Dull, depth of cut, or against the grain?

[John Crough]

Hi all, I received an Lie-Neilson low angle block plane for Xmas, and this is my first plane. So far I love the tool, but am afraid I have no idea what I am doing. I figured a low angle block plane would be a good way to break into hand tools as I can use it trim parts like doors and drawers and as a way to smooth parts so I don't have to sand as much on my wood working projects. I am building a small tool chest to store future hand tools, and while trimming the door on the long grain, I noticed quite a few pock marks after a few minutes planning (the good news is this edge won't be visible when the project is finished). My question is this do to a dull blade, or too deep of a depth of cut, or am I going against the grain? When I first got the plane, I played around with it on some scrap oak for about an hour (planning sure is addictive!) and was making some wonderful thin shavings. I have to admit I don't have a proper bench yet and have to resort to clamping a block of wood to my current bench to hold the piece in place. So maybe my technique is to blame. I can also see that some sort of sharpening system will be in order as well. Would anyone be able to recommend a sharpening system and maybe some DVDs or books that cover the uses and techniques of hand planes? My goal is to transition over to hand tools and only use my power tools to mill up lumber. Any info and advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[Mike Henderson]

The general sign of a dull blade is white lines in the wood where you planed. That is, when your blade is sharp, the wood where you planed will be shiny. As the blade dulls, you'll start seeing what looks like white lines in the shiny surface. These are caused by dull spots on the edge of the blade where the wood is not cutting cleanly and are an indication that you need to hone the blade.

At least that's my experience.

Mike

[Sam Yerardi]

John,

You can test the plane itself on a board that you know has all of its grain in one direction. If you plane with the grain, and depending on the wood and the setting of your plane, you should get a smooth cut. You may not at first get a full-width shaving, but if the shaving cuts smoothly that will tell you that the plane is probably set correctly. Now, there will be some boards where the grain changes constantly, and you'll have areas of beautiful plane strokes and places where there is tear-out. Learn to read the grain of the board. It's one of the most important steps in using hand planes, no matter what type. My first thought is if you're describing tear-out, that's what I would look at first before I thought something was wrong with the plane. Check to see that the plane iron is exiting the sole of the plane parallel to the edge of it's mouth. And when you push the plane on face planing, turn it a bit one way or the other so you are pushing with the grain but at an angle. This will help slice the grain rather than try to brute force cut the grain. For a low-level plane where you are cutting end grain, that's what it is designed for.

Regarding the sharpness of the iron, when you look at the edge of the iron straight on, you should not be able to SEE the edge. If you can SEE the edge, then the edge isn't sharp enough. When you are sharpening the iron, you can carefully test it against your fingernail.

Read Garret Hack's book on planes, Fine Woodworking also has a very good book on sharpening. There are as many ways to sharpen as there are woodworkers on this site so don't feel that there is one and only one way to sharpen.

Typically you will first grind a bevel of about 25 deg relative to the back of the iron or chisel. You then hone about a 30 degree angle on the edge. The reason is you have to strengthen the end of the iron. A single but extremely fine bevel will only hold up for a short time.

[Robert Rozaieski]

If this is the first time you've used the plane, then it sounds like you are planing against the grain as it should have been sharp enough to plane long grain (at least in the area of the "pock marks"; this is called tearout by the way). Look at the face of the board and read the grain. You want to plane in the direction of rising grain, or "uphill" when looking at the side of the board. In some cases, the "uphill" direction may change and you therefore will need to change the direction that you plane in order to avoid tearout completely. And some boards are hopeless and have the grain going in all directions across the width and along the length of the same edge. Mahogany is known for this so it could also just be the board you are planing.

As for sharpening systems, I won't recommend any one as everyone has their own preference. You will too, but I will recommend that you find one and stick with that one and get good at it. Don't jump around always searching for a new system to give you a better edge. Better edges come from better technique, not a different system. All the systems out there will give you a razor edge if you learn good technique. And once the edge touches wood, it begins to dull anyway so pick a system that is easy for you to master and quick to use so that you don't put off sharpening because it is such a chore. Hone your edges often while you work, don't wait until "after I finish this project" because by then it could be too late. If the edge gets too dull, it gets hard to use the tool, which in turn makes you work/push harder, increasing the chances of a slip and a bad accident. This is why dull tools are more dangerous than sharp ones.

[Wiley Horne]

John,

You have an excellent plane!

If I understand your original post correctly, you have no sharpening equipment at present and the blade is still cutting off the original factory edge that you took out of the box at Christmas.

Here's the thing about handtools. There's no substitute for sharp. The sharpening investment and learning curve come right up front. Even though your plane made shavings out of the box, that blade wasn't really sharp--if you look at the LN site, they tell you that the factory new blade will benefit from honing. Now, after you've made some more shavings, you can be sure that the blade is not sharp.

If you want a quick test for sharp, get a pack of sticky notes beside your bench, and a section of the morning newspaper. If you can slide the blade into the edge of a sticky note (no sawing allowed) at right angles, that's sorta sharp. If you can slide the blade into the edge of a page of newsprint at right angles (no sawing), that's sharp enough to do work.

So. Your next step is sharpening equipment.

Wiley

[Marcus Ward]

Close the mouth up, sounds like it's open too far which will sometimes cause tearout, if none of the other suggestions are the reason.

[John Crough]

Thank you all for your information as it is definitely useful to a new hand tool user such as myself. I think I have determined that I was going against the grain, and that I do need to hone the blade. I am so impressed by the quality of the Lie-Nielson block plane, out of the box it cuts so precisely and feels balanced in the hand. As I progress in my tool acquisition, I am sure I again will have more questions. As for now my first purchase will be to add a sharpening system (work sharp 3000 on sale at Amazon for $159) and then a good bench. Thanks again!

[Jim Koepke]

Thank you all for your information as it is definitely useful to a new hand tool user such as myself. I think I have determined that I was going against the grain, and that I do need to hone the blade.

Even with the sharpest blade, going against the grain will cause problems.

One thing I just realized has not been mentioned in all the threads about planes, is how to set the blade adjustment. Most of the text below is with a bench plane in mind. Pretty much the same is used for my other planes. Of course, block planes do not have frogs like a bench plane, but that is in here so that if my ideas are wrong, someone will point that out and I will learn a better way.

I may be doing this totally wrong, but this is what works for me.
With a plane that I am not familiar with, a piece of scrap is used to do this. The blade is retracted and the screw holding the lever cap is set loose enough so the adjustment knob can be turned without danger of damage to any of the adjustment threads. Then the blade is slowly advanced while the plane is run along the surface of the trial piece. The plane is moved from one side to the other so as to use the full width of the blade if a test piece is less than the blade width. This allows one to see if the blade is square. If it starts cutting on one side before the other, then the necessary lateral adjustments are made. When nice curls are coming out of the plane over the full working area of the blade, it is set.

This is where plane tuning comes in. Many of my planes have been more prone to cut on one side than the other. The first step to correct this is to make sure the blade is sharpened square in the working area. Many people like to "break" or round the corners to avoid leaving tracks. That is a different thread. With a square blade, I like the lateral adjusting lever to be close to center. If the blade still wants to cut more on one side than the other, check the frog. Aligning the frog to the mouth is not always the best thing to do. I have a lot of planes where the mouth from the factory is a hair off square. Unless the plane is set to have the maximum mouth opening with the blade protruding enough to take a very thick cut, the blade is being supported by the frog and not the edge of the mouth. So the frog needs to be loosened and turned a bit toward the side that is taking the deep cut. If it cuts deeper on the right side, turn the frog to the right, just a little. Remember, we are talking about thousands of an inch.

I usually make a mental picture of how the frog looks aligned with the mouth and take the frog screws all the way out. With the plane on a solid surface, I check to make sure the frog is not rocking. If it is, then the reason needs to be found and taken care of. If you do not want to do the metal work, shim it with paper.

Any way, this has worked for me so far and I really haven't wrecked any planes yet.

Pretty good for someone who is learning as he goes.

And please, if there is a different way, or more to say, share it.

jim

If we don't take the first step, how will we ever get anywhere?
-surely someone before me asked this

[Jim Becker]

I will add that something I learned was to be patient and not try and take big bites. A few more strokes with a thinner shaving is much better in the long run. I have the same tool and while it was reasonably sharp out of the box, it began to really sing once I further honed the iron. (After learning how, of course....)