Planing funny

[Nick Clayton]

I restored an older bailey #5 a couple weeks ago and put a Hock blade and breaker in it. When I initially tried it cut well, but the blade definitely needed honing. So I popped it into my MK. II and worked it on the water stones to a nice mirror-like polish on both sides. When I tried planning again with the newly honed blade I noticed that my shavings are from one side of the blade or the other, not across the entire blade. I've horsed around w/ depth and lateral adjustment lever but the plane is still leaving a fair amount of marks on my scrap piece.

I know it's not a smoother, but the difference between pre and post honing is terrible. As always your wisdom is greatly appreciated.

[Robert Rozaieski]

Sounds to me like you put a hollow in the center of the iron, DAMHIKT. Put a square on the iron to confirm. If so, check your stones for flatness as waterstones need to be flattened frequently (I flatten mine each time I use them so it takes very little time to keep them flat). If the stones are flat, try adjusting the point on the iron where you put pressure when you hone. You may have put more pressure in the center of the iron than on the edges. Try and put even pressure across the edge.

When I hone with waterstones, I use very little pressure, almost none. Just enough to keep the edge of the tool on the stone. Let the stone do the work. The only time I use more pressure is on the outer edges of the iron if I want to introduce a slight camber to the iron.