Help Sharpening!!
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3 February 2014 at 7:03 pm #27165
Morning/Evening to all fellow woodworkers!
I am currently having trouble sharpening my plane blade. I got them sharp and did some work and then decided to sharpen them before I start planning the bottom of my work bench( The 2″X3″ laminates). I sharpen the blades and now they just slide across the wood I am trying to plane. They are sharp enough to shave the hair off of my arm though. I think it is because I am not sharpening at the right angle. Any idea on what caused this and how to fix it?
Can anyone help me with how high should the end of the plane blade(side away from bevel) be from the sharpening area? I am also using sand paper to sharpen with till I get some money saved for some EzeLap plates. Is using sand paper ok to sharpen with?
Any pointers someone can give me would be GREATLY appreciated. I am dead in the water till I get my planes back up and shaving.
Thanks to anyone that helps me on this mission. I have been trying to get this right now over 2 days and a combined 6+ hours of work.
if you are using a bevel down plane, then the bevel angle is not that important as the cutting angle is determined by the bed of of the plane ( the thing you put the plane iron on in the plane). It’s usually 45 deg. I would check throat opening and make sure you have some clearance for the shavings to pass through.
3 February 2014 at 9:07 pm #27179Thanks for the advise Dave.
So the bed would cause it to slide over the wood and not cut? I can not produce any shaving with it. Just make it slide.
It is a bevel down plane. I will take some photos when I get off of work and share them if you can help me trouble shoot my issue?
3 February 2014 at 9:14 pm #27181There is no way you changed the bevel angle enough in one sharpening to cause the blade to no longer cut. You have some sort of assembly error. Will the adjustment wheel extend the blade? Did you assembly the blade cap iron in the correct orientation? Cap iron should be on the side of the blade without the bevel. (we’ve all done it at least once) Is cap iron isn’t slipping past the cutting edge when you install the blade assembly into the plane body?
Photos make this sort of thing a lot easier to diagnose.
3 February 2014 at 10:00 pm #27184Move your frog back a little. Take iron out release the two scews slightly then under the adjuster wheel release the bottom screw you see by say a turn. Then push frog back and tighten the two screws you released on top of frog. Re asemble plane and give it a go.
Check your cap iron not close to edge and it sits flat on the back of the blade/iron with no gaps.
I know it sounds daft but re hone your iron/blade.4 February 2014 at 6:22 pm #27234Ok here are the pictures. One is a Sargent 409 and the other a newer Groz #4. I checked the cap and frogs and all seems to be in place. I think it is the angle of my blade. I am terrible and getting an edge on these blades. Hope these pictures shine some light on my issue.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.4 February 2014 at 6:23 pm #27238If the bevel angle at the tip is more than 45 degrees, it won’t cut because there is no relief (even though it may be sharp enough to shave hair). It’s possible that you put a micro bevel on the tip that exceeds 45 degrees. Even at 43 degrees, it probably wouldn’t cut well. It seems like most sources recommend sharpening plane irons to 30 degrees, but you could go up to about 40 degrees without affecting cutting performance. To get the proper angle, you can use the 1/60 rule. For each 1 degree, add a slope of 1/60. So for 30 degrees, use 30/60 or 1/2. This means, at a point 2 inches up on the plane iron, elevate it 1 inch from the surface. Or at a point 3 inches up, elevate it 1.5 inches. By the way, I am basically regurgitating info from Leonard Lee’s book which I read recently.
4 February 2014 at 6:28 pm #27247I am sharpening by hand. I have know idea what I did. I got the Sargent to cut better but the blade is crooked now. How to I fix this error I created.
4 February 2014 at 6:45 pm #27252From the photos I would say one problem is that the cap iron is not sitting tight down to the blade. there is a gap at the front allowing shavings to get jammed.You need to hone the face of the cap iron to give a tight fit.
Also are you sure your frog is not too far back, The blade when sat flat in the frog must not catch on the cut out in the sole of the plane.4 February 2014 at 6:46 pm #27253It’s hard to tell from the photos. If you think it might be the bevel angle, try setting the angle as described in my post above and re-sharpening until you raise a burr. Remove the burr and test it out. If the edge is crooked, you can fix this by applying more pressure to one side or the other.
One other problem I see is that your cap iron does not mate properly with your cutting iron and you are getting shavings wedged between them. File the cap iron at the proper angle until they meet without a visible gap on the front edge.
4 February 2014 at 6:48 pm #27254David,
I did not know it could not touch. How much of an opening should I have? I am new to this and basically been picking this up as a go and it is not as easy as people on videos make it look,lol. I will say that I LOVE it when everything is going right for me.
Also thanks for your time and pointers.
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