How often do you hone your irons?

[Jim Delucas]

As a neandrathal neopyte, I am always looking for info. I have a decent selection of planes and enjoy keeping them sharp. How often do you pros sharpen (hone) your plane irons?
Thanks for sharing.

[Zahid Naqvi]

Well, you lost about 75% of the crowd when you said "pros" ;)

But I hone the blades when I need to. I don't have dedicated sharpening sessions, mostly because I don't really enjoy it, hence I procrastinate. When I start using a chisel or plane and if it feels dull at first use, I will hone it. If I get started on one I will pretty much hone all needed edges for the work at hand. But that's it only what I need.

[Robert Rozaieski]

I agree with Zahid. I don't set aside time just to sharpen rather I try to keep my tools sharp while I'm using them. This was a big factor in my learning to hone freehand as now when an iron or chisel begins to get dull while I'm working, I don't hesitate to walk right over to the stones and hone it up before getting back to work. Takes only a minute or two this way as honing becomes part of my regular woodworking rather than a separate task.

[Larry Rose]

I hone as needed also. Occasionaly I'll do a lot of them. This week end I was between projects and couldn't get motivated to start anything so I went thru all my planes and spoke shaves cleaned and honed them. I always try them out on a piece of scrap. To me it's soothing to use a newly honed and set plane to take a paper thin shaving come off a board. It's Zen thing:D

[Tyler Howell]

Only when they need it.:D
Which is usually after a project. I like to leave them sharp so I don't have to do it before starting something new.

[Rob Luter]

Every Tuesday and Friday :eek:

Not Really :D

Just when I need to. In the last three months I've honed my 60 1/2 once due to use, my LV shoulder plane once due to use, and all the others once just to get a good edge on them. Occasional use hasn't dulled them at all. The new LV BU Jack hasn't been touched yet despite producing a bit pile of curls (a couple of 5 gallon pails full) with the 38 and 50 degree blades. They'll need a light touch up pretty quick I suppose.

[Andrew Williams]

Depends on the job. If I am smoothing curly maple, I might hone the blade once per panel. When I am just doing edges on ordinary wood, maybe once every 12 edges or so. if I have a lot of edge jointing to do on a hard wood, I will spend the time honing (better than wasting so much energy pushing the jointer 100 times through rock hard wood)

End grain is a killer, dulls the blade much faster and you get a lousy looking end-grain with anything but a really sharp edge so if I am doing final smoothing on end grain, I hone first.

Hogging off stuff for face flattening, I don't hone very much, since it doesn't seem to make all that much difference. Either way it's a serious workout.

[Dave Anderson NH]

The short answer is when I notice a change in performance, an increase in force required to make the cut, or when the quality of the surface I'm getting starts to degrade. Sometimes these are small changes, and other times it becomes apparent really quickly. As you gain more experience, you will become attuned to both subtle and not so suble changes.

[Ben Grunow]

Whenever they are too dull to cut the wood I am working or whenever I find that someone on the job has used my chisels on concrete or planed a finish nail with my plane.

It all depends on use and the type of use (usually related to who is using it).

[Charles Stanford]

As a neandrathal neopyte, I am always looking for info. I have a decent selection of planes and enjoy keeping them sharp. How often do you pros sharpen (hone) your plane irons?
Thanks for sharing.

The first thirty minutes in the morning in my shop is called "The Hone" I brought this over from a millwork shop I used to work in. That was the bee-essing time of day. Time to get your poop together and discuss last nights or last Sunday's game and sharpen anything that needs it. Once the workday started, you were not expected to be caught fiddling with your handtools - only using them. If you had to do a whole lot of planing then it was cool to hit them again really quick sometime during the day.

So, I hit the 4, 5 and 7 every morning (they all get used every day) and usually the scrubber too. The rebate plane iron gets it about every other day.

I hone to produce and remove a burr. I often stop at a fine oilstone, but on the smoother I might hit a few strokes on the black Arkansas. Ultra-high polish is overrated when considering one's time. I'm interested in woodworking, not making mirrors out of tool-steel.

The best edges I ever get are when I lay the feather edge off in one solid piece on a fine oilstone. I leave the tiny bit of rag on the blade and put it to work. It will split an atom.