Blade Sharpening Melbourne

[pelorus32]

I'm trying to find somewhere in Melbourne to grind a plane blade for me. I want to change the cut from 25 to 35 degrees - steepening up a LA plane for difficult grain. I don't have any mechanical way of doing this so thought I'd take it somewhere.

Short of making a major journey to Dandenong :rolleyes: I can't find anywhere. Any suggestions about somewhere near Fitzroy/Collingwood?

Thanks

Mike

[Iain]

Gills Tools Sydney Rd Coburg, not far from the now defunct Pentridge.
Alternatively how about buying a veritas jig and doing it yourself, cost about $75 from carbatec, or see Dereks post on the Mk II.
I have ground several buggered Titans to re establish an edge where I suspect the previous owners used them as screwdrivers or butter knives, using a cheap oilstone to get the initial bevel then scary sharp for the final finish.
Takes a while but once it's done it's only a matter of a quick touch up every so often.

[pelorus32]

Thanks Iain,

I'm just feeling lazy about the initial grind. Speaking of scary sharp I use that to keep the blades sharp. They are so sharp- I had removed the toe piece on a jack plane the other night because it was binding when I tried to open the mouth. Merrily cleaning away and then I noticed blood and felt the blade scraping the bone in my left index finger. The blade was so sharp that I didn't feel the cut until it hit the bone. I had this sort of momentary mental lapse where I thought "what's making my finger bleed and scrape?" Then I worked it out and removed my finger form the blade. Very odd and a bit frightening.

I'm sure that you can get blades sharp lots of different ways. I'm also certain that one of those ways is scary sharp. The true frictionless cut.

Have the right handers out there ever noticed that the most scarred finger they have is the left index finger? It's the one I always attack when I have the clumsies when using a blade. Is the reverse true for the lefties?

Mike

[Dan]

You don't have to grind the whole bevel in one hit. If you have a guide, set it up for your new angle and make a small bevel on the blade, use the blade and when it gets blunt sharpen it again using the new angle. Each time you sharpen the blade the new bevel (at 35deg) will get bigger and bigger and will eventually become the only bevel on the blade.

[pelorus32]

Dan,

If you were closer I'd kiss you:D

Great idea, pity my tiny brain didn't get there!

Mike

[Iain]

Careful, you may attain a reputation that will be hard to shake :D

[derekcohen]

You don't have to grind the whole bevel in one hit.

Mike, Dan is spot on - you only have to use a microbevel.

But why alter the blade bevel from 25 to only 35 degrees? On a bevel up blade, with a bed of 12 degrees, you will only get a cutting angle of 47 degrees, which is not any different from a standard (Stanley) bevel down plane. Do you just want to cut pine? On the other hand, if you are looking to use it on hardwoods, especially those with interlinked grain, such as jarrah, karri, etc, then you should be looking at a minimum of a 50 degree cutting angle (38 degree bevel), but preferably 55 degrees (43 degree bevel) and even better 62 degrees cutting angle (50 degree bevel). The latter will be the most successful on gnarly timber (and is the setting I use).

Regards from Perth

Derek

[pelorus32]

Thanks once again Derek. I've got some very hard old teak. Most of the time I get away with 25 degrees on a 12 degree bed. However in a few places there's some nasty grain reversal and do what I might I can't help but get tearout. What I was looking to do was to set up a second blade for the LA plane with a steeper pitch. The most usual timbers are things like Celery Top, teak and swamp gum or "mountain ash". Other stuff like boat grade huon or kauri is pretty simple stuff.

What blade angle would you suggest is best for a second blade with that kind of stuff?

Regards

Mike

[derekcohen]

What blade angle would you suggest is best for a second blade with that kind of stuff?

Mike

If you are not planing a wide variety of gnarly stuff, then try a 38 degree bevel first (= cutting angle of 50 degrees). If this does not tame the tearout then go up a knotch to a 43 degree bevel, and so on..

Personally, I just have 25- (37 degree cutting angle) and a 50 degree (62 degree cutting angle) bevelled blades.

Regards from Perth

Derek