flattening chisels and whatever

[Tom Bussey]

I am not sure if this should be here or in metal working but here it goes.

Depending on the chisel and its intended purpose, the hardest or most time consuming part is flattening the back.

My grandson asked me how I sharpened chisels and said they used Work Sharp. He is in ninth grade.
I also read a post here about CBN wheels for a Work Sharp. Some said they wouldn't use them because of what they had read about gumming up because older tool steel wasn't as hard. Some liked just using the type of abrasives that came with it. Sighted cost as a factor, but CBN could be cheaper in the long run. There were also many other differing opinions also.

To me the most time consuming part it getting the back flat. I asked here if anyone flattened on a work Sharp. Some did, all of the time, and others wouldn't even consider it. My disclaimer is I do not have a Work Sharp, not do I plan to. I read or found out somehow that that it rotates at 350 RPM on getting one. Anyway I know the hardest thing to do is put something up against a spinning disc without messing up part of the piece . The piece is either tilted side to side or front to back or both. And the faster the disc spins the more initial problems occur.

Anyway I have CBN wheels on my bench grinder and I haven't found the loading up to be a problem. At least a problem that can't be fixed with a small brass ( steel in a pinch) brush and about 30 seconds. .
Anyway this is what I came up with. A 60 RPM gear reducing motor. I made the adapter for the 80/180 CBN disc.

The motor is reversible ( and will be awesome ) But I haven't wired it that way yet. I haven't even mounted it yet. My friend always reads nameplates and commented it can over heat is run for a long time. And since he s in electronics he gave me a fan so I have to get it wired in also.

I am not finished with it yet but I have tried it out and I haven't had a heat problem yet.
I can stall out the disc if I use to much pressure on the chisels. Which is good pressure puts deeper scratches in the steel
I worked between a 1000 grit diamond stone and the 80/180 CBN wheel and I flattened two Narex chisels I am in the process of making specialty chisels, Dove tail chisels butt more on those later.
At real slow speed the CBN wheel tends to load up and you can feel it while working but the wire brush takes care of it in 10 seconds or so. I clean it with it turned off.
Getting on and off the wheel is a piece of cake. not problems what so ever.

Anyway pictures

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I like the way it works and right now I am trying to decide if getting a finer grit disc or just take the deeper scratches out by hand . I have already designed my leather disc in my head. Will glue the leather to a 1/8 aluminum disc.

I am sure there will be questions and comments so I will keep this a little short.

And I think everyt thing that you see could be made out of wood although the adapter between the motor and disc would have to be a little bigger because of the threaded inserts.

[Jim Koepke]

Johny Kleso built a similar system > http://www.rexmill.com/sharpening/MKIII/MKIII.html

His comment on this type of sharpening system:

This is a machine I modeled at the the Lee Valley MKII and Lap Sharpe Sharpening System.. They are the best machines out there for flatten backs of old blades and irons in my opinion and I have sharpened a lot.

If yours is an 8" disk Lee Valley sells PSA disks that can be used on your set up > https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop...m?item=05M3024

Please note my set up for power sharpening is the Veritas Mk II Power Sharpening System.

BTW Tom, nice looking set up.

jtk

[Warren Mickley]

Flattening the back is a trivial operation considering the life of a tool. Flatten once and you can use the tool full time for 40 or 50 years. If you really use the tools you will soon forget how long it took to get them in shape.

[lowell holmes]

Go and look at the diamond hones at a local store.


https://www.google.com/search?q=diam...h=969&biw=1920

[Tom Bussey]

The CBN wheel is for a WORK Sharp System and is 6 inches. The Wheel cost $59 dollars from Wood Turners Wonders.com And the motor cost 24.99. And I guess I failed to say that I flattened 2 chisels in 1/2 hour and have 2 more to do just for dovetail chisels.
And flattening chisels is not a trivial operation when you also consider plane blades. And this is only one of my drawers. And I can attest to the hours spent flattening the ones in the drawer. And yes flattening a 1/2 chisel is a trivial operation but doing a 2 inch one or several is not trivial. Neither is doing crank necked chisels, they tend to have a bow
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[Tom Bussey]

If I really use my tools?

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[Curt Putnam]

Tom, that is really intriguing stuff. Thanks for posting it as well as disclosing the source to save us time.

Please let us know if the if a finer grit wheel works out better than sandpaper or stones as one moves into the polishing phase.

[Jim Matthews]

DSC03259.JPG

Details on the square, please.

Surprised to see an ECE smoother among the cast iron!

[Larry Frank]

Are the CBN wheels on the Worksharp better than diamond disks?

[Warren Mickley]

If I really use my tools?

I was thinking that by the time someone wears out a plane iron, the amount of time preparing the back seems trivial. I wonder if you have ever worn out a plane iron.

[Charles Guest]

Flatten the backs of your chisels and plane irons. As has been said, the effort will be trivial in the fullness of time. It may not seem trivial if you own lots of duplicate tools - sets and sets of chisels, duplicated planes, etc.

Every chisel you own, and every plane iron you own, should be able to be flattened in one day at most.

[Doug Dawson]

Flatten the backs of your chisels and plane irons. As has been said, the effort will be trivial in the fullness of time. It may not seem trivial if you own lots of duplicate tools - sets and sets of chisels, duplicated planes, etc.

Every chisel you own, and every plane iron you own, should be able to be flattened in one day at most.

I would disagree that you have to flatten anything but the leading 1/4” or so of a plane iron. If it’s so out of flat that it would make a functional difference, just throw it away and get another one.

”But what as it continues to wear down?” you say. That’s for another day, if you ever get there.

Time spent flattening warped plane iron backs is the oubliette of woodworking, IMO.

[Jim Koepke]

Every chisel you own, and every plane iron you own, should be able to be flattened in one day at most.

Is that one day at most per chisel or plane iron?

Maybe all of them in one day if one hasn't accumulated very many.

Trying to count the planes in my shop ended soon after it hit 50. There is at least three times that now. Some planes have multiple irons like a Stanley #45 or a #55. Most of my bench planes and block planes have spare irons.

There are also quite a few chisels in the shop.

jtk

[Charles Guest]

Is that one day at most per chisel or plane iron?

Maybe all of them in one day if one hasn't accumulated very many.

Trying to count the planes in my shop ended soon after it hit 50. There is at least three times that now. Some planes have multiple irons like a Stanley #45 or a #55. Most of my bench planes and block planes have spare irons.

There are also quite a few chisels in the shop.

jtk

Speechless.

[Frederick Skelly]

That's pretty neat Tom.
Also thanks for sharing the sources you used. I am one of the ones who uses my worksharp only for flattening. I hadnt seen the cbn discs. Will order one.

Fred