Reply To: Avoiding Planing Marks
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Wood and Wood Preparation / Avoiding Planing Marks / Reply To: Avoiding Planing Marks
Anthony, Paul has a video (I think it’s a free video on YouTube, so you can find it there or in the videos section of the pay membership) where he shows that he rounds the corners of smoothing plane blades. I’ve been sharpening plane blades (and chisels down to 1/2″ or so) freehand for a while now. Others suggest putting a very small camber on a smoothing plane blade. Not sure how you would do this with a honing guide, but freehand, you hone the blade first putting more pressure on the left side, then hone further putting more pressure on the right side. This needs to be a VERY SMALL camber, but you can imaging that if it’s done right, you will avoid the lines, if in fact they are resulting from your blade corners digging in.
Now, it’s also possible that other things cause the marks. You described them as “wide scratches”. Please make sure you check the plane sole for any dings or scratches. And also make sure the blade has no dings too. Finally, make sure the blade is taking the same bite out on the left side and right side. I do this last item every time I sharpen by planing a shaving off the edge of a 1/2″ board, first on the left side of the blade and then on the right side, making sure both shavings are of similar thickness.
Let us know how it goes.