Is the steel of my plane iron bad?
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- This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 7 years, 9 months ago by fasaxc.
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Sometimes, the iron of my plane iron seems to chip away when sharpening rather than taking an edge. I must’ve spent half an hour on my coarse stone but only part of the edge forms a burr, the centre area seems to crumble instead (I must’ve ground away about a millimetre of steel). I switched from hand sharpening to using a guide in case it was my technique but I still get the same result.
Has anyone had anything similar? Can you think of any mistakes I might have made to damage the edge? Is it worth trying to grind away a lot of steel or will it be bad all the way through?
18 June 2016 at 8:39 pm #137942What are you using as a coarse stone? Is the stone clean and lubricated?
Is it possible that the iron was ground on a wheel at some point and got way too hot?
I’m using an EZE-LAP coarse diamond stone with glass cleaner for lubrication. I wipe off the stone if I feel any bumps.
It’s an ebay purchase so anything is possible. It didn’t have a concave bevel when I bought it though so that suggests it wasn’t ground on a wheel.
If the steel crumbles even when cold sharpening, there is something wrong.
You might try to re harden the steel and temper it again.that might be the only way to get it proper again. There are some video’s available on you tube, even master Paul has one. Either in the masterclasses section or YT.
Never done it myself, but it isn’t too hard. Just don’t get any burns !Short of that, you’d be better off with a new iron….
HTH
Diego18 June 2016 at 9:30 pm #137948Either it is bad steel or needs tempering, usually if it is bad as sometimes can be the case in irons grinding away a mm is sufficient but if it needs tempering which I’m more inclined to think that is your problem then temper it or buy a new iron. If the the steel is O1 then the tempering has only been done a 1/2″ to 3/4″ from the tip as all blades of old have been done but if it’s a modern A2 steel then the entire steel has been hardened and will not need tempering however then I would say it is only bad steel that needs to be grinded away, just be careful though you don’t take the temper out of it.
4 July 2016 at 3:29 am #138232One thing not mentioned:
What angle, roughly, are you sharpening at? I mean, you’re probably using a convex bevel I guess, but what angle near the edge?
I have heard that all steel is prone to failing if you go much under 25 degrees, but this is especially true of hard modern steels such as A1. I sharpen with a slight convex bevel that ends at about 30 degrees at the edge. Occasionally, I go shallower, and have had a chisel sharpened at such a low angle fracture badly when mortising. It could be that the very hard steel combined with a low sharpening angle is the culprit. Try sharpening at 30-35 degrees near the edge before giving up on that particular iron.
Alternatively, it could just be that your steel is too hard. A lot of modern plane irons are made with very hard steel compared to vintage planes, and are prone to chipping as a result. I have a vintage stanley plane, and the iron has never chipped on me; it’s gotten dinged up when hitting very hard knots, but never chipped or fractured.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by lukedupont.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 9 months ago by lukedupont.
I think I’m at 30 degrees. I actually tried tempering the steel. Seems to have stopped it from crumbling but I think maybe I went too far and made the steel too soft. I’ve been ill this week so I haven’t had chance to give it a proper try though. I also bought a new iron on the assumption that I’d need up the tempering so I’ll be able to compare that once I get back to it.
OK, I finished initialising and sharpening up the replacement blade (a RI021S from Ray Iles). The difference is night and day. The new blade sharpened easily and quickly, took a razor edge, and, now it’s sharp, it’s leaving a glass-smooth finish on the wood 🙂
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