Out of square plane iron

[Jefft]

I think I may have ruined a perfectly good block plane iron.  I didn't check before it I started the sharpening process for the first time, but after grinding it is significantly out of square.  I set the iron into the plane and had to skew it all the way over to get the iron square to the frog.  Any ideas on how I can reclaim the iron, I do not have any other grinder except the T7?
Jeff

[Steve Brown]

Jeff,
Do you have enough iron left to regrind it square, and how far out of squre is it, a strong 16th?
Steve

[Herman Trivilino]

I think I may have ruined a perfectly good block plane iron.  I didn't check before it I started the sharpening process for the first time, but after grinding it is significantly out of square.  I set the iron into the plane and had to skew it all the way over to get the iron square to the frog.  Any ideas on how I can reclaim the iron, I do not have any other grinder except the T7?

It's not ruined.  You may have mounted the iron crooked in the jig.  Or your grindstone is out of square.  Or, you just applied more force, with your fingers, on one side of the iron when you sharpened it.

The next time it needs sharpening you should be able to straighten it back out.

[Jefft]

Thanks for the reassurance that I haven't ruined the iron.  It's a new iron so there's plenty of material left to recover, it's a little less than 1/16" out of square.  I was pretty careful about keeping it up against the shoulder of the jig, also checked the grindstone for squareness, so it must have been my technique.  What is best technique for getting it back to square?

[Steve Brown]

Jefft,
Three things:
1. Go into sharptoolsusa.com and download the Tech Bulletin called "Grinding Square Edges". Locate it from the search box in upper right corner.
2. You MUST have a small adjustable square to CONTINUOUSLY monitor squareness as you grind. Starret makes a good one for this operation.
3. Grade the stone down to 220 grit and be aware of the grinding pressure as you work the blade.
Have fun,
Steve

[Jefft]

Thanks Steve, I'll attempt to re square the iron today and report back.

[Steve Brown]

Jefft,
Another thing to keep in mind is that it is more critical to keep your chisels square than it is to keep plane irons square because often planning takes place when you hold the plane body in a skewed pattern. That said, I prefer all my edges to be square, chisel or plane. You decide what works for you.
Steve

[Herman Trivilino]

Thanks Steve, I'll attempt to re square the iron today and report back.

Do you have an old inexpensive wood chisel lying around?  You could practice on that.  There's no need to remove more metal from your plane iron.  You said you could get is square by adjusting the frog, so unless you're borderline OCD (like me ;-) there's no need to mess with it until you've had a bit more practice getting edges square.

[Jefft]

Steve/Herman
I have sharpened all my chisels and they seem fine, but they are also quite a bit narrower than the plane iron, maybe the effect of my technique is less noticeable???  I followed the advise and did pull the chisel "more towards square", but still not right on.  After grinding for a while, I rebuilt the plane and didn't see so much difference, now I'm wondering if the frog has been ground square in the plane body.  It's a brand new Stanley "Sweetheart" low angle block plane, not the most expensive, but still not a cheap plane, so I'm thinking it should be OK.  Before jumping to that conclusion, I will continue sharpening until I get it square.
Thanks for the advise
Jeff

[Ken S]

Jeff,

I would trust a Starrett square before I would trust most new planes.  Try checking your blade from both sides with your square.

Ken

[Steve Brown]

Jefft,
I would listen to Ken, Most of the time he gets pretty close to the truth.
Steve

[Steve Brown]

Jefft,
The reason for the Starrett adjustible square is to check the tool for squareness to it self, and not necessarily square to the jig. In otherwords, as you're grinding, use the square to continuously check the face of the iron for squareness. Does that make sense?
Steve

[Jefft]

I have a quality 2" Engineers square, which I'm pretty confident is accurate, to confirm I checked it against my Starrett and it looks good.  I just checked the iron from both edges and have confirmed that the iron cutting edge is out of square to the iron sides.  I think I need to continue to get the iron square to itself as you suggested.

[Steve Brown]

Jefft,
Yeah, that's the whole idea. Squaring to the jig does'nt do you much good. If you haven't looked at that tech report, I suggest you do it. I found it very helpful. To me it's all about the pressure inside the jig and the pressure from your fingers in combination to each other. You should actually hear it grinding a little more on the high side of the iron as you move it across the stone. I found that sharpening is not automatic, you still need to develop your skills using your senses. I also found that stroping at the end on both the bevel side and the back makes a lot of difference. Go easy on the strop at first, it will round over the edge if your not careful. For me, stropping made the difference between a thin shaving and one that practically floats away. Have fun...
Steve

[Jefft]

I think I got it, the iron is square to the sides.  I set the iron in the plane and it cuts smoothly with whisper thin shavings, although I still had to skew the iron a little.  During this process I learned a lot about my technique, I sharpened another plane iron which was square to start with, and I managed to keep it square during the sharpening process.
Thanks for eveyones help and advise.
Jeff