honing a radiused plane blade

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wapitiscat

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Todd Earnhardt
I'm grinding a curved radius on my #5 blade and am curious as to how to hone the arched bevel. I think I'll grind the inital bevel on the grinder but don't see how I can hone that curved edge unless I do it freehand. What say ye neanderthals?

Todd
 

woodguy1975

New User
John
I freehand on the tormek wet wheel then hit the strope with their compound. Freehand sharping gets easy with practice. :)
 

Ozzie-x

New User
Randy
A curious thing, are you making a scrub blade for your #5? Regardless, like Mike said, you can do it freehand if you're handy at such things- I do the routine sharpening/honing of my curved blades and chisels freehand. You may be doig some final shaping of the edge ini your case, and if you're wanting something more exacting, and easy way is to use the blade (in the plane) to cut that shape in a hardwood board. Then use the "scary sharp" method with the sandpaper layed in the curved shape in the board. I've done that before for scrub plane blades, gouge chisels, lathe chisels, carving chisels, etc, works for some other odd convex shaped cutting edges also. For some concave shapes, simply wrapping the sandpaper around the appropriate diameter dowel. I use the dowel method a lot for bench and lathe gouges.
 

wapitiscat

New User
Todd Earnhardt
#5 to #40 1/2 .. hmmm

Ozzie-x,

I guess you could say that I am planning to use my #5 in a scrub plane capacity. I don't have a "real" scrub and have used my "jack" as a scub in the past. I thought I'd go ahead and radius the blade to see what happens. There was a recent Popular Woodworking article that discussed the blended use of hand tools and power tools. In that, there was some discussion of the relative short length of most scrub planes given that they are used as the first step in flattening stock. The author suggested that a #5 or #6 would be a better choice. Just move the frog back, radius the blade (he uses an 8" radius), and let the chips fly.

It looks like I'll try to hone it freehand after the coarse grind. The idea of making a "cast" of the profile is great and I may go that route if I round over my edge too often.:eusa_doh:Thanks to all for the responses so far.

Todd
 

Ozzie-x

New User
Randy
Just so happens I was thinking yesterday, I bet my scrub plane doesn't come out of the drawer 3 times/ year. I only use it to hog off the wood from a fat end on boards or other such things, I rarely use it for prepping rough stock. Most of the rough lumber these days has been sawed on a bandmill and has a fairly smooth surface. I remember a lot of the wood that was produced by the old circular mills was REALLY rough and a scrub plane was useful/necessary. For today's (smooth) rough lumber, I usually just use a jointer plane on the rough lumber and by the time it's straight/flat, it's also smooth and all of the sawmill blade marks and "fuzzies" are gone. Just my $0.02.
 

wapitiscat

New User
Todd Earnhardt
Yeah, the scrubbies day as a shop mainstay may be gone. I last used (abused) my #5 on a RO log that I hewed with a utility ax and used as a mantle. It did such a good job that I had to go back and put in some "fake" depth registration marks so people would believe me when I told them I chopped it into a timber myself.:lol: Now, I have a piece of rough cut poplar with a cup in it so there's a bit of wood to remove before I get to flat. Anyhow, it's as much playing around as much as anything. It's not like poplar is cost prohibitive, I just like messing around with my "users" -- especially for small scale stuff.

Todd
 

4yanks

New User
Willie
I have a #40 and I almost never use it. I do use a #5 I have with a radiused (sp?) iron when I work with stock beyond the capacity of my jointer. I too roughed on a grinder then honed it freehand. The techinque I use is to place the trailing edge of the bevel on the honing surface, then tip it forward until I feel the bevel flatten out. Then begin sliding the bevel across the honing surface in a side to side motion that matches the arc of the radius. Start slowly until you get the feel of the arc. It is really quite easy.
 

wapitiscat

New User
Todd Earnhardt
Blade butchering

Well, a couple of firsts. My first plane blade profile alteration and my first pictures posted.:eusa_danc

I marked a reference line on the blade edge with a Sharpie along an 8" radius, set my Veritas grinder rest to 30 degrees and made some sparks. After I felt like I had the right shape, I clamped the blade in my vise and started honing (be careful -- no sliced fingers this time:icon_thum). I tried moving the blade across the stone but couldn't get the feel for it. Worked up through my fine waterstones and reassembled the plane. It worked pretty good but I'll still have to move the frog back some more and maybe adjust the chipbreaker as the throat opening gets clogged every so often.Anyway ... the pics are out of order and a bit dark but I think they tell the story of the great jack plane adventure. They're in my photo gallery under the category Bailey #5 as a scrub plane.

Todd
 

4yanks

New User
Willie
Re: Blade butchering

Looks like you got. Sharpening is like an opinion, everybody's got a different one. In the end what's important is that you are comfortable with it. That #5 scrub is a great tool for flattening wide stock for the planner. Enjoy.
 

wapitiscat

New User
Todd Earnhardt
honing a radiused plane blade - blade butchering redux

Another note: I was having trouble keeping a consistent angle as I worked through the grits. I think I can put together a simple jig/guide that will help with this for the next honing session.

Todd
 
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