Re-grinding hollow blade

[Doug Mason]

I have a hollow plane whose blade (about 3/4 total width) needs to be re-ground to the correct profile. I'm trying to figure out the easiest way to do this. There is too much steel to remove to use stones.

My 6 x 3/4 grinding wheel is too large--so I was thinking of getting a 6 x 1/2 grinding wheel; and with the 1/2 inch wheel I could round over the corners so that the arc of the hollow blade would fit into for grinding.

Or would a Dremel (I would have to buy one) be the better option?

[Luke Townsley]

I am sure there are better alternatives - if you have the tooling, but one way would be to anneal the steel to soften it, file it to the profile you want, and then reharden it, and hone it. I haven't done this, but I believe that the hardening is a two step process and that the whole thing can probably be done with a propane torch.

[Stu Gillard]

I swear by my Dremel for all my molding plane blades.
I use it to create the bevel, then hone with slip stones.

[Johnny Kleso]

You can buy a thinner wheel and raidus the face but if you have a drill press get a mounted stone (over sized dremmel stone) or a small sandpaper tube in the drill press with the table tilted at bevel angle..

You can just use a dremel as it removed metal much slower and your less likely to mess up...

[Robert Rozaieski]

I use a chainsaw file.

[David Keller NC]

Doug - Best way to do this is as follows:

1) Paint the "back" of the iron (actually the part that faces the front of the plane in normal use) with a black magic marker. Allow it to dry thoroughly before placing it back in the plane - about 10 minutes.

2) Wedge the iron in the plane (I'm assuming this is a wooden fork-staff plane) with the iron slightly extended past the sole - there should be the slightest hint of metal showing completely around the profile when you sight down the sole from the front of the plane.

3) Use a scratch awl to trace the profile of the front of the mouth onto the back of the iron - the magic marker should make that scratch line easily visible.

4) Use chainsaw and round files to cut the iron down to the line, as Robert suggested. Most wooden plane irons are not so hard that a coarse file won't work.

5) Note that you will need to relieve the bevel back from the profile on either side of the profile to make the plane work well - in other words, the bevel is faired back from an imaginary point in the center of the round profile, not just vertically down from the cutting edge.

[Jim Koepke]

For these kind of blades I use a variation of the scary sharp method.

Shape a piece of wood to match the profile, then use the wood as the base for the sandpaper to sharpen the blade.

jim

[Chuck Nickerson]

Tools For Working Wood has high-quality narrow (1/4" or 1/8") wheels for a grinder. Those and their Baldor grinder are on my Easter list.