sharpening radiused plane blades

[Jeff Bartley]

I've recently reallocated a stanley 26 transitional plane to the task of a scrub plane. Or really not a scrub but I've ground an 8" radius onto the blade to hog off material.
So the question is this: What's your preferred method of sharpening a blade with a radius?
I use abrasive paper, granite, and a honing guide (veritas mkII). Any opinions on the veritas cambered roller?
Thanks,
Jeff

[Tri Hoang]

Just use your normal abrasive schedule (waterstones, abrasive paper...) In term of honing guide, the eclipse-style guide is probably the best & least expensive. The Veritas camber roller isn't as good for such small curves. Since it does not have to be exact I normally just free hand it. 26" long is a bit too long for a scrub on a typical board. I like a short/light scrub plane so I can take quick strokes.

[Chuck Nickerson]

Since you've already got the Veritas MkII, the cambered roller does make it easier to radius a blade.

There still is a learning curve. Somewhere Chris Schwartz has a blog post on rocking the blade and
looking for an X swarf pattern on your sharpening medium. That helped me alot.

[Andrae Covington]

I've recently reallocated a stanley 26 transitional plane to the task of a scrub plane. Or really not a scrub but I've ground an 8" radius onto the blade to hog off material.
So the question is this: What's your preferred method of sharpening a blade with a radius?
I use abrasive paper, granite, and a honing guide (veritas mkII). Any opinions on the veritas cambered roller?
Thanks,
Jeff

I have a #28 transitional that I use as a fore plane. I think the radius I ground was a little over 6". I then used the MkII with camber roller on diamond stones. I would think sandpaper on granite would be fine. As Tri Hoang said, it doesn't have to be perfect, so you may be able to just freehand it. Also it won't have to be wicked sharp for initial rough work like that, though it wouldn't hurt either.