Thread: Old profiling planes - how to sharpen please.

A stainless steel scouring ball (the ones you use for pots and pans) will take off the surface rust without damaging the edge. If the backs are pitted you'll need to flatten it out with an extra coarse stone or sandpaper on glass, the profiled edges can be sharpened with slip stones

This is one of those "lost arts" of woodworking, to some degree. I was recently learning to do it and couldn't find very much about it online. Lie Nielsen has a video about it that you can stream from their website. I haven't seen it, so I can't recommend it one way or another:

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/...ools-streaming

First, as Elan said, you need to flatten and polish their backs to a mirror shine. This should probably be done before working the bevel. I'll assume you have some kind of system for honing flat/straight blades. Also, you can use your flat stones for any convex shaped blade profile. You just have to rock it and sweep it in the right arc to hit the entire bevel.

After that, you may need to reprofile them to match their soles. This must be done precisely. If they've seen little use, they may be fine. For heavy removal of material, many people use a thin, cutoff wheel mounted on a bench grinder. Something in the 3mm thick range. This will allow you to very precisely hollow-grind them along both interior and exterior contours of the profile. A round (chainsaw) file can also be used for the more precise removal. You can also use sandpaper wrapped around dowels.

Following the establishment of the profile, you'll need to hone and polish the profile to a sharp cutting edge. This should be achieved in the same way that the planes should be used: With the utmost precision and care. This is done much the same as normal when the profile of the blade is convex, by simply honing the arc on a flat stone. When you have a complex moulding plane or a concave (hollow) blade, you need to use profiled stones. The most significant difference in this technique is that you will want to bring the stone to a stationary blade instead of bringing the blade to a stationary stone. Like all other woodworking hand techniques, it takes practice. The trick is to do it at the appropriate angle without removing much material from the profile itself, lest you change it to the point it won't match the sole. I think that this is best achieved by using a fine stone with many strokes and checking it frequently for a wire edge on the back. Don't overhone it.

There are probably a million old oil-lubricated slipstones on the market out there, but those will often need to be reshaped, and they require hunting at junk stores, as they typically aren't identified as valuable by dealers and aren't all that readily available on eBay. However, there are plenty of products still being produced. I can only recommend those which I, personally, own. They are as follows:

DMT Diamond Wave:

https://www.dmtonlinestore.com/Produ...x?ProductId=20

This is a good one for many profiles. It's great for the bevels and, if you're only honing the bevels, then you don't need the next one...

Norton Fine India Superslip:

https://www.amazon.com/Norton-Multif.../dp/B008DF8WZO

This is one that I have for using on the inside of gouge flutes which need to be polished but which are either pitted or badly scratched. It's a "fine india" stone, but that's misleading to those of us with less education on the topic, because a fine india stone is still really damn coarse. It's better for initial polishing of flutes than the diamond wave because it can be held in one hand and is also a bit more coarse. For moulding planes you can probably get by with either this or the diamond wave, but I think regardless of which you settle on, you probably want to have...

Norton Hard Arkansas Superslip:

https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/N...slip-P122.aspx

This is the one to use for polishing bevels to a working edge. I use it any time I hone a concave bevel. It's really great. For really small stuff I also have a very small, 3mm hard arkansas slip. I couldn't find a link for that one, but I believe it is a Norton AS-22. It was around US$35.

Anyway, I hope that helps some.

Cheers,
Luke

Thanks for the info Luke and Elan. Your comprehensive discussion Luke, has me thinking that i have the necessary items to hone all my profile planes so I'll light my wood fire and spend some days honing while the freezing weather burns itself out.
cheers
Sheddie

I have 10 or so 19th C moulding planes that also require sharpening. Haven't taken the plunge yet though (I may pass them on before I ever do).

Paul Sellers has a video on his blog outlining his method.

Vaughan

One thing I like for the grinding to match to the sole on my planes is the old hand cranked grinders that a lot of people don't think have a use. They really shine when you want to carefully shape a moulding plane blade. Electric powered grinders run way to fast . If I'm using electric you will see me turning it off and on to control the speed.
A diamond dressing stick to re shape the stone on the grinder is a good thing . And 5mm thick grinding wheels , the pink saw grinding type.
Second hand tool sellers sometimes have small hand held stones . The same type used for wood carving gouges.

like this is a start
Norton pair of slips stones

http://www.toolexchange.com.au/our-tools/sharpening-stones

Pike Hard Arkansas slip stone with decal 4 x 2"

Fine leather glued around a block shaped like a slip stone and used like a strop is another good thing for razor sharp blades.

I have seen well used complex moulding planes where the owner sharpened them so many times and mainly honed the flat face of the blade and took of the burr on the back with a fine slip stone or and strop . The flat face had an angle change to it which showed he concentrated getting a burr like that and honed a lot more material off that side so as to limit changing the profile of the blade. Something worth considering rather that going hard on both sides.
Rob

This seems so much like sharpening the crooked carving knives so iconic in the Pacific Northwest native carving traditions.
As Luke pointed out, the stone moves to the stationary tool edge.
This takes some learning to do it right. Don't ever worry about speed, it takes some time.

You sharpen from your knees, not your arms. A card with the bevel angle to set your strokes.
Paint the bevel as often as necessary with black felt marker so that you can see what you are really doing.
Very fine wet&dry automotive finishing sandpapers 1K - 4K grits, wrapped around mandrels (old skinny chainsaw files).

Your "Sandpaper Man" has everything you need. Lee Valley here has all the 3M papers as well.
After a little while, it becomes a skill to take pride in being able to accomplish.
It was done in the past, you can do it tomorrow.

It would be interesting to know how they were originally made. Perhaps they were sold with a specific slip stone?

Highly unlikely, bordering on definitely not. Anyone using them was just expected to know how to sharpen them with a standard set of round slip stones.

I was thinking that. Some of those profiles are pretty gnarly.

perhaps "they" cut a profile into a piece of hardwood as a negative when they are brand new. This negative is a keeper. To sharpen, the negative is charged with a buffing/honing paste and the plane dragged backwards over it several times.

this would keep it mega sharp if the user honed it fairly frequently during use?

Would that be a method?

It would be a method, but, again, I strongly doubt that the manufacturer would supply one.

I'm not even sure it would be a good method as you'd lose your back clearance angle pretty much instantly.

Originally Posted by elanjacobs

It would be a method, but, again, I strongly doubt that the manufacturer would supply one.

I'm not even sure it would be a good method as you'd lose your back clearance angle pretty much instantly.

The buyer would make it.

perhaps if the iron were removed, then it could be used like a strop.

ive been thinking of doing this for the carving tools I have.... The lumpy commercial slipstones are awful. By making each chisels positive and negative, in a hard timber, it would help retain the factory profile??

i don't know, I'm only guessing. The little Pfiel chisels are sort of like these profiling planes.

Sounds like a good plan. American Rock Maple would be a good choice, I think; extremely stable, quite hard and practically zero grain

I have and use several dozen Pfeil wood carving gouges. They can all be tuned up and honed on flat surfaces.
I use a variety of mandrels to keep my PacNW style carving knives and adzes "carving sharp".

I have wrecked 2 sets of the slipstones, the water stones, that Lee Valley sells. I'd rather use a chainsaw file wrapped with fine paper.
The really crazy one is the Stubai wood carver's adze. It's a 7/75 and I use a tennis ball for the mandrel.

Multiple curves should be a PITA. Paint all the edge with black felt marker , mandrels of different radii, 2k - 4k grit papers.

I know an antique tool fool in Britain. He's never found a contoured stone for sharpening. Round, oval and flat shapes, yes.