Thread: Plane Blades and Chisels ( A progress report )

Originally Posted by Loco1960

Helmut,

I am still waiting on the missing 1/2" long paring chisel from the first batch; what is happening???? The last data is now 15 months old and at that stage it was close to completion.

BR,

Fraser

Hi Fraser,

Still progressing, grinding the bevel edged chisels take forever.. then the 1/2" long paring chisels come after that.

I asked a while back if someone could send me a sample chisel from the first batch, so we could make sure the new ones match up, but never got one. If you have one you can spare for a few days so I can measure it up, it would be appreciated.


Ray

Ray,

I do, assuming I can get it off the handle. Any size better for you? Where do you want it sent? SMS me if you like on 0419 345 690.

BR,

Fraser

Originally Posted by RayG

Hi Fraser,

Still progressing, grinding the bevel edged chisels take forever.. then the 1/2" long paring chisels come after that.

I asked a while back if someone could send me a sample chisel from the first batch, so we could make sure the new ones match up, but never got one. If you have one you can spare for a few days so I can measure it up, it would be appreciated.


Ray

Originally Posted by Brobdingnagian

November, (but late november) still look to be a goer even with all the break downs

-J

So now that November and December have been and gone, how much progress has been made on the parers?

Originally Posted by Ray153

So now that November and December have been and gone, how much progress has been made on the parers?

Stalled at the moment Ray.. but hopefully Josh will start again when we get a few disasters under control..

Ray

I haven't seen any feedback on the turning skews so here's a quick review.

Size 29mm wide x 6.5mm thick. Blade length 174mm from shoulder at tang to tip of long point.

Skew angle 60 degrees. Bevel angle 45 degrees.

Ground flat and polished faces with square and parrallel edges.

Initial impression: Super shiney! Nice solid feel. The thickness is good for a skew this wide.

The tang seemed a bit narrow so I pulled the handles off a couple of others to compare. It is narrower than the Sorby and Record skews, but is a little longer than both and 1.5mm thicker than the Sorby of the same width.

I put a long handle on it and stoned off the sharp edges for comfort and to allow it slide over the tool rest smoothly.

I sharpened it and four others for comparrison in the same way, a swipe across the grind stone and a rub on a fine silicone carbide stone.

The other four were a P & N 30mm, Sorby 30 and 25mm and Record 25mm.

For a torture test of egde holding ability I put a piece of Batu already smoothed 90mm round x 450 long between centres and planed it with each skew until the tool felt blunt.
Both Sorbys performed poorly, the Record was a bit better, the P&N was good but the Forum skew lasted the longest. I used the whole edge in these tests and the Forum skew had a slightly longer cutting edge.

I then mounted a piece of rough sawn pine 40 x 40 x 250 long between centres for each skew and smoothed then turned beads along the length until the tool felt blunt.
In this test most of the work was done on the short point and the soft pine was no problem for any of the skews. The Forum skew cut beautifully and stayed sharp for the whole length, but was a little more awkward to use due to the more acute skew angle and steeper bevel angle than I prefer.

I know these tests aren't very scientific, my aim was to decide which tools to keep as skews and which to reshape as scrapers.

My impression after playing around with them all for a while is that the forum skew will take a very sharp edge and hold it better than any skew I have used.

I was dissappointed with the 30mm Sorby, it's too thin and doesn't hold an edge very well.

I was impressed with the Record skew. It's solid and holds a good edge. The factory handle is too small and too light though.
GEDC0484.JPGGEDC0482.jpgGEDC0485.JPGGEDC0486.JPGGEDC0487.JPG


Left Sorby 30mm, middle Forum skew 30mm, right Record 25mm. Sorby was 2nd hand, forum and Record are original grind.

Best wishes

Steve

Hi Steve,

Nice to see an evaluation of the finished turning skews. I get a little bit of a kick seeing the comparison. I'm sure all the others involved in the marathon project feel the same.

I doubt we'll ever do this thing again, it just takes way too much time, but seeing it alongside your other chisels, they do look good.

Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

Stalled at the moment Ray.. but hopefully Josh will start again when we get a few disasters under control..

Ray

So what does that actually mean?

Has anything happened over the last two months?

When do you anticipate, as you put it, getting a few disasters under control?

Originally Posted by Ray153

So what does that actually mean?

Has anything happened over the last two months?

When do you anticipate, as you put it, getting a few disasters under control?

Only a couple of weeks break over Christmas, before that it was a series of extremely late nights.. Where did you get the two months from?

Ray

Originally Posted by RayG

Only a couple of weeks break over Christmas, before that it was a series of extremely late nights.. Where did you get the two months from?

Ray

Josh posted on 8/11 that he had hopes of completion by late November. I get the two months from 8/11 to now.

Stuffy (Steve)

It's great to see a comparative test like this. It would be great to see more evaluations along these lines from others too.


Regards
Paul

Hopefully the grinding crew won't melt or get heat stroke with the current weather - I can't see any sane person getting much done unless their shed has air-con. I know I'm not getting much done.....

Another hot day today as well... It was in the high 40's in the shed during the afternoon, the troops went on strike.

Forecast top today is 44C (111 in old money )

Ray

Is there any possibility that this thread can be updated with a detailed description of what is left to do with the parer chisels and an accurate assessment of how much time that work is going to take?

By detailed, I mean a description like xxx number of chisels have xxxx number of side bevels to grind, xxx number have the end bevel to go etc.

Some pictures of what the chisels currently look like would be good too.

Ray

Originally Posted by Ray153

Is there any possibility that this thread can be updated with a detailed description of what is left to do with the parer chisels and an accurate assessment of how much time that work is going to take?

By detailed, I mean a description like xxx number of chisels have xxxx number of side bevels to grind, xxx number have the end bevel to go etc.

Some pictures of what the chisels currently look like would be good too.

Ray

Hi Ray,

No progress in the last few weeks, we have been busy on other projects.

The finished chisels look like this....



Ray