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Hi Alan,
Because the tool worked usefully on the few occasions that I needed it over the last couple of years, I wasn’t in a hurry to replace the blade but if it had become unsatisfactory I certainly would have attempted to track down an alternative, perhaps a 271 blade or altering an Allen key. However, it seems to be just as hard to get 271 replacement blades as 722 replacement blades & most of the advice is to get the Veritas small router blade from Lee Valley or grind an Allen key.
The cross section of both Veritas & Record blade shafts are circular whereas the cross section of the Stanley is sort of gibbous with a grooved flat section & that of an Allen key is of course hexagonal. That’s not to say that the Stanley or Allen key couldn’t have been made to work in the double notched shaft that holds the blade shaft to the body but once I realised that the Veritas was a better match & that it had a matching depth stop which improved the functionality of the 722, it was a no brainer to go with that.
I don’t know about replacing the blade Paul but certainly you can reverse the blade as per your YouTube video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PI2pQHEIOcw though I’ve never found the need as I don’t mind which direction saw blades cut in.
Myself, my son & his father-in-law are also hobbyist luthiers & we have built a number of solid body electric guitars (easy) & a couple of acoustic instruments (a steel string guitar, a mandolin & soon a classical nylon string guitar) which are more difficult than solid body instruments.
Particle size in microns is the only reliable way to compare abrasives from different sources. Note that the “DMT® Diamond Grit Size – Color Coding” chart from the DMT website gives measurements in terms of “mesh” NOT “grit” whereas the Eze-Lap website gives measurements in terms of “grit” NOT “mesh”.
It is immediately obvious from a side by side comparison that DMT’s 1200 mesh diamond stone is NOT equivalent to Eze-Lap’s 1200 grit diamond stone. Helpfully, DMT publishes their mesh sizes in microns whereas unfortunately, Eze-Lap does not.
However, as noted in my post https://woodworkingmasterclasses.com/discussions/topic/ezy-lap-vs-dmt-diamond-plate-particle-sizes/ one of the Eds on this site contacted Eze-Lap & obtained the micron sizes of their grits. If the info he obtained is correct (& my experience with both DMT & Eze-Lap diamond stones would indicate that it is) then the following would seem to be the order of increasing fineness:-
Micron order
DMT XXC…..120 mesh..120 microns
EZL XC……….150 grit…….60 to 65 microns
DMT XC…..…220 mesh…60 microns
EZL C…………250 grit…….50 to 55 microns
DMT C……….325 mesh…45 microns
EZL M………..400 grit…….40 to 45 microns
EZL F…………600 grit…….30 to 35 microns
DMT F……….600 mesh…25 microns
EZL SF…..…1200 grit…….15 to 20 microns
DMT XF…..1200 mesh……9 microns
DMT MXF..4000 mesh……6 microns
DMT XXF…8000 mesh……3 micronsThe “sharpeningsupplies” site that Larry refers to above recommends that to get to less than 2 microns, Diamond Paste, Green Honing Compound or Abrasive Powder should be used.
So, my current freehand sharpening regime for well maintained chisels & blades for both lutherie & general woodwork consists of:-
EZL F to EZL SF to DMT XF to Green Honing CompoundIf a second hand tool requires the re-establishment of its bevel then I may have to resort to a grind wheel followed by DMT XXC to EZL C to EZL M or starting anywhere along this sequence depending on how out of shape it is.
I don’t have any preference for either DMT or Eze-Lap, they all seem to work adequately, it’s just that these are my current 8 inch long stones. I also have DMT XC, DMT C, DMT F & DMT XF in 6 inch long stones but have found that they’re limited in their ability to comfortably sharpen wide blades & there is a restriction on the length of stroke.
When I read the original post in this thread a few weeks ago I remembered that I had seen somewhere on the net a note by a collector who had had a rare plane that had had a wing broken off in the post, cosmetically repaired by a specialist welder but until now, I haven’t been able to find the link. This morning I stumbled across it while looking for info on my Record 722 mini router.
The relevant info is from David Lynch’s site http://www.recordhandplanes.com/restoration.html & is about half way down the page under the heading “Restoration of a Record No. 400½”. The picture there shows an undetectable mend although nothing is said about whether it is structurally & mechanically able to withstand either the stresses of normal use or how much such specialist welding would cost.
For the Record (pun intended) it does appear that seamless repairs can be achieved but remember, this was for a relatively rare plane for a collector. For the case of a broken Stanley no5, it probably makes more sense to go the route that has been taken of finding a second body.
There currently seems to be some sort of a problem with my ability to post certain responses to this forum which I’ve tried to do a couple of times but if I or the moderators can find a solution then I’ll publish a more extensive response to your observations Mike I. In the meantime the salient points are that the DMT Coarse with a grit size of 45 microns is equivalent to about a P320 sandpaper which for woodwork finishing would be regarded at least as the high end of medium. Notice that the just about equivalent in micron size EZY-LAP is in fact designated as medium.
I’ve also now noted that the order of DMT C & EZL M rows in my table should be swapped.
Yes Mike, as you can see from the table below, the DMT Coarse with a grit size of 45 microns is equivalent to about a P320 sandpaper which for woodwork finishing would be regarded at least as the high end of medium. Notice that the just about equivalent in micron size EZY-LAP is in fact designated as medium.
In order to hog off significant amounts of metal such as for correcting bad bevels on 2nd hand chisels, I found it necessary to invest in the DMT Extra Extra Coarse of 120 microns & also the DMT Extra Coarse of 60 microns to step up to my normal sharpening regime of DMT C to DMT F to DMT XF to chromium dioxide impregnated leather strop.
Since I wrote the original post I have added extra columns that list the approximate correlating sandpaper grades where the P numbers are FEPA Paper grades & the A numbers are guesstimates of the corresponding ANSI grades using the http://www.washingtonmills.com/guides/grit-sizes-ansi/particle-size-conversion-chart-ansi/ table. Here in the Land of OZ we use the European FEPA P scale for sandpaper so other than looking at published tables on the net, I have no experience of the ANSI scale so some corrections might be in order there.
I’ve also now noted that the order of DMT C & EZL M rows should be swapped. My apologies for the untidiness of the look of the table but this forum doesn’t seem to be set up for the kind of table editing that I want to indulge in.
Micron order
DMT XXC…..120 mesh..120 microns……….. ~P120……….~A100
EZL XC……….150 grit…….60 to 65 microns… ~P230……….~A180
DMT XC…..…220 mesh…60 microns……….. ~P240……….~A190
EZL C…………250 grit…….50 to 55 microns… ~P280………~A220
DMT C……….325 mesh…45 microns……….. ~P320……….~A240
EZL M………..400 grit…….40 to 45 microns… ~P340………~A260
EZL F…………600 grit…….30 to 35 microns… ~P450……….~A335
DMT F……….600 mesh…25 microns………… ~P600……….~A370
EZL SF…..…1200 grit…….15 to 20 microns… ~P1000……..~A460
DMT XF…..1200 mesh……9 microns……….. ~P2400……..~A700
DMT MXF..4000 mesh……6 microns……….. ~P4000……..~A1000
DMT XXF…8000 mesh……3 microns……….. ~P8000……..~A1200 -
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