Sharpen Side Rabbet plane irons?

[Mike Narges]

Does anyone have a suggestion about sharpening the irons for a Stanley #79 Side Rabbet Plane? I got a reasonably sharp edge by hand with no jig. Is there a preferred way to use the Tormek or the Veritas Mk II honing guide? It appears that the irons are a little short, made more difficult by the skewed cutting edge. If anyone has a better idea than "by hand", please advise.

Sincerely,

Mike Narges

[David Weaver]

It's "by hand" for me, and more polishing the edges than worrying so much about microbevel angles - in fact, not having much of a microbevel will make it cut nicer.

Slow and steady and patience with sharpening these will yield good results if you haven't chipped out an edge or anything. The only trouble is the darn things are so tiny, but the good part is they're not real big and they're not real hard steel compared to the new A2 blades in a lot of things (unless you have A-2s?).

At any rate, I think the sharpest edge I've ever gotten, at least in terms of easy of shaving hair off my arm, was a #79 blade that I sharpened freehand on a #12,000 stone. No back bevel - just tease off the wire edge by going back and forth between polishing the bevel and the back lightly.

Since you know you're going to have to keep after it and not let the edge get damaged or dull (or it'll be a lot harder to sharpen), it's probably good practice to just keep after the edge, polishing it as soon as you notice any change in the sharpness, or maybe just "often" to your mind, even before you notice it changing feel - or at least that's my opinion.

[Don C Peterson]

I used to use jigs for sharpening, but I found that they just complicate things and make the task take longer than it needs to. It's freehand for me unless I have to establish a new angle.

[Mike Narges]

Thanks for the replies. I had come to essentially the same conclusion. Since the irons are so small, the Tormek would probably be overkill even if usable.

Sincerely,

Mike Narges