Sharpening the plane iron: the back face
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8 November 2016 at 6:59 pm #142293
Just read Pauls blog today, interesting about the poor mans York pitch. If you find your blade is too scored to get flat perhaps you could still use it for the method he describes on his blog?
https://paulsellers.com/2016/11/shaker-style-dresser-2/8 November 2016 at 8:11 pm #142294Here is a quick and simple method to assess the back of your blade:
Make pencil marks all over the end, both accross and lengthwise – a permanent marker will do too.
Take a fairly rough abrasive (80 or even 60 grit) and take a few light passes, make sure, the abrasive is as flat as possible.
Now have a look at the surface. Where the pencil marks are gone, you have high areas. These areas have to come down to the areas with the remaining pencil marks.The flat face must cover all the area between the width of the edge and the place, where the cap iron meets the blade.
So, start with 80 or even 60 grit. Once you are almost done creating a large enough surface, move to the next grit, which could be 200 for example and remove all the marks from the rough abrasive. Then double again, remove the new finer marks. Don’t hesitate to buy some coarse sandpaper, it is a one-time investment well spent into that blade. For later touch-ups, you only need finer grits. Sharpening takes place on the other side only, so the surface will hardly take any damage from being used. I am not sure, if using honing paste for a perfect mirror finish is really necessary, but it looks good and might increase your confidence in the blade 😉 .
Dieter
PS: The front bevel initially needs the same treatment, and it is worth polishing the complete bevel once. On the other hand, it will get better each time you sharpen.
PPS: Another woodworker – Chris Buchanan – wipes off all debris from the blade (and his stones) before moving to a higher grit. The reason, as he states, is, that he might transfer coarser particles otherwise.
I put in some extra elbow grease last night and got the iron back face pretty well flat and polished. Tried to take a picture that focused on the edge so you could tell it was flat and consistent. But the camera just wanted to focus on the reflection!
Attachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.That looks pretty good – impossible to photograph a decent mirrored surface.
Now you have the back done, but now make sure that the dge of the backing iron is a tight fit all the way along. If you pick up stray whiskers of wood in use, the back iron ain’t flat and it won’t cut right.
I don’t know if you sharpen by hand or jig, but next, go down the grits on the bevel side until you can feel a ‘wire’ edge along the back after each pass. A vigorous stropping will remove this ‘wire’ so that it has a keen edge ready to go.
Well done – you should have a very good plane.
I am actually far less confident in my ability to maintain a perfect 25 degree angle than a professional like Paul! And so I invested in a honing guide. And I have three diamond plates (coarse, fine and x-fine). I also made a strop from a piece of flat oak and leather, and I’ve charged it with the green honing compound. I think I’m all set. I did sharpen the bevel last night, and the plane cuts much better now. Thanks to all for the tips and pointers.
Now to get to my chisels…
10 November 2016 at 8:30 pm #142332Putnamm, this sounds good, except that you might not have considered Paul Sellers reasons for a rounded bevel. A rounded bevel cannot be created with a honing guide. I was concerned about the correct angle too, and – more important with narrow chisels – the squareness of the egde, but I could not find a honing guide within the limits of my patience. So I was forced to sharpen freehand, and I do not regret it. On chisels, it is easier to get the edge out of square, but by now, I even managed to fix my earlier glitches. And I am not confident in keeping the angle either, so I stand a bevel gauge next to my sharpening stones for comparision and regular checks. It is a bit of a learning curve, but it feels good to master it. And it makes sharpening even faster… (and if you plan to learn it later, you will master it later).
Dieter
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