Rob Lee, I Need Advice

[Bill Houghton]

I'd recommend that you try a close chipbreaker with your vintage Stanley's first - and see if that is an approach you'd prefer.

Quick survey: how many corporations can we name with a CEO who recommends NOT spending money on his company's products without trying what you've got first?

Rob makes me shake my head in admiration regularly, and this is just one more example.

[Stew Hagerty]

Quick survey: how many corporations can we name with a CEO who recommends NOT spending money on his company's products without trying what you've got first?

Rob makes me shake my head in admiration regularly, and this is just one more example.

Absolutely! Go Rob!

[Chris Hachet]

I think Archie makes a great point. Sharpening techniques play into just about any kind of hand tool. This translates into considering how you are going to sharpen a tool before you buy it IMHO. I finish with Spyderco stones, but if I am dealing with tough situations I go to a piece of MDF with LV's green buffing compound on it. Another way to achieve the same results Archie does via a slightly different methodology. It seems to me that even contentious threads often end up in violent agreement.

Sharp kills a lot of problems. Just having a vintage pre war stanley tuned up where the frog is making proper contact, the chip breaker is set properly, and the darned thing is sharp will work fine in most cases. That being said, I want to get a 13,000 grit stone...

[Stew Hagerty]

Sharp kills a lot of problems. Just having a vintage pre war stanley tuned up where the frog is making proper contact, the chip breaker is set properly, and the darned thing is sharp will work fine in most cases. That being said, I want to get a 13,000 grit stone...

Your absolutely right Chris. I have #'s 3 through 8 vintage Stanleys. All well tuned, my go-to is the #4. I have a LV PM-V11 blade & matching chipbreaker in it. I love that plane. But even though I use a .010 feeler gauge to set the chipbreaker, I still get more tearout than I want.