Originally Posted by
James Pallas
I’ve been around this work for a while. The ruler “trick” has been around longer than I am old. Maybe not with a ruler but similar things. When I learned to sharpen it was very common for a craftsman to take the last stroke across the edge of his carborundum stone. Some raised the back of the iron a small amount “ruler trick” some kept it flat but because the stone was dished a bit there was a sharp edge on the stone. I was taught to raise the handle a bit for the bevel side of the chisel for the last few strokes. Some used a strop after, others used their hand (most were leathery). I never saw a plane iron with the back shiny more than an inch or so. The same with chisels. Don’t know how they ever accomplished a thing with those dull tools��. Nothing new under the sun, just reworded some. Just how many plane irons and chisels have you found used with backs completely flattened?
Many of the used planes that have passed through my shop came with bevels on the back. Many came with blades straight off a grinder on both sides. Some planes came with little ever done to the blade, especially the back. It seems for many the factory grind on the back of the blade was fine.
Blade sharpening threads often bring back memories of General Shop class back in 1963. The rough work was done with a plane and then we would use sandpaper to achieve a smooth surface. Maybe in the Wood Shop class they got better use from hand planes. The Industrial Arts wasn't my major.
Originally Posted by
J. Greg Jones
Seems like that could present a challenge as the blade wears. If you are moving it back ¼” on each sharpening, eventually there will be a bump to deal with. The ruler trick is so minuscule, less than a 1* bevel on the blade, and it maintains that 1* bevel with each sharpening.
He is only using two stones, and with the ruler when the burr is removed, the edge of the blade is off the stone. The burr peels away as soon as it hits the edge of the stone.
Once the back has been worked the only time it is on the stone is to remove the burr. That is done by pulling the length of the blade across the stone. Any hypothetical bump would liley be in the low ten thousandths of an inch of that much.
Originally Posted by
J. Greg Jones
I believe the final result is because he is an excellent craftsman, and part of that is due to his willingness to explore different methods and apply the results to his process. Certainly there are other parts of his process that people are calling out in this thread, such as his process of dealing with tear-out by closing the mouth of the plane rather than adjusting the cap iron. The cap iron the prevalent means to deal with that problem today, but there is no question that he gets excellent results adjusting the frog.
Again, I’m not saying the Cosman way is the right way or the only way, but I do believe he has proven in his videos that his methods produce excellent results. Why do people feel it necessary to give him crap for that, just because it’s not the method that they use?
My recollection of Rob Cosman's history is that as a woodworker he couldn't earn a living and decided to enter teaching woodworking. He has also been involved in marketing products for others and himself.
Maybe my interaction with Rob when he was promoting his blade and video with him claiming people could turn an old Stanley/Bailey plane into a Lie-Nielsen simply by purchasing his blades left me a little cold to his ways.
My intent is not "give him crap." My intent is to keep it simple.
More than once a person has posted on this site (and others) about a problem with getting a plane to work. It is often someone new who after researching everything has not only added a secondary bevel but a back bevel and cambered the blade and now they want to know, "what is wrong?"
With good steel there is nothing wrong with a single flat bevel within a range of angles depending on the steel and the work it will be doing. The same goes for a hollow grind. In fact a hollow grind is wonderful for freehanding a single bevel. A hollow grind would make life easier for me. Not enough easier for me to bother buying an electric grinder to produce a hollow grind on my tools.
jtk
Last edited by Jim Koepke; 07-26-2020 at 10:44 PM.
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