Thread: How sharp is sharp. and the plane pull test

I will try it later, although I do not want to know how many planes fall of the bench trying this.

I had to say made me nervous watching that [emoji6]

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Yeah I'm not sure I'd be keen to try this [emoji1]

I have nightmares about dropping my planes just putting them down on the bench!

I can tell you that i did have visions of the broken #7 that was recently posted in mind as I was pulling my plane along the bench!

Originally Posted by LanceC

I can tell you that i did have visions of the broken #7 that was recently posted in mind as I was pulling my plane along the bench!

Literally every time I pick up my #7 the last few days. Should have put a NSFL tag on that thread, total tool gore.

i guess if your dogging system is close to the edge of the bench like that, you could improvise one along the centre by clamping a scrap down at each end. and then if the plane falls it'll hopefully just land on the bench and not the floor

i notice that paul did his tests on a fairly wide board. but i also notice that the plane jerked quite uncomfortably at the start of his second pull, so maybe a wide board alone isn't protection enough

I would love to try this , if I remember when I back in the workshop,
But I think I will definitely be using a guard rail.

I wonder if we can turn this into a sport/competition lol.

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

I would love to try this , if I remember when I back in the workshop,
But I think I will definitely be using a guard rail.

I wonder if we can turn this into a sport/competition lol.

something like the belt sander races?

Well, then I would like to enter a few of mine:

In the Smoother Class my #4:

20200426_195729.jpg

In the Jointer Class my odd 7 1/2 (just to clarify, it used to be a #8 ):

20200427_071450.jpg

In the Baby Class a #2:

20200427_075353.jpg

And finally in the Oldtimer Wood Class a Coffin Smoother:

20200427_082128.jpg


However, I guess one would need to clarify criteria / conditions: type of wood and dimensions for the board, thickness of shave to be achieved and probably a few more.

I tried to pull it with a cheap suitcase scale to see any difference . But my set-up is not good enough for any result. And before anyone jumps on that. I am not serious. I know it wouldn't say anything and I was just having fun and fooling around in the shed

Originally Posted by ian

something like the belt sander races?

Now that was an entertaining ten minutes on YouTube! I'd never heard of that.

Originally Posted by Cklett

Well, then I would like to enter a few of mine

Excellent! Am I correct in assuming no shavings on the wooden plane? Considering how light they are, I wonder if it that would be achievable by anyone other than a sushi chef?

Originally Posted by LanceC

Excellent! Am I correct in assuming no shavings on the wooden plane? Considering how light they are, I wonder if it that would be achievable by anyone other than a sushi chef?

To be honest, I realised the blade of the coffin smoother is not quite straight. So I still need to tune it up a bit. Will give a better try this avo.

Until then here is some fun to watch on how to take that even further D

YouTube


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My interest in this is the Centre of Effort issue, which I wrote about some years back. Briefly, these video demonstrate that downforce is unnecessary when pushing a plane, and that pushing forward is all that is needed. In other words, drop the hand on the plane handle and push from lower down for efficiency. Do not push down at the toe (the knob). If you need to do so, then the plane iron is dull.

Regards from Perth

Derek

My understanding also from Paul Seller's video is that as long as the blade is sharp it will cut into the wood. I would then think that with the blade angle it should basically pull the plane onto the wood and all one needs is to push forward. I would think that the downforce one would have to apply is in some relationship to the sharpness of the blade. But I only know a fraction of what the majority of you guys know.

Anyway, I gave it another go with my wooden smoother. I tuned it to the best I could, but could not get any shavings from just pulling it. Using it normally with my two hands it produced nice thin shavings with no effort. It probably is too light for my ability of blade sharpening

20200428_113921.jpg

Anyway, it was fun trying things out and I will leave it at that

Originally Posted by Cklett

as long as the blade is sharp it will cut into the wood. I would then think that with the blade angle it should basically pull the plane onto the wood and all one needs is to push forward.

that's also my understanding, for whatever that's worth

with regard specifically to the pull-test, i think the risk comes in when the plane is just sharp enough to bite in, but not sharp enough to keep cutting -- and that's where pulling on it is prone to make it stick and then jerk free, launching itself to the floor. i guess the same would happen if the blade is sharp enough but is extended further than it's capable of cutting

i guess if you already know your planes are sharp enough, and you can dial in a fine shaving, then the pull test is reasonably low risk; and if you know they're definitely too blunt to even bite, then it's also reasonably low risk. but if you know they're sharp, but you aren't sure they're sharp enough, or you don't yet have a feel for how much of a cut is appropriate, then that's where it becomes a risky test