Sharpening Plates dull?
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31 May 2018 at 10:58 am #548314
Hi everyone,
just started out woodworking and bought the basic tools Paul recommends. I’ve also built a sharpening plate holder with EZE-Labs plates. After flattening a Stanley 4 1/2 on my plates they are feeling as they don’t sharpen a lot anymore. I’m trying to sharpen the plane blade and I don’t get it flat. I’m sharpening for 40 minutes and it looks loke I’ll never hit some parts of the blade. The fine plate feels like a glass surface.
Can anyone tell me if I have done anything wrong?
Thanks for your help
Clemens31 May 2018 at 1:06 pm #548321Good Morning Clemens,
There have been many threads on this forum about diamond plates getting worn out. I’ll toss out a couple of points I recall as well as a little from my experience. I would recommend a search though.
New plates arrive with some of the grit being of larger size or sticking up above the rest. These plates will feel smoother after being used a bit because the diamonds that stuck up above the rest get broken off. This does make the stone feel like it’s not sharpening especially compared to the initial experience but in fact they’re now doing a proper job.
One thing that can affect the ability of the stones to abrade the steel is build up gunk. I don’t know what you’re using to lubricate the stones when you’re sharpening but you should be using something. I use glass cleaner but know people that just use water. You don’t want to use something like WD-40 or other oil. These steel plates just need to have something to allow the swarf to float off. I periodically give my stones a quick rub in running water to make sure the stone is free to cut but I think those of us who regularly do this are in the minority.
Flattening plane soles and other heavy metal reshaping does have the potential to create a lot of wear. And yes, I’ve had jobs like flattening the back of a chisel or setting a new bevel on a blade seem to take forever. For those reasons I use a flat block of granite with sandpaper attached to it to do all the initial grinding. Using 60-150 grit paper (get the good stuff. It will pay) works a LOT faster than stones generally used for sharpening. Once you’ve established the basic reshaping you can switch to the stones to finish. Personally I just use finer grits of paper to accomplish the same thing.
That said, I strongly doubt that flattening one 4 1/2 plane sole seriously degraded your stone’s ability to cut. I have gotten frustrated trying to flatten the back of a plane iron that’s concave however. Remember that you don’t need to flatten the entire iron, just the bit opposite where you’re going to be sharpening. I generally only do the last 1/2″ to 3/4″ and I only do that much because it’s easier for me to hold.
If you do decide that new stones are the only solution I found a good deal here. They shipped quickly and now I have an “extra coarse” stone for the heavier grinds.
https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/DMT-8-Dia-Sharp-Diamond-Kit-P405C3.aspx
Good luck.
John Purser
31 May 2018 at 1:57 pm #548322Hi Clemens,
I think John has already covered pretty much all of the likely concerns, but remember you don’t need to use a lot of pressure when you’re sharpening on a diamond plate … the DMT instructions emphasize that and I expect it’s the same for other manufacturers. Use plenty of liquid to float off the swarf (like John, I also use ordinary window cleaner). As soon as it starts to look a little dry, I spray on a few more squirts.
I did notice that the surface of the plates seemed smoother after the first half-dozen times I sharpened a blade on it, but as John indicated, that’s probably normal.
I haven’t needed to flatten the sole of a plane yet, but if and when I do, I’ll use sandpaper on plate glass to get most of the excess material off.
Regards,
NicholasI’d bet you have not worn out or ruined your stones, but have simply broken them in well. The diamond plates do not work well for flattening for me because they are so slow. They are fine for sharpening bevels because then I’m only abrading 1/8″ of material, but they are just too slow for most flattening unless I’m lucky and the iron or chisel has a hollow. I’ve switched back to water stones for flattening but, if I didn’t have them, I would (and have) use sandpaper. Paper is much faster than the diamond plates. I’d wager they have more abrasive per square cm than the diamond plate. Just remember that, when working on the backs, you must glue down the paper or you will likely dub the edges of the blade.
31 May 2018 at 2:27 pm #548326Thank you very much!
I’ve watched the instructions on the DVD where Paul does it one the diamond plates and since this is what I’ve got and it looked really easy and fast on the DVD i did it like that. I will get a flat surface and some paper and will try that tomorrow. I do use glass cleaner and when sharpening chisels it’s really fast.
Sorry if my questions was answered somewhere else on the forum, still have to get to know the forum and search functions. -
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