Thread: My first tool cabinet

I use candle wax to lubricate the sole and my blades are always razor sharp I have even tried protruding the blade a ridiculous amount it catches once and then on the second pass it just glides over it.

It's got to be the angle your blade has been ground to. You can have a sharp blade but if the angle is wrong or to rounded it works like a ski with a turned up front edge. Check that it's close to 25 degree. With a steel ruler on the sole and the plane held to the light you can see where the ruler rests on the blade.

Rob

Assuming that you have sufficient projection of the work for the blade to cut, and you are using a bevel-down plane, I would certainly follow up Rob's suggestion & check your blade bevel, as a start point. Clearance behind cutting edges is a very important, but sometimes neglected factor. One of the more common 'mistakes' most of us make with sharpening between grinds, is to let the secondary bevel sneak up too high and wide, & especially if free-handing, rounding it over a bit, which greatly reduces clearance. In my view, this is one of the advantages of BU planes on end grain work, because no matter what your sharpening bevel is, you always have 12 or 15 degrees (whatever the bed angle is) of clearance. I reckon a minimum of 10 degrees of clearance is desirable for compressible material like wood.

If you are using a BU plane, the more likely cause is that the work-piece is moving back under pressure from the plane. It takes a bit of practice to get the balance right, but you should be able to hold the work-piece against the stop with hand-pressure, & cut a smooth, continuous shaving if everything is working properly ....

Cheers,

I have an angle finder which I use frequently on my irons because some are 30° and others a 25° I also use mkII honing guide and I can't studd up there but I think the work is moving back yet again I am pushing it with all my might This is hoop pine and even though it's regarded as soft wood try and rip it by hand and you'll soon discover just how annoyingly slow it rips, even on the table saw I can hear a difference in the motor, I can't help but wonder just maybe if thickness has anything to do with it. It's 23mm. Anyway shooting radiata I never had a problem nor camphour nor even oak but this one is just driving me up the wall. I even put it in the vice and tried it freehand sure enough it planed but I did press fairly hard on it.

I am convinced my whole setup is correct since I'm very meticulous when it comes to sharpening and since were on this subject of sharpening I've also abandoned David Charlsworth ruler trick, as sharp it is using this trick I've discovered it makes the tip of the iron brittle and when in use especially shooting you will get small chips in the blade leaving ridges on your work. A2 steel isn't all cracked up as it's advertised but anyway since I stopped applying the ruler trick I've had no more issues with it. All I can do is keep plotting along till I find a solution to it I do not want to have to resort to my tablesaw, the plan here is to get to a point to where I can be as efficient as machinery and be rid of them to reclaim much needed shop space and stop feeling guilty whenever I use them. I know some may think it's silly but it's a hobby not a business but one never knows where this road may lead to besides it sure beats paying for gym.

Can you put up some photos of the plane & the iron & some long-grain shavings & etc?
Cheers,
Paul

Apologies for aking so long to reply work and all just got time now to continue with my build, I posted the pics you requested I took some different thickness long grain shavings for you to look at. As you can see she takes rather nice shavings alot better than my LN bronze smoother I will forever regret selling my veritas smoother I personally think she planes a hell of a lot better than the bronze but I'm yet to try out the 4 1/2.

I tried the metho trick and it worked but as soon as it begun to dry she was back to her old annoying ways again.

I hope those photos shed some some light.

Originally Posted by section1

I hope those photos shed some some light.

Yah. Work sucks.
You won't get much sense outta me ... but other people here know some stuff.

However ... the mouth looks like it is set pretty wide there ... not sure if that is what you want for a shooting/chuting plane.

Cheers,
Paul

I opened the mouth so you can see the blade

Originally Posted by section1

I opened the mouth so you can see the blade

In fact you should use a pretty wide mouth when shooting - there is no advantage in having a fine mouth for end-grain, so open it up as wide as you like, or at least wide enough to allow lots of room for shavings to pass through.

The pic clears up one issue - you are using a BU plane, so sharpening angles & clearance behind your blade is not an issue. I use a Veritas LA smoother for shooting and I've not had a problem on Hoop pine or any other softwood. The only thing I can suggest is that the work-piece is moving back, or that you aren't advancing it quite enough. The fact that you can plane end-grain on a piece held in a vise supports that diagnosis...

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

In fact you should use a pretty wide mouth when shooting

Originally Posted by pmcgee

You won't get much sense outta me ... but other people here know some stuff.

I refer you to exhibits A and B.
Paul

As i made mention before the metho trick seems to work and I believe you correct Ian in your assumptions of the work pulling back because if I can plane it when soaked and can't when it's dry it suggest to me that I'm not holding it in place. That seems to me the most logical conclusion, tomorrow I will hone the blade and see what happens otherwise atleast I know there is the metho alternative.

To test your theory can you use a holdfast or a clamp to hold the work until you get used to using your shooting board with this timber?

Then I won't be able to shoot I hav to feed the work into the plane if I clamp it down I can shoot just once then unclamp and do it again It's very time consuming, for now I'll just wet the end it seems to work. On a happier note I just bought a 2a hand drill like blood knew out of the box all up including shipping $188 I'm still trying to work out how to tell Mrs.

Originally Posted by section1

$188 I'm still trying to work out how to tell Mrs.

Don't.


Or ... it's a portable drill-press with integrated SawStop-style technology. The latest thing.