Grit

[Byron Trantham]

I am getting float glass plate for Christmas. I have a couple Stanley planes that need to have their soles flattened. I would like to use wet/dry paper. What grit shcedual is recommened for this? Same question for sharpening the blades and chisels. I use the Veritas holding fixture to maintain the angle.

[Richard Gillespie]

Sorry to have to tell you this but I use a different system for soles of planes versus chisels and irons. For soles I use a 37" long piece of plate glass and start with a 50 grit, 4" x 36" belt sander belt. I then go to 80 grit belt , 120 grit, 180 grit and 280 grit. The 120 grit and up are rolls of 4.5" wide self stick sanding paper. By the way, if you are going to do several planes you might want to wear a dust mask. You'd be surprised how much powdered iron you inhale without one.

For chisels and irons I have 5 pieces of glass 11-1/4" x 9-1/4". On one of those I use 80 grit and 120 grit emory cloth. Don't use water on these, it de-solves the glue. I then use wet/dry paper in the following grits: 150 and 220, 320 and 400, 600 and 1000, 1500 and 2000. The courser grits are only used when necessary such as flattening items for the first time.

This sounds like a lot of trouble but resharpening, starting with 400 or 600 grit, is no trouble at all so long as you don't have to regrind.