousandth of an inch from the buffer removing the wire edge, it'll blast through that.

Your well charged 1 micron diamond lap is my washita.

Understanding the method....

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

I find it helpful to understand the purpose of each step.

Have I got it....?

20 degree primary grind provides clearance and lessens metal removal for subsequent resharpening.

- 23-25 secondary establishes a shallow enough bevel that buffing does not cause a premature loss of clearance. However this angle leads to a weak edge that is subsequently strengthened by buffing. Can be done with whatever finishing media one currently uses. For diamond users unclear whether 1 micron or Ex. fine fixed plate is preferred here.

- back lap with washita to remove any prior wear -you state to remove prior wear but this step can't remove significant metal over the area of a flat back in any reasonable amount of time. So are you flat on the stone here or tilted to just kiss the edge? If flat I would think this step had to do with the burr removal, setting it back straight so the buffer would clip it off. I remain confused as to what needs to be accomplished by this step.

- alternating buffing for about 10 seconds on bevel and back of the blade nearly tangent to contact with the wheel. Only the tiniest bright stripe exists at the edge. This step strengthens the edge and finishes sharpening.

This method's advantages over just buffing the back after conventional sharpening are: faster. You claim less resistance but I fail to see the mechanics that would result in less resistance. The back of the blade where resistance occurs is identical for each case.

Re: Understanding the method....

David Weaver

If you buff the back of the blade long enough to keep it sharp, you're going to round the back over more. Even if this is just a unicorn-ish stripe, it greatly increases the planing resistance.

Everything else is correct. The washita will remove steel a little bit faster than 1 micron diamonds, even on V11. its characteristics are different than aluminum oxide so it's hard to say "it's equivalent" to anything specific. Even the washitas vary - this one is on the finer side. As to how much it will remove, not a lot but enough is the idea. The very tip of the iron is being rounded over a tiny amount by the tangent buffing but most of the rest of the back isn't changing much in geometry, only having the scratches buffed out. When the washita is used to refresh the back (flat) and the bevel is rehoned, prior work is gone. This confirmation is important to me because it means I will not be creating more work for myself, neither will anyone else, and in clean wood, this will also improve edge longevity.

So, no ruler tricks here, no heavy rounding of anything, just a little bias to round the bevel side some, and the flat side as little as possible. It works well, lasts as long, is as sharp feeling (picks up the first shaving at the start of the cut on a board really easily), and is somewhat more protective of the edge than sharpening to a crisp "two-planes" edge.

Re: better read in summary

Mike In Los Angeles

It is buffer territory and the more speed, the better.

I have gotten more fpm and less heat from a larger diameter buff when buffing finishes. Maybe a 12” mop is good?

What started as a quick and dirty idiot-proof jaunt has now become high stakes academic research and I LIKE it!!

Re: Understanding the method....

Eric Rathhaus

To clarify, on the bevel side, you're holding it tangent to the secondary bevel, correct? My buffer hasn't arrived so I cannot experiment tis the method yet.

That's correct.....pictures coming...

David Weaver

..will be in a post "pictures for bill"

Clarification, Pictures for PPA