Yesterday, getting ready for some more shop work, I got out my Japanese wetstones and sharpened just about everything. All the plane irons, and just about all the chisels and gouges. Hey, I know this belongs over at Knots, but I feel more comfortable here.
I used to do the scary sharp thing with sandpaper, but now prefer the stones.
Here are some pics of the plane lineup after finishing their irons.
And here is a closeup of the low angle block plane after skating it across some cherry endgrain, blade down at about .002″.
My stone sequence ends with one at 8000 grit, and the edges look like mirrors.
Replies
I've always enjoyed a liesurely time getting things back to sharp..it's Zen like.
I wonder how many here know what the button on the wood jointer plane fore of the iron is for?
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
I have often wondered that , so what is it for?
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
It is a 'strike button' for iron retraction. Think about hitting a hammer handle's butt when held upside down, the head gets tighter...same principal. In this case the iron tends to stay at rest, while the body is whacked away from it.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
Ahh, Thank you .
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
Very nice selection of planes.
Nice planes Gene.
Have you tried diamond stones? I get tired of waterstones dishing out, sandpaper just doesn't work that well for me, and oilstones are slow. Diamond stones cut fast, with any lubricant.
Mike, I always end a sharpening session by re-flattening the stones. The softer ones go to a piece of thick plate glass, on which is sprayed water, and I've a container of carborundum grit of a sieve size like table salt, out of which I sprinkle in the water. The stones are lapped on that to flatten, and it goes pretty fast.
The hard stones get lapped by rubbing them together, face to face, with water. Almost dead flat to begin with, the surface tension in the water bond between them, after the circular rubbing, makes them hard to pull apart.
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"A stripe is just as real as a dadgummed flower."
Gene Davis 1920-1985
LOL
To me "A day with wet stones" means trying to lay a wall
in the rain, with out making a slimy mess! Glad you had a much more enjoyable day then that.