plane blade question

[Steve Lee1]

New member question! I’m just starting with hand planes, with particular interest in learning to build and use shooting boards. I’ve bought 4 old Stanleys from eBay (two #5 and two #4). I also bought the book Hand Tool Essentials and I’m using that as a reference.

I’m using sandpaper / glass, and an eclipse style honing guide. I’m starting with 120 grit paper, and working on flattening the backs and primary bevels.
I noticed one of the blades was previously honed to a slight angle. The bevel is not quite square to the edge. I was hoping that the angle would eventually self-correct, as I worked it on the coarse sandpaper. But now I have a really nice 24 or 25 degree primary bevel, and it still has the same slope of 2 or 3 degrees from 90 degrees.

So the question is what should I do now? Will the horizontal adjuster on the plane be able to compensate for that slight angle? Or should I stop here and try to grind the edge 90 degrees to the side and start over with the primary bevel again?
Thanks in advance. Steve

[James Owen]

Welcome to the Dark Side of woodworking and to the cave!!

If the horizontal adjuster will get the iron parallel with the sole, the iron/plane will be usable, but not really the best solution. If it were mine, I'd correct it so that the edge is 90˚ to the sides of the iron.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Steve,

Welcome to the Creek. Your profile doesn't list your location. Where do you call home?

I have found this to be a common problem with used plane blades. Sometimes it is made tougher to deal with as the sides of the blade are not parallel.

I usually give skewed blades a chance in a plane to see if the lateral adjustment will correct the skew of the blade. After that when sharpening I try to remember to lead with the forward edge in an attempt to lessen the blades skew.

Sometimes it does require a regrinding from scratch to correct the skew.

jtk

[Charlie Buchanan]

You can correct by putting more pressure on the long side of your iron as you grind a little more with course grit. This is easy with the eclipse style guide since the wheel is narrow. Alternating pressure on the sides can put a slight camber on the iron which is a good thing especially for a jack plane.

[Bill Houghton]

Everyone's advice is good. I'll offer on additional comment: if you've got a square*, take a Magic Marker and blacken the back (non-beveled) side of the blade near the cutting edge. Now, using the square, lightly scratch a line as close to the edge as you can (scratch awl, ice pick, something with a sharp point). This will give you a useful guide as you try to correct the problem.

*If you don't have a square, you need one.

[Steve Lee1]

Thanks for the suggestions. Maybe I'll go ahead and finish the process with the finer grits of paper and see how it does. Great idea to scribe a line on the back as a point of reference. Jim, I’m in Columbia Missouri.

[Steve Lee1]

I’ve got a good start on these three blades; all cutting edges are 90 degrees to the side now (or darn close).
A related question. . I’ve just got a little time these days to be in the shop, so I try to make every minute count. With the sand paper sharpening system, it seems that I’m spending more time messing around with the sand paper than actually getting to work on the blades. Removing the paper from the glass is not really very difficult but it takes way too long. I’m scraping it off with combination of a razor blade and a thin paint scraper. The course grit (120) is a role of PSA paper. For the upper grits I have regular wet/dry and use the 3M 77 adhesive spray to stick to the glass. It adheres great, but a pain to take it off.
Is there a better way? How do you all do it?
Steve

[Tony Shea]

I used to use this method when I first started and used the micro films with PSA backing, which btw stuck on better than 77 spray adhesive, and got tired of it as well. Then I still used this method once I got my water stones for flattening my stones and got tired of that as well. So I ended up completely changing over to some good water stones with a diamond plate to flatten the stones. Once in a while I still use sandpaper glued to granite and glass to flatten the backes of blades in need.

All this being said I was able to find a very effecient way of getting the adhesive off the surface. I'm a gun nut as well as a wood nut. So I had to some stuff called Action Blaster which takes the carbon buildup out of a receiver and bore of a gun just by spraying and a small amount of scrubbing. So I tried spraying this stuff on the glass with the adhesive stuck all over it and boy does it dissolve the heck out of the adhesive. Spray the surface and scrape it up with a razor blade. Give it one final spray and wipe the sticky left behind with a paper towel and your done. Do this in a well ventilated area, preferably outside. I think a brake cleaner would accomplish the same goal. But I tried everything to get the gunk up and nothing even touches the Action Blaster. Don't use this on painted surfaces without testing first.

[James Scheffler]

I have been using Elmer's spray adhesive. I dribble some acetone onto the glass around the sandpaper and go at it with a razor blade scraper. It goes pretty quickly. Acetone is a bit stinky, but it's cheap and it has relatively low toxicity as solvents go.

Jim S.

[Steve Lee1]

Thanks for the suggestions. I don’t have any bore clearer but I’ve got brake fluid. And I’ve got acetone. I’ll try these.
Now that I’ve got the backs flat and the primary bevels set, it would be nice to have a set of stones to keep them sharp.

[Jerrimy Snook]

... but I’ve got brake fluid.

I hope this was a Freudian slip. Please do not use brake fluid.... evil nasty stuff good only for stopping your car... Bake fluid is great stuff! Good for everything but breathing and squirting in your eye.

[Prashun Patel]

Steve-

If you are using plate glass or granite as your substrate, then a sprinkle of water on the surface will keep the blade stationary enough for sharpening; I rarely used PSA for the reasons you cited.

I'm glad you went thru the trouble to get yr blades to 90 deg. With an eclipse style honing guide, I got best results when the blades were not skewed.

I will say this: I invested in a Worksharp 3000, made an above-the-table support for it, and invested in a better honing guide. These things really shortcut my sharpening learning curve. You can certainly get great results for less, but for me, investing in a good sharpening system (there are several) gets me to sharp much quicker, which encourages me to sharpen more often, which leads to my best results.

Anyway, FWIW.

[Richard Verwoest]

I'm with Prashun on this one. Water will hold it down. I also have made a small box to keep my granite surface in. If I have a problem with the paper curling, I use a piece of angle aluminum on eash side with a wedge to keep it tight.

On another note, if you use the cheap grey honing guide, take some time to clean it up. Remove some of the gooped on finish, file out the grooves and make them fit, etc. Also, make a angle guauge for each level of clamping area. This will save a great deal of time with setup.

[Steve Lee1]

I meant “brake cleaner”, my bad. :D I did try the acetone, it really did sort of melt the adhesive on the PSA product, made getting it off a whole lot easier. I’ll try just wetting the glass with water and see if I can make that work.

I did a search for the Work sharp, will keep it in mind and see if I get addicted to this. I have to admit I’m pretty impressed so far, I stopped with a 1500 grit wet/dry micro bevel. Don’t know exact thickness of the shavings but they are pretty thin.

The goal is to tune up a plane and then make a shooting board. I’ve got ½ inch Baltic birch left over from other projects so that should work. Mostly I’m making small (really simple) boxes, so hoping the shooting board will be safer and more accurate than trimming small pieces on my table saw.
Steve

[Kelly Colin Mark]

I was under the impression that acetone was nasty stuff. I remember an MD I did research with claiming it went straight through to your liver. I had been washing my hands with it to get dental cement off them.:-o

[James Scheffler]

I was under the impression that acetone was nasty stuff. I remember an MD I did research with claiming it went straight through to your liver. I had been washing my hands with it to get dental cement off them.:-o

I'm no toxicologist, although I have had some exposure (no pun intended) to the field through the work I do. It's my understanding that acetone really isn't that bad. For example, see here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acetone

It may be true that it goes straight to your liver, but it won't necessarily damage your liver.

Jim S.