Hand planes

camerio · Post by **camerio** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 9:48 pm

I sure would like that and thank you in advance.

derekdarling · Post by **derekdarling** » Mon Feb 13, 2012 10:10 pm

A tutorial is always welcome! Sharpening seems to be the one thing we all need to get better at (ok, I need to get better at).

Derek

dusty · Post by **dusty** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 5:05 am

holsgo wrote:Hey Jeff!
Yes. Each honing guide may be different. I normally search out the exact honing guide that I have for people who want this sharpening board for planes I have sharpened. Even the cheap china made honing guides can be a mm or more off which throws the geometry. That said, the cheap china honing guides for $20 on eBay work just fine for me. I would give out the block spacing for each angle but the honing guide determines the angle and I would make no promises.

Would you guys want me to do a pic by pic tutorial?

Go for it. All info is welcome and likely needed.

backhertz · Post by **backhertz** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 8:27 am

Sharpening is quite a subject I've learned over the past 5 years. You'll find a number of good books written on the subject by Hock, Lee, and others. I went as far as doing a search and finding a guy named Murray Carter who can put a razor edge on anything & shave with it.

There are machines such as the Tormek- but it is very expensive. But simple is usually best and developing skills which include muscle memory is you want to do it free-hand. But that is best for plain knives in my opinion. But having a good set of stones of which there are many is important and making sure they are flat is critical to success. It depends on your budget as you can get suckered into spending a lot.

But there are plenty of videos on You Tube which will allow you see how others are sharpening hand planes. But I think one other important thing is the quality of the steel used for the plane iron. Some irons are cheap & others are made to exacting specifications.

But you probably have enough irons to practice with to develop your sharpening skills. The day you get it right will be a good one. But I think it would be helpful to continue like you are & asking others how they do it. But I've seen people achieve some amazing results once they "tuned up" the plane and put a razor edge on the plane iron resulting in almost see-through shavings from one end of a board to the other. Supposedly you'll achieve no smoother surface than what a good hand plane can produce when comparing to the finest sandpaper. Some places offer seminars which include hand plane tune up & have experts work with people who are frustrated & simply having someone see how they are doing it & making recommendations.

I have spent many years in searching for a razor edge and from what i see it just comes down to basics and starting with a hand plane that is capable of being turned up or you might be wasting your time like I did once with a Harbor Freight hand plane & then a week later used a Lie-Neilsen plane- two totally different worlds. But the old timers and masters like Krenov made their own.

Now that must of been fun.... Good luck.

pennview · Post by **pennview** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 9:59 am

There was an interesting article in the last Wood Magazine issue about restoring older planes.

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:02 am

I'll take pics as I do up a blade I'm working on.
My disclaimer...this is my method. I was taught much of this from older family members. I don't claim to be a pro. There are guys who take sharpening to an art...I take it as a means to get to woodworking. My method simply meets criteria in that it must be fast, replicable on my planes, able to be put away so I can get to work and cheap.
I've seen guys at trades show's spend time going up to 3000 grit. I don't. I don't need to see myself in the blade reflection.
Others may have their way and maybe this can help out some like minded woodworkers.

robinson46176 · Post by **robinson46176** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 11:23 am

holsgo wrote:I'll take pics as I do up a blade I'm working on.
My disclaimer...this is my method. I was taught much of this from older family members. I don't claim to be a pro. There are guys who take sharpening to an art...I take it as a means to get to woodworking. My method simply meets criteria in that it must be fast, replicable on my planes, able to be put away so I can get to work and cheap.
I've seen guys at trades show's spend time going up to 3000 grit. I don't. I don't need to see myself in the blade reflection.
Others may have their way and maybe this can help out some like minded woodworkers.

I agree... I believe that form follows function and sharpening should reflect need for most folks. I know that for some sharpening is a hobby all by itself and there is certainly nothing wrong with that. The only problem comes when they think and indicate that anyone that does not go to extremes is incompetent. Never a problem on this forum but has reared its head on a few others.

I don't think that plane irons and hand chisels can be too sharp.

A chisel that I am going to be whacking into a piece of knotty pine with a heavy mallet on the other hand just needs a sturdy "reasonably" sharp edge.

Of course little is more frustrating than dull tools.

.

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Tue Feb 14, 2012 12:06 pm

Thanks Robinson. I wanted to be clear since I have seen these silly flame ups about sharpening. Silly to me really. Guys arguing about whether sharp is truly sharp and how sharp that is. Then arguing about the means to get sharp and whether one method bestowed a piece of steel the majic necessary to plane a log from Axe Men down to the finest sliver. Then the arguement seems to get into tool steel types! Rockwell hardness and finally if the steel was oil quenched or quenched in Pabst Blue Ribbon. I'm avoiding that if possible and the point of my disclaimer.
Ps. PBR, carling black label and Ballantine triple x are some of the greatest beers ever. Have them ice cold. Nothing better. Then quench some steel in them.

holsgo · Post by **holsgo** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 9:21 pm

I seem to owe this sharpening tutorial. I'll do it shortly. I got this metal lathe that is taking my time. I did do up an mt2 that I need to share. I have a taper jigs and can now cut them at will. So I'll post a pic of that as well and see if anyone is in need of some mt2 parts that I can do up as practice. I have my first mt2 cut ready as a tailstock adapter...it was practice. If you happen to need something cut I'll try and help.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Mar 26, 2012 10:21 pm

holsgo wrote:I seem to owe this sharpening tutorial. I'll do it shortly. I got this metal lathe that is taking my time. I did do up an mt2 that I need to share. I have a taper jigs and can now cut them at will. So I'll post a pic of that as well and see if anyone is in need of some mt2 parts that I can do up as practice. I have my first mt2 cut ready as a tailstock adapter...it was practice. If you happen to need something cut I'll try and help.

That include female as well as male?

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