Avoiding Planing Marks
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- This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 11 months ago by Anthony Greitzer.
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8 June 2015 at 1:31 am #127568
When I plane the surface of pine boards, long marks are left on the boards. The marks look like wide scratches. I’m guessing the corners of my plane blades are too sharp and dig into the wood. So should I round the corners? If I do, when I sharpen again won’t the corners be sharp again? I use a Veritas honing guide because when I sharpened my chisels and plane blades free-hand I skewed them. I’m desperate to know how to correct this because my only solution to getting the faces of boards smooth as of now is sanding them. Sand paper is for roughing wood to take finish, not smooth them.
8 June 2015 at 5:41 am #127572Anthony, 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.
I had the same problem, which came from a damaged corners of the plane sole. I have accidentally hit by the plane a bolt. This created a small ding in the sole, which was scratching the wood with every single stroke. I’ve used a file to remove the dings. Since then no problem, but I’m very careful not to do this again.
8 June 2015 at 7:39 pm #127600You can put a slight camber on your iron when using a honing guide by putting pressure on once side and then the other. This works quite well for a smoother. If you need more camber such as for a jack plane or scrub plane, Veritas sells a cambered roller for their Mark II honing guide.
9 June 2015 at 12:34 am #127620Success! I gave the blade a cambered, arched edge and now my Woodriver four and half smoothing plane works great. No gouges. Thanks again for the advice everyone. I also sharpened it free hand.
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