Forum Replies Created
-
AuthorPosts
-
31 August 2016 at 7:10 am #139809
A hearty thank you to everyone who helpfully responded to my question re clogged sandpaper. Well, Brett’s suggestion of wiping the paper with a shop apron (side of my jeans in my case) worked a treat! Thanks Brett! The vise handle had a very old, and light finish on it and so it came off with the sawdust which clogged the wet/dry paper. A few strokes of the sanding block against the side of my jeans and the paper was as clean as new!
aarontobul – The card scraper is an excellent idea – would have tried that next had the paper-against-jeans idea not worked. How it did not cross my mind to use a scraper I’ll never know. Probably my limited experience and possibly because I have not been very enthusiastic about sharpening edge tools lately, due to work space and organization problems in my “shop” (garage corner) which I don’t want to get into at the moment, but which I hope to be resolving in the very near future. For various reason, I’ve lacked tables, adquate surfaces to work on, and I’ve been building my first bench on the floor. My mind has been focused on trying to develop some kind of order amid the present chaos.
Interesting job you got – refinishing an old library. Must have been a great learning experience and I bet rewarding too.
Ed- Those are some great tips, man! The wiping with the mineral spirits-dampened cloth is genius and so is remvoing the clog with a wire brush. I am using a good quality wet/dry abrasive paper (3M brand), but I did not think of varying or reducing sanding speed either. Will keep this in my mind as I continue hand sanding for the work bench project.
Peter- Never heard of stearated paper. Will look it up. I’m all for investing a little now to save more down the road. The grade of abrasive paper I’m uisng now I think is of pretty decent quality. I ordered it from Klingspor’s, an online seller of woodworking supplies based in the state of North Carolina, U.S.A. It is 3M brand of paper.
- This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by Carlos J. Collazo.
30 August 2016 at 8:01 am #139771Could anyone suggest an effective way to prevent clogging or remove clogged material from say, typical 150 grit wet/dry abrasive paper? I’m re-doing the finish on a vise handle and finding that the abrasive surface of the paper quickly becomes smoothed over with the removed material. After only two-three passes this happens. At this rate, it can get quite costly as I burn through the paper. This occurs regardless if it’s sandpaper or wet/dry abrasive paper.
Thanks!
Carlos- This reply was modified 7 years, 8 months ago by Carlos J. Collazo.
1 December 2014 at 9:00 pm #121686George,
I too hope the eye continues getting better and is very soon back to its original sharpness once again, George. You’re spot on about how we often forget how much we depend on our eyes and how vital they are to us.
Be well.
Carlos
14 October 2014 at 3:57 am #119457Great job, Dave. Great, practical project to populate the home with handmade furniture.
14 October 2014 at 3:45 am #119456Off-topic, but I just wanted to say that that looks like a pretty nice Paul Sellers work bench you’ve got there. Having built that, the dovetails will be gravy.
28 September 2014 at 10:44 pm #118661Ben – Re the laminations – What Dave said. Also, I recall Paul’s demos on his youtube channel and reading elsewhere that a solid wood board of a determinate dimension is not as strong as a board of the same dimensions but consisting of a laminated joint between two smaller boards.
With two slabs of equal dimensions, one solid and the other laminated, the laminated slabs strength is multiplied by however many joints you’ve got in the slab.
20 September 2014 at 3:04 am #93726In my workbench build (which I’m still in the middle of, after a few months of having it on the back burner), the knots on the edges of the 2 x 4 studs didn’t slow down the hogging off or the smoothing and squaring up all that much. Yes,
it did make the iron lose its sharpness a bit sooner, but that just meant I had to resharpen maybe 5 min. earlier than usual..Planing over a knot is a good opportunity to get to know how wood behaves, and adjusting your planing technique accordingly, at least that’s how I came to view it. With a knot in
your path, you can approach the edges of it in small, circular swipes, adjusting your plane in terms of angling or skewing it. And if you still have
gouges or bad knot holes on your stud edges after you’re done you can always
apply an epoxy like Bondo which is a high-quality product. Or any other good
quality epoxy wood filler Make sure its wood filler and not putty.Carlos
18 May 2014 at 5:53 pm #57209Ian and Salko –
Thank you for writing in response to my question. All good advice which has helped me along in seeing how others have progressed in sharpening freehand as compared to myself. I think it’s very instructive to do this, to ask and compare how others have fared going freehand.
I actually began freehand sharpening as a first approach when I decided to do my first ever project in wood with joints – Paul’s work bench. In the Working Wood book he stresses giving freehand sharpening a try and if one must, use a guide like the Draper. I followed this advice but after a few sharpenings, planing was rough going, was a bit of work just to take a few clean shavings, felt that iron was not as sharp as it could be. I decided to get the Veritas honing guide, but not the MKII system, the simpler one that sells for under $20.
This has worked great and I’ve come along fine in the workbench build.
Now here’s the interesting part: After creating this thread, reading the replies, and after all this thought about moving to freehand sharpening, I think I will be able to hold the iron just fine at the appropriate angle and at the same time apply the right pressure, “drop the hand”, etc.
I’m chalking it up to just being more familiar with the action of moving the iron across the sharpening stones…I’ve concluded that there is truth in the notion of “getting a feel” for the right action, abrasive process, and what level of sharpness you will want for taking shavings and correct planing. Not so much “muscle memory” as familiarity and practice.
If needed, I could always use the guide again, for the bench planes. For the scrub plane, I have no qualms about the figure of 8 method or Joseph’s side to side method. But I think Paul said it pretty well and succinctly, when he said to “just do it.”
13 May 2014 at 3:58 pm #57083I purchased a set of Grobet files over the Winter. Haven’t actually had occasion to use them yet 🙁
But they appear to be finely made, quality product. I got them based on their reputation which precedes them.
Plan on using them soon when I need to sharpen. So far, been doing more planing than anything else (bench build).
8 May 2014 at 6:05 pm #56920Brian, Richard, Paul, Mark,
Thank you for the supportive encouragement and experience shared, it makes a difference! With my worbench project i’ve learned what a sharp plane looks like, and looks like now would be a good time to begin freehand sharpening. It will save time for rest of the bench build and I need established skill in my repertoire. Good point about needing to get something done as a teacher of skill. It lights a fire in the belly and pushes you to set yourself free.
I did freehand sharpen my #80 cabinet scraper just a few days ago first time. Needed to get bench slab edge square to face. I think confidence feeds off successes, no matter how small, and success makes for confidence.
Also, I think I just need to do it as you said Paul.
Carlos
-
AuthorPosts