Sharpen angle for wooden plane

Never used this wooden plane (had it 40 years) but have decided to tidy it up and start using it. The plane is 14 inches long. Should it be bevel up or down?

Reply to
ss
Loading thread data ...

formatting link

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

"Bevel" down. The included angle for sharpening the blade is 30deg.

Reply to
harry

The grinding angle should be 25deg. Followed by the honing or sharpening an gle of 35deg. Under no circumstances use a standard bench type carborundum wheel to grind the blade. Traditionally grinding has been done either on sl ow speed horizontal carborundum grindstones with oil cooling or on sandston e wheels with water cooling. The former are hard to get hold of now and exp ensive the latter have been superseded by small water cooled grinders such as the Tormek types. Honing should be done by hand on India stones or Arkan sas stones using honing oil.

Richard

Reply to
Tricky Dicky

If you look at the blade (referred to as the 'iron') in the picture shown in the above reference, you'll see that the ground edge is horizontal when the blade is installed. That tells you which way round it has to go.

Reply to
Roger Mills

Wonderful! A wooden plane is a joy to use. I have a few which I used when I worked in old buildings and a couple which were my grandfather's.

All planes are bevel down except for some very specialist applications. At the business end (the cutting edge) the wood neither knows nor cares which is which. But you can get a very low angle with bevel up for certain specific purposes, like end grain or mahogany.

For sharpening - the men who used these tools didn't necessarily use a text book with a stated angle. You grind the whole blade back so that you can sharpen the edge 10 times before you have to grind the blade back again. The sharpness is more important than the angle, and again the angle might depend on what you are doing with it.

Only a fool in a hurry sharpens the flat side. But you wouldn't be the first one. I keep mine flat and polished at the cutting edge. there is no point fine sharpening one side if the other is all rough.

I have used and seen used for sharpening all combinations of stones, wheels, abrasive papers, strops, diamond slips, belt sanders, boot soles, scrap wood etc etc.and for cooling and lubricating 3in1, wd40, spit, water, brylcream, diesel, Fairy Liquid, whatever works, the only thing you must not do is overheat and blue the cutting edge when using a wheel. I really like the cheap diamond plastic 'whetstones' you get anywhere or from toolstation, and just water.

For most purposes you will want the cutting edge to be straight, but a block plane with a convex cutting edge for finishing faces, so that there is no corner ever to mark the surface is a useful tool.

I could go on, but I have gone on too long already.

Good Luck! TW

Reply to
TimW

That's an interesting observation, but I think it's a wrong one. TW

Reply to
TimW

Thanks all for the replies. I set the wooden plane up as I saw fit and it is indeed a joy. I still have some work to do on it as the sole has a couple of high/low spots on it which I will plane flat. (I came across some Paul sellers videos on utube which I enjoyed) Its only in the last couple of years I have got back in to using hand tools that I have owned for 40+ years. I am not that proficient but do enjoy working with wood. Most of my DIY work over the years has been what I call rough joinery so I am now spending some time trying to understand more of hand tools.

Reply to
ss

Why do you think it's wrong?

I haven't got a wooden plane, but I've just had a look at my metal plane. The ground edge is definitely facing down so as to be horizontal-ish. It wouldn't work the other way because the cap iron (chip-breaker) needs to face a flat surface. See

formatting link

Reply to
Roger Mills

Only because the iron is set into the plane on my general purpose planes at something steeper than 45dg so a 30deg honing angle on the downward facing bevel still leaves 20-30degrees off horizontal. Here

formatting link
the smoother at around 45deg plus but the block plane gets a very low angle of attack by being bevel up.

Now I think about it I am not sure I understand the difference.

Tim W

Reply to
TimW

I was in China last week. Much to my surprise I saw some shopfitters using wooden planes!

They seemed to have metal plates on the sole, so not pure wood.

Andy

Reply to
Vir Campestris

Interesting. When I was a boy the chinese used bamboo scaffolding on quite big buildings. I don't suppose they still do.

A wooden plane is lighter than a metal one, so easier to carry in a toolbag and less tiring to use if you use it much. TW

Reply to
TimW

Not many alloy poles in these photos ...

Reply to
Andy Burns

OTOH it is alot larger than a small metal one used for finishing after and electrical plane has left ripples

The wooden jack i used could fit a door a lot quicker than an electrical on e if you allow for the time messing with cables.

If you come across one ina car boot for a couple of quid consider investing in it. Tap the toe to release the wedge and tap the wedge with a wooden st ick to fit the blade back. Place the iron close to the moth so that fitting the wedge brings it near flush then tap the top of the iron to set the dep th and the angle.

It is easy enough to do once you get the hang of it.

Reply to
Weatherlawyer

They do.

But the scary one was the guy weeding the flyover over a motorway. On the outside of the railings...

Andy

Reply to
Vir Campestris

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.