OK...help me out here on sharpening....

[Dennis Peacock]

Greetings,

I do have some hand tools and such and I have the following questions.

I have a Tormek, Japanese Waterstone, 320 diamond stone, and various grits of sandpaper.

Here's my problem.

I have several hand chisels that I can get sharp on the Tormek pretty quick with a nice enough edge to where I don't need to hone them.

I have a few handplanes that I have a dickens of a time getting them sharp once I dull them. Maybe I'm just too lazy to re-hone my handplane irons after each use, but I offer no real excuse for being lazy on the resharpening side of my plane irons.

I really enjoy using handplanes, but keeping them sharp is a lesson I need to learn more discipline in. How do I resharpen my plane irons once they are dull?
I tried tonight to put them in my Veritas sharpening jig and my waterstones, but the bevel was far enough off to where I messed up the edges on two plane irons. I spent 4 hours tonight getting 3 plane irons back in shape and sharp once again. So what am I doing wrong? :confused:

[Steve Clardy]

What is the angle set at Dennis?
I use the elec. MKII like Terrys.

[Dennis Peacock]

What is the angle set at Dennis?
I use the elec. MKII like Terrys.

I usually have mine set at 25º. Should my plane irons be at a different angle?

[Richard Gillespie]

Dennis;

I use a low speed grinder and the scary sharp system so I start at a different point. For bevel down planes, I use 30 degrees. For bevel up, I use about 25 degrees but they are much thicker irons so I'm less concerned about chatter or vibration.

Using the Veritas guide I set it so that the freshly ground face is nearly flat on the sand paper. I go through the grits that way till the highest two grits. At that point I shift the blade back in the jig slightly. This gives me a higher angle secondary bevel with those grits. I then further hone the blade on a leather strop with stropping powder.

This method has worked very well for me for both plane irons and chisels. Water stones use to drive me nuts trying to keep them flat. Now I just burn through a lot of sand paper.

[Mark Stutz]

Dennis,
I also sharpen plane irons (bevel down) at around 30 deg. but I'm not too fussy about being exact. I hene a micro bevel as well. I find that I now only use the Tormek to re-establish a hollow grind, then use waterstones to finish up. As I'm working I rehone fairly frequenty, though that's abviously a subjective term. Usually just a few passes on a 8000 stone does the trick. Since I'm only honing the microbevel it goes quickly. I've found that if I wait until it is "dull" it takes a lot longer to reestablish an edge. You might try rehoning more often. As the microbevel enlarges I'll occasionally even freehand it as I'm coming closer to the time to put a new primary bevel on it. Hope this helps.

Mark

[Maurice Metzger]

Hi Dennis,

Running down the checklist, are your waterstones flat? As you probably know they wear pretty fast.

How do you re-establish your angle when you use the sharpening jig? That can be one of the problems with jigs, getting the same bevel every time.

If you find that frequent honing breaks up your work flow, you could use spare blades and sharpen several at a time.

- Maurice

[Zahid Naqvi]

Dennis, if you can wait a couple of weeks you can get a personal hands-on session. I am out of town this Saturday, but I should be free the weekend of April 29. Or you can catch me this Sunday(4/23) on your way back from church, just bring your honing guide and plane irons.

[tod evans]

dennis, you`ve seen my set-up......low tech but i can go from a nicked blade to see through shavings in a few minuits...02 tod

[Bernhard Kühnen]

Dennis,

of course Zahid´s offer is priceless. I got something similar in Germany. Since that time I have retired my Tormek.

On top of this I have bought the CD from David Charlesworth which shows you sharpening step by step. I found this one very useful.
Bought from LN.

Bernhard

[Brian Hale]

It wasn't long ago i was in the same place you are Dennis, hours to get a few tools sharp enough to use effectively and i dreaded going through that process so much that I'd put it off till the tools were quite dull. I think a lot of woodworkers are the same.

What changed it for me was sandpaper, the Veritas honing guide and a burr.

The guide allowed me to set bevel angles quickly and accurately and with the sandpaper i have a sharp clean abrasive medium. The burr???

I can't remember where i read it but the burr is the key. I use the honing guide and coarse sandpaper to establish what ever bevel angle i want and then make the edge sharp with a micro bevel and finer grit sandpaper. By honing in a forward and backward motion you'll establish a micro bevel and a burr will develop on the back side of the cutter. It only takes a few strokes. Once i can feel the burr all the way across the back ,I flip the blade over and hone the burr off with the same grit paper. Flip it again and, using the same grit, push the blade across the sandpaper. Don't drag it backwards or you'll form another burr. A couple strokes is all it takes.

Follow this same routine through each successive grit up to 600 (or beyond) and you'll have a razor sharp edge. When the blade begins to get dull, a few forward strokes on the last 2 grits will bring the edge back into shape.

Once the micro bevel begins to grow too much the re-honing process starts to take much longer and it's time to re-establish the main bevel which can take 10 minutes with the guide and coarse sandpaper. (150 grit)

Remember, you're only looking for a polished edge on the micro bevel and back of the cutter. The rest is just window dressing.

I hope i didn't confuse you any further...

Brian :)