plane iron sharpening on Tormek T7

[mike40]

I'm considering buying a Tormek T7, but I am concerned about plane iron sharpening. It seems that if I want to have a camber on my plane irons, they would not be possible to sharpen on the Tormek. As a reasonable compromise I would consider just relieving the corners on my #4 and #6, but it seems to me that I would still have to freehand my Jack iron, as it has to have a cambered iron. How have others solved this problem?

[Jeff Farris]

It's actually pretty easy to camber an iron on the Tormek. As you slide the iron across the stone you just spend a little extra time on the outside edges, with the middle of the iron off the grindstone.

[Ken S]

Mike,

I find it helps to use a longer blade projection from the SE-76.  This allows you to flex the blade more easily to add more camber, as you would for a jack of fore plane (to do the initial rougher planing).

Ken

[mike40]

Thanks much Jeff and Ken. Good to know I can camber using a jig. I will only be cambering my Jack plane anyway. I posted this question again because I was notified that the this subject was locked, obviously a misunderstanding on my part, so please disregard my new post of today's date.

[Rob]

LOL..equally...ignore my response :-)

[Ken S]

Mike,

A belated welcome to the forum.  You ask a very good question.

I have used the longer projection/ lean on the edges method of sharpening my plane blades with adequate success.  In addition to the jack plane, I also add a little camber to the jointer and less to the smoother.

While the exact shape of the camber is not important, especially for the jack, it seems untormeklike to "eyeball" it.  There is room for a jig here. This is especially true for those who do sharpening as a business.

In the almost four years I have been a part of this forum, I have seem several notable developments for the Tormek.  The new (now standard) EZYlock stainless steel shaft is a notable improvement.  The new drill bit jig is amazing.  We have our choice of three different grinding wheels now.  The new water trough is an improvement.

We even have our choice of jigs for small knives.  The newest entry is from Tormek.  The other entries have been conceived and built by members of this forum.

Since you only camber the blade of your jack plane, making a jig for it should not be difficult.  There is no need to accommodate different blade widths or different arcs.  All that would be required is a simple platform to hold the blade securely that also pivoted.  It could be a simple affair made of wood.

I could see this jig being similar in development to the small blade jig.  Multiple developers in the forum and also by the engineers in Sweden.  I would expect the factory made version to be adjustable, both for blade width and degree of camber. For the home made versions, I would expect some of them would also be adjustable.  Some might be for a single blade width and perhaps adjustable for radius.

Let's see what develops!

Ken

[Herman Trivilino]

That seems like a good idea, Ken.  Of course those of us with less experience will want to know the measurements.  Do you have any idea what the radius of curvature would be, or how much "extra" has to be removed from the sides of the different blades?

[Ken S]

Herman,

A good starting point for a jack plane blade (for "fore plane" rough work) would be a radius of eight inches.  my source, Chris Schwarz' Handplane Essentials, recommends something between six and ten inches.  Chris uses eight.

As to radii for jointer and smoothing planes with very slight camber, you will need to consult the forum physicist.  My last millennium math is rusty. We would need to deduce the radius from a cord of a couple thousandths in a two inch width for the smoother and around six to eight thousandths is a width of 2 3/8" or 2 5/8" (for a number 8 plane).

Ken

[MakerUnknown]

I'm of the ilk that, on smoothing planes at least, you sharpen straight but you take down the corners a bit.  If you camber the whole width of the iron then you have to extend the iron to that camber to get a full width shaving.  If your iron is straight and you "break" the corners then you can vary the depth of the cut and still get a full width cut.

[mike40]

Thanks for the welcome Ken and also the advice. I also think a jig, whether from Tormek or shop-made for cambering a Jack plane would be a good option. I know that many top woodworkers camber the irons on all of their planes, but I have just rounded the corners a bit on my smoother and taken off more at the corners on my fore plane for deeper cuts. I know that both ways work well, but for me it is easy to sharpen a straight edge. I use my fore plane for larger panels for first pass flattening after the Jack and also as a jointer so a straight edge suits me.

Another question that comes to mind about sharpening on the Tormek is the use of a micro bevel, or perhaps just using a 30 degree primary bevel from the start. It seems to me that with Tormeks angle jig it would be easy enough to grind a primary bevel of 25degrees and then reset the jig at 30degrees to grind a micro bevel. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[Rob]

That's absolute childs play Mike.  Just use the angle master to set the primary bevel angle and grind the whole bevel...then reset 5 degrees more for the secondary bevel and about 6 swipes will do it.  You only want a very narrow strip at the tip of the edge because next time you hone....you only hone the micro bevel.  It saves a ton of time.

I only have my secondary bevel 1 degree steeper than my primary on the two planes I use the most ie smoother and block.

In fact if you re do it frequently enough you can often get away with just freehanding it on the leather honing wheel to "bring it back from the dead" for a while longer before you actually resharpen.

This is particularly true if you're not planing really aggressive hard wood

[mike40]

Thanks Rob. That is what I do when sharpening by hand and it works great and takes just seconds to renew the micro bevel. I'm very happy with my hand honing regime, but I've got arthritis, so I'm looking to making the job a less physical. The only thing stopping me from buying the Tormek is the price, but I'm pretty convinced it would be a worthwhile investment with it's quality and flexibility, so I will probably buy one in the near future. Meanwhile I'm exploring it's possibilities.

[Ken S]

Mike,

The deciding factor for me in purchasing a Tormek was my hand pain after preparing several chisels for a hand dovetailing class.  I will admit that my lack of planning was at least partially responsible for my hand problem.  However, I think this is an area where the Tormek really shines.  It does the the hard work cooly and without complaining. 

The new calibrated adjustment nut on the universal support bracket makes adding a micro bevel easy.  Just do the initial grinding and decide how much you want to turn the nut to achieve your desired amount of micro bevel. 

I believe the theory behind the micro bevel is to reduce the amount of sharpening work by just sharpening the very edge of the bevel.  That's a great idea for hand work (especially for "experienced" hands).  With the Tormek the micro bevel may or may not be such an advantage.  If you do the entire procedure including the leather honing wheel on the Tormek, I doubt the micro bevel has much benefit.
If you prefer to leave the final honing/polishing to water stones or other media, then the micro bevel still makes sense.

I suggest you try sharpening a chisel or two both ways.  See what feels comfortable to you and your work.  You may find the faster single bevel method quite adequate.  You may find some applications where the extra time involved in really polishing a micro bevel yields better results.

Personally, I still lean toward the micro bevel and finishing with water stones.  I have not abandoned the leather honing wheel.  I am a creature of habit, and have not yet developed my skill with the leather honing wheel to the point where I am confident with it.  For the present, my jury is out on the honing wheel versus polishing stones.

In plane terms,  I think the single bevel cambered edge is quite adequate for the jack.  The smoother might benefit from careful hand honing.  The jointer might as well, depending on how ofter the jointer was followed by the smoother.

Nick the corners or camber?  This reminds me of Mark Twain's quote, "Man is the only animal with the one true religion, all seven of them."

I realize the cost of the Tormek represents a major investment.   At least the T7 is ready to use for planes and chisels right out of the box without purchasing additional accessories.  The versatility is available for sharpening things like turning tools and more specialized tools IF you want or need it.  If you don't need to sharpening turning tools, planer blades or drill bits, you don't need to add that cost.  It is nice to know that should your needs expand, the supporting accessories can be purchased later.

Keep us posted.

Ken

 

[mike40]

From what you said Ken, all options are pretty much open. I agree with you that the Jack doesn't need to be sharp as the smoother. I don't have access to a lot of the hardest or special woods like tiger maple for eks. here in Norway, so I don't obsess too much on the finished bevel, I just hone to 1200 and strop with paste. That gives me a very satisfactory edge for the work I do. I'm pretty sure the Tormek could do the whole job for me without having to resort to further hand honing, and that of course is the appeal to me of owning a Tormek.

[Rob]

Mike...I bought the tormek originally because I had got to the stage where I couldn't bare to get out the stones to hand hone my plane blades. I was just "fed up" with sore fingers (and I don't have arthritis!!!)

The Tormek made all the difference to me.  Now doing plane and chisel blades is a snap, the likes of which I could never have dreamt before