Thread: Wooden Plane Setup - avoiding tearout

Hi Simon,
I discovered wooden planes myself only a couple of years ago. Before that I always thought why bother with all that hit and miss adjusting when a metal plane has a screw to adjust the blade. I remembered school woodwork with wooden planes and always cetting the teacher to adjust the plane. Anyhoo one day I found a nice wood plane in a junk shop and on an impulse took it home and played with it. I was hooked.
I keep a flat block of hardwood to set up the plane on. Place plane on block then put in blade and chip breaker so that blade edge rests on wood. Make sure blade is firm against plane bed then insert wedge and tap in moderately firm. Take a few shavings off a test piece of wood. Chances are first up it will cut a bit deep so by tapping the heel of the plane back off the blade a bit. Try again. To advance I tap toe of plane but some tap top if blade. It takes some practice but there is that moment when it comes together and it feels great. Make yourself a small mallet just for planes or a hardware plastic headed one will do. By sighting along the sole just as with a metal plane you also get an idea of how the blade is set. Lateral adjustment is done by tapping the side of the iron and again this takes a bit of practice but will soon fall into place. By using a block to set up the blade you at least start with the blade square. You can read all kinds of books but in the end you have to get the hands on practice and by just doing it a bit it will eventually click.
As for sharpening I would polish the back a bit more. Sounds like you are using scary sharp method? The back should be as fine ground as the bevel. At 25* there is a chance the edge will chip on harder woods so I would put a secondary bevel at about 30*. Does not need to be exact but a few more degrees than the primary bevel will add durability and also make touching up the edge quicker as you only hone the secondary bevel and not the whole bevel. If you can not shave hair off your arm with the iron then it still needs some work and all the other plane setting magic will not overcome the performance of a dull blade.
That is a quick overview of what works for me so over to some others.
Regards
John

Agree with John on all counts.

Definitely concentrate on getting that edge really sharp first up. If you can get hold of a good fine honing/finishing stone (4000+ grit range) this is the sort of polish you will need to get nice, tear-out free shavings on pine. I consider 1200 grit to be a honing stone, not a finishing stone.

Also, MDF and softwoods aren't realy suitable for setting blocks IMO. A hardwood set block will provide a more consistant fine setting.

Dave.

Scary sharp method is indeed the method I use to Sharpen, just got one of the Veritas MkII honing guides the other day and am quite enjoying it.

Thanks for the tips guys.

So just on a note about actually setting the blade:

• when setting the blade initially - set the blade in about the right place and firmly tap the wedge down tight. Whilst the blade is resting on a piece of hardwood, tap the heel or toe as needed to adjust the blade, with my purpose made plane adjusting hammer.

• To set it to take a bigger bite/thicker shaving - hold the heel and tap the toe? (does this just work via friction?)

• To set it to take a smaller bite/thiner shaving - hold the toe tap the heel.

• To adjust the blade squareness - tap the blade on the side

I will have another go at flattening the back of the blade it is pretty flat but could do with another go to clean up the edges, the middle is close to perfect. And I will put a microbevel on this time too.

When I do the micro bevel with the Vertitas tool, do you just do the microbevel with a 800+ grit sandpaper, I do have some 1200?

Cheers

Simon,
You have got the setting parts right. The wedge tightness is something experience will teach. Ot only needs to be firm enough to hold blade in place. After a while you get a feel for it so go for tight enough not pounded in
As for the sharpening here is what I would do.
You need to get the back flat and polished to a finer grit. This polished area needs to extend all along the cutting edge. This polished back meets the polished bevel and gives you the sharp edge. The smoother both surfaces are then the sharper the edge. The polishing of the back needs only be close to the cutting edge so the whole back does not need polishing. By how you described the back I would start again with say 240 or 320 paper and work that to extend the flat part all along the edge then work up the grits getting a finer polish each time. When it is mirror looking at better than the 1200 grit used this far then it is time for the secondary bevel. Use the guide and set it to get about 30*. Hone on the same grit you finished the back and work until you can feel a burr along the back edge. Gently remove burr by putting the back flat on paper as when the polishing was done. A couple of strokes should do this. That is the secondary bevel. Every time you hone that bevel it will get larger and take longer to do and eventually you will have to redo the primary bevel to save yourself time or if the edge gets chipped. The back is done for ever and unless there is serious damage that is it. It gets a bit of a rub every time the burr is removed in any case.
I use an oil stone but am doing the same process. Feeling the burr is the secret to sharpening as it tells you both serfaces have met to form the edge. There are mountains of info on sharpening on this forum and the net in general. Good idea to watch some actual sharpenibg on utube as that is likley clearer than my ramble.
Regards
John