Thread: I've decided to shout myself a couple of new plane blades.

Having found myself down the sharpening rabbit hole, I now have stones that are 800, 1200, 3000 and 8000. And a leather strop.
I now also have a flattening thing - didn't realise I had a dip in the 800 stone that was causing issues down the track.
I'll start with the 800 on these new blades and report back. They're already so very sharp and never having had a new blade before I don't want to stuff them up.

Originally Posted by scottbr

... I now also have a flattening thing - didn't realise I had a dip in the 800 stone that was causing issues down the track. ...

What is your flattening thing? I just use a course daimond plate - works fine, and relatively cheap. Also use it to establish primary bevels when necessary.

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

What is your flattening thing? I just use a course daimond plate - works fine, and relatively cheap. Also use it to establish primary bevels when necessary.

I went to the Japanese Tool Shop in Sydney, which of course was a mistake because they have so much amazing stuff. Bought some stones there and asked them about flattening. They have a proper plate, but also have 90 x 230mm pieces of 10mm float glass and sheets of self adhesive wet and dry paper from Japan. I think it was around $30 all up. They're good people in that shop. Very knowledgeable and helpful.

Originally Posted by scottbr

They're already so very sharp and never having had a new blade before I don't want to stuff them up.

I don't think I've ever had a blade that's sufficiently sharp from the factory. They're ground, but not honed. If there are still grinding marks, you need a mirror finish on the back and the secondary/tertiary bevels before you can say they are sharp.

Done.

They're very good.

I'm now giving all my other blades the identical treatment to see how close in performance I can get them before deciding whether to order more new ones.

Over the years I've watched plenty of videos on sharpening. All have a slightly different take on things. I suspect everyone has their own sharpening regime and I'm close to having mine.

Just an FYI, if you're getting Veritas blades, their backs are already lapped. They don't have a mirror finish but most of us would make them less flat trying to flatten them further. You just need to hone or grind the bevel to whatever you want and away you go.

While you're giving some love to the blades, check out the cap irons as well. Making sure they mate well with the iron and are cleaned up from their usual chewed up state has made a big difference with some of my older planes. Several had bellied blades and chewed up cap irons that (in hindsight) I shouldn't have wasted my time on - a new blade and cap iron can transform these planes.

The companies you would be ordering the blades from that everyone has mentioned are good and trust worthy, other than I don't endorse carbatec because they charge so much, as most australian middle men do... The problem is when it leaves the company. The shippers are completely incompetent, rife with theft... and no one has any control or recourse over them... So, if you are patient and can wait till covid chaos ends in a couple years then you can revisit buying overseas. Lee Valley is top notch for sure and others have said Dieter.


YMMV

Originally Posted by The Spin Doctor

The companies you would be ordering the blades from that everyone has mentioned are good and trust worthy, other than I don't endorse carbatec because they charge so much, as most australian middle men do... The problem is when it leaves the company. The shippers are completely incompetent, rife with theft... and no one has any control or recourse over them... So, if you are patient and can wait till covid chaos ends in a couple years then you can revisit buying overseas. Lee Valley is top notch for sure and others have said Dieter.
YMMV

As mentioned previously, I ordered some Ron Hock blades from Melbourne. They reached me 6 days after ordering and have been honed and put into commission. They are very good. I'm now trying, and not quite succeeding yet, in bringing my existing blades up to that level.

I think I read that you went with A2 blades. Depending on what woods you generally work with, you will find the edge durability very good or a bit disappointing, they tend to be a bit brittle compared with O1 or PM-V11 and will microchip on hard, siliceous woods (of which we have an abundance in this country!). The manufacturers of A2 blades recommend steeper grinding & honing angles to improve the edge-holding, & I strongly recommend following any advice on that matter that came with your new blades.

You should certainly find your new blades run rings around any old Stanley or Record blades you've used (apart from the HSS laminated blades Chief Tiff mentioned). If you want another leap up in edge-holding, try a PM blade next time - I've not struck anything else that can handle gidgee & she-oaks the way they can.

For ordinary, 'sensible' woods I still love my O1 Hock blades - they are so easy to hone to a good edge & hold it better than original blades by a comfortable margin. Whatever Veritas claim, the PM blades take me more time & effort to achieve same quality of edge, but at least you have the right gear to handle it...

Cheers,

Yes, Ian, I got the A2 Cryogenic blades from Ron Hock.

I had to look up cryogenic. I understood what it meant from the context of freezing people, but was unfamiliar in the context of steel. It does indeed mean the steel has been frozen in liquid nitrogen to harden it. This I know could be complete nonsense and marketing spin.

But the blades are very good. I might end up buying some more if I can't find any of those HSS ones.

I have resharpened 13 blades over the last few days and learned a lot.

One of the things I leant from the various videos I have watched over the years is that sharpening needs to happen often and the way to help that happen is for the sharpening gear to be nice and handy and easy to use. To that end, I built myself a table that slides out from under one my storage benches when needed. Everything I need is there and ready to use.



.Sharpening station 1.jpgsharpening station2.jpg

Scott

Originally Posted by scottbr

... One of the things I leant from the various videos I have watched over the years is that sharpening needs to happen often and the way to help that happen is for the sharpening gear to be nice and handy and easy to use. ...

That is a really good habit to get into. I try, but honour it more in the breach. A mate who is on the continuum between obsessive and anal, sharpens every tool before he puts it away - even router bits get a few swipes of the diamond stone.

I like using his tools!

... To that end, I built myself a table that slides out from under one my storage benches when needed. Everything I need is there and ready to use. ...

Nice set up, but I am a little concerned that those legs may not be stable enough. If your table moves even a little as you are sharpening, there is a risk that you may round your blades a little.

I wondered how stable it would be, but it doesn't move at all. If I had 4 of those legs, it wouldn't be stable, but because the rear 150mm of the table is sitting on wood when extended, it doesn't budge.

Originally Posted by scottbr

I wondered how stable it would be, but it doesn't move at all. If I had 4 of those legs, it wouldn't be stable, but because the rear 150mm of the table is sitting on wood when extended, it doesn't budge.

Originally Posted by scottbr

......I had to look up cryogenic. .....It does indeed mean the steel has been frozen in liquid nitrogen to harden it. This I know could be complete nonsense and marketing spin....

Nope, Scott, cryogenic treatment is certainly hyped by the marketeers, but it does actually do something useful. Plunging the steel into liquid nitrogen is sort of like a second quench, it causes a very rapid temperature change which converts some of the residual austentite (that didn't convert in the initial quenching of the hot steel) into martensite, which is the physical structure of steel that makes it hard.

I like your "sharpening station" - having the gear handy like that is an excellent encouragement to keep your tools sharp. There was a time, (a long time ago!) when I made sure all my tools were sharp before shutting down for the weekend. That way they were all ready to go the minute I could escape to the workshop. Now I'm retired & in the shed almost every day, I'm nowhere near as organised, but I do keep my sharpening gear always ready on the corner of my "metalwork" bench. A little & often is the go with sharpening, I reckon....

Cheers,
Ian