A little hand tool maintenance

[mbcabinetmaker]

I keep 2 block planes on my truck for installations and both were really dull the other day. Time to do some sharpening.






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The two on the right are from the truck and the other two I use in the shop.








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In this cup I keep a rag soaked in gun oil. Some people frown at using anything except Camille oil for planes but I like the rust protection in gun oil.
First step is to clean the planes with the little brush. It only takes a little oil.







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I like to use a jig because it gives me repeatable results. This is a nice jig made by Veritas. I have the fence set at 25 degrees.








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This bottom view shows the stop on the fence.










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The fence is removed prior to sharpening. Notice the indicator on the knob that is in the 12:00 position. In this position it is set for the primary bevel. It has 2 other positions for second and third bevels. I will not need to sharpen any of the primary's on these planes as they are not nicked or damaged. They only need to be honed on the second and third bevels. Check back later and we will bring out the waterstones.

[beeg]

Thanks Mark, I CAN use this info. Well WHEN I CAN find the blade for the block plane.

[mbcabinetmaker]

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If I were going to hone the primary bevel I would start out with 220 grit wet and dry paper on this granite slab.








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Instead I will advance to the 3:00 position and hone the secondary bevel on the 1000 grit side of my stone. About 10 or 12 strokes forward and back is all that is needed.

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Next I advance to the 6:00 position and switch to the 8000 grit side. Each advancement is 1 degree so the finished 3rd bevel is 27 degrees. No more than 6 or 8 strokes needed here.








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Now for the Deneb Puchalski / Rob Crossman ruler trick. This elevates the blade just a bit and the back gets about 4 or 6 light strokes on the stone to remove the burr. This trick is not recommended for chisels as they need to be flat on the back.







Later we will flatten the stone and see how we did.

[Gene Howe]

thanks a bunch for the tutorial!

[mbcabinetmaker]

I like to flatten the stone before I store it. That way it is ready to go next time.


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This is a special Norton stone made for this task. I will work it back and forth across the stone about 10 or 15 times.


















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Now I have cleaned the stone with the spray bottle. See the depression in the center. We are not quite there.








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A few more strokes and we have a nice flat surface.








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Now I will need to wash this stone before storing.

[tdubnik]

Mark,

I have the same set of norton stones that you have but I found that the flattening stone needs to be flattened. After I use it for a while, it dishes out too and transfers to the waterstones.

I have switched to 220 wet or dry sandpaper on plate glass to flatten my stones. No more problems that way.

[mbcabinetmaker]

I usually flatten the flattening stone on 220 grit on my granite slab about every third or forth use. Just shows that there are different ways to achieve the same results. For years I was sold on the scary sharp system but now I prefer the water stones. They are quicker and actually not as messy.

[mbcabinetmaker]

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Cutting pretty well in maple.








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This is an unbroken full width shaving so I say we did OK.








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Decided to switch over to the oil stone and sharpen my 2 pocket knives that I never leave home without. There are probably better oils than WD-40 but it seems to keep the stone clean and I always have some handy.




Later we will sharpen a handsaw.

[mbcabinetmaker]

I remember as a small child watching my Grandfather sharpen his hand saws. He actually taught me how to saw to a straight line at about 5 or 6 years old but it would be many years before I would acquire the skills to sharpen a saw. Actually I did it form frustration of having several of my saws mutilated by a so called sharpening service. I had my Grandfathers vice and saw jointer. I went to a flea market and bought several 2 and 3 dollar saws and began practicing. At first I was really awful at it, but I keep trying to figure out what I was doing wrong. Bought more cheap saws and a lot of files but finally got the hang of it.
I will apologize in advance for the quality of the pictures, I just don't have the photo skills for closeups.



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This is my favorite saw. It is only 24 inches long overall. I bought it for 6 bucks at an antique store. Thank goodness it was not one of the 10 or so early practice saws.








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This is Gramps old jointer and a couple of files. Saw files come in different sizes and tapers. There is a chart on the back side of the packages to guide you to the correct file. This saw is 9TPI (teeth per inch) and uses a 6" extra slim taper file.










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I will first make a couple of passes with the jointer to level any high teeth. Go easy on this operation.








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After many trial and error attempts the only other thing that I use in the filing operation is a piece of 1/4 inch plywood 1" wide and about 5 inches long with opposing 15 degree angles cut on each end. I hold it in my left hand and slide it along to keep the file angle correct. I have clamped it to the blade here for a photo to give the general idea. The file is held level in length but has to be tilted right or left to the teeth. This was the hard thing to learn. I finally decided that I was better at just doing this freehand and watching the shape of the teeth. I begin filing on the handle end. When you file you are filing the back of one tooth and the front of another. I will give every other tooth 5 equal strokes of the file and then flip the saw in the vice and repeat the operation on the other teeth.


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After filing sometimes it is necessary to set the teeth. I did that the last time that I sharpened this saw so it is good to go. Maybe we can cover that operation in a later thread.

[mbcabinetmaker]

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Now for a couple of cuts to make sure it is cutting straight. It is amazing the difference between a freshly filed saw and an off the shelf saw with stamped teeth. I will apply a fresh coat of Johnson's wax before returning it to my tool box.








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I may be the only person in the world that does this. One day while coping some oak crown molding I made the comment to my helper that I wished my coping saw was as sharp as my hand saw. Well I got to dwelling on that for the rest of the day. The problem was that even the best blades that I could buy were not sharp. I went home that night and made this little jig to hold the saw, made some 15 degree marks on it and filed away. Now I keep 2 freshly sharpened saws on the truck.








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I built this new box last summer. Of all the tools that I own these always get the most attention on the job sight. Comments like (I didn't think people used those anymore) or (So and so in their family had one of those). They are fun to use and always spark interest.