This Is Sharp

[Jim Koepke]

OK, was looking for the Pop WW article on the scraper and it looks like I will have to buy a copy next time I go to town. But one link after another was followed and here is where I stopped.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QB5ZHNdqTPQ&feature=player_embedded

Here is a knife that is very sharp. You can see the bevel is like a mirror.

This is used on leather, but I am sure it could do well paring wood.

jim

[David Weaver]

Interesting they'd choose A2 to make a knife with a bevel that shallow.

I guess it doesn't matter, because it's only leather, but I think O1 or W1 would've been better for what they're doing, unless they like that O1 is a little slower to rust.

[Ron Hock]

Thanks, Jim, for the (unintentional) shill. Jeff Peachy is doing some remarkable work. He's the go-to guy when your Gutenberg Bible needs restoration or conservation work. I highly recommend visiting his blog (http://jeffpeachey.wordpress.com/) for more info about him. And yes, ahem, that's a blade that we made for him. He specified A2 and obviously knows how to use it.

[Jim Rimmer]

OK, was looking for the Pop WW article on the scraper
PWW has a video on their website on sharpening a scraper. Is that what you were looking for? With your experience I believe it has to be something else.:rolleyes:

[Jim Koepke]

PWW has a video on their website on sharpening a scraper. Is that what you were looking for? With your experience I believe it has to be something else.:rolleyes:

Someone mentioned an article in the recent PWW about tuning a scraper plane.

I always like to see what others have done or discovered. There is always an opportunity to learn something new.

Sometimes there is something that has been forgotten. Other times it is something so obvious my only option is leave a bright red spot on my forehead.

jim

[Jeff Johnson]

Thanks, Jim, for the (unintentional) shill. Jeff Peachy is doing some remarkable work. He's the go-to guy when your Gutenberg Bible needs restoration or conservation work. I highly recommend visiting his blog (http://jeffpeachey.wordpress.com/) for more info about him. And yes, ahem, that's a blade that we made for him. He specified A2 and obviously knows how to use it.

I like how he uses your book as a strop. :)

[george wilson]

"Because it's only leather"? Leather is more difficult to pare like that than wood,plus,it will also dull your knife. The reverse of stropping.

[David Weaver]

George - the comment was regarding using a shallow bevel in leather vs. wood. The dramatic edge failures that occur with A2 in wood with shallow bevels probably won't occur in leather, even if it does abrade an edge in use.

[george wilson]

I know three leather workers who never get their blades overly sharp. They told me that a real sharp edge doesn't stay sharp very long in leather.

One is a career bookbinder my age. His books have sold for over $5000.00. Another is in his mid 70's,and has been properly trained as a harness maker in the old way in England since his teens. His work is famous also. Actually,both are English.

The third is the Master Shoemaker in Williamsburg. the other 2 work there also. The Bookbinder is also a Master craftsman. The harness maker should have been,but didn't want the hassle of attending meetings.

[David Weaver]

OK, but that's still beside the point, as I mentioned above, the curiosity initially was because O1 holds together better at shallow bevel angles.

The abrasion isn't what makes A2 fail at low bevel angles faster than O1. If it was the abrasion, the A2 would be better for it.

I'm still a little curious as to why someone would choose A2 over O1 for this task, as O1 would be easier to sharpen, too.

[george wilson]

I don't know why they used A2. Maybe the cryogenic treatment helped its edge holding.
The leather workers I know only use plain carbon steel tools. It could be that the much less severe pressure required to cut the leather did not cause the edge to be damaged like wood would do. I'm thinking that these 2 factors is why the A2 might have worked out.

I (quietly) made some A2 plane irons for the coopers. I felt sorry for them. Their blacksmith made irons just didn't hold up very long planing white oak,and they were pretty frustrated from constant resharpening. This was for their long cooper's jointers. I think the blacksmiths used only 1070 steel for the blade's bits because the lower carbon was easier to forge weld than 1095. Mine weren't cryo treated,though.

Even in the 19th.C.,Swiss watch makers knew that prolonged freezing was good for steel. They left caches of parts up in high Alpine caves for long periods to make better watches from. It wasn't cryo temps.,but was done for much longer periods of time.

[David Weaver]

George - now we're on the same page. Sharpening, etc, on white oak - especially long stretches like jointing, would have to be extreme with 1070. I'd have given them a bronze iron as a spoof to see what they thought.

Some parts of history are good to know and duplicate, others are better to know, and not duplicate. I'm sure the A2 iron you gave them was an improvement measured in hundreds or maybe over a thousand feet of planing vs. 1070. Some (all?) of LV's irons aren't or weren't cryo treated, and I know I have several old enough to be in that group - they're good irons, anyway, and I wouldn't have noticed anything if I didn't read it anywhere.

Sort of leads into the whole issue of reading about something that didn't bother you before can be toxic - like the japanese white steel vs. blue steel. If there wasn't blue steel, all you'd hear about is how durable white steel is. Instead, all you hear about is how fragile white steel is and how it doesn't hold an edge very well. Sheer goofiness if you've ever used a properly made white steel tool.

Anyway, never knew that about the swiss watch parts. Gotta wonder who the guy is who figures that out, and how it happens. Did something get left outside by accident at one point, ...that kind of thing, or did someone come into it in a studied experiment sort of way by just trying different things and measuring their effects.

[george wilson]

I don't know how they discovered freezing watch parts,or when they started doing it.