thoughts for kennyk and the forum

[Ken S]

Kenny,

My daily routine includes two half hour trips by myself on the leg of the journeys when my grandchildren are not with me on the way to or from school.  Today I thought about your situation during my quiet afternoon drive to school.

Your situation brings to mind an old World War II movie. A German general looks up from the porch of his headquarters in a French chateau.  He sees an armada of allied bombers flying overhead.  He makes the comment, "Just once to have that kind of power."

You have that kind of power. Most of us are lucky to find two or three chisels or plane blades which need sharpening.  You have several hundred. What a blessing!

Am I correct in supposing that not all of your chisels and plane blades are premium tools lovingly used and maintained by skilled craftpersons?  If so, you might save yourself a lot of work in the long run by changing the bevel angle from say 25 degrees to 30, especially with the more narrow planes.  A narrow chisel needs a lighter blow to maintain the same force.  Having a steeper (stronger) bevel should make the edges last longer.

Your plane blade shouldn't have been ground so far out of square.  Judicious early use of a square will keep the blade from being so far out.  If a blade is out of square, only grind the long side until it is more true.  You can skew the blade, chisel or plane, in the jig a little.

If you are spending a couple hours on one plane blade, something is seriously wrong. If it took me that long, I would suspect my technique.  If I suspect the same in your case, please don't take it personally.

Taking the long view, once you have completed a sharpening cycle, you will be one of the most experienced sharpeners on this forum by a wide margin. Don't become discouraged.  Eventually a chisel or plane blade shouldn't take more than a few minutes.  Standardize.  Have a set length for blade projection and a set distance from the wheel to the support bar.  You shouldn't have to measure once these are established.

Don't get discouraged.

Ken

[kennyk]

Hi Ken, Just a couple of points on that before I hit the hay. 
Many of my plane blades here are very badly convex - think compass planes.  These were caused by a very worn Al-Ox 16" flat oilstone grinding wheel (Viceroy Sharpedge Machine)  the previous technician just went with it.   I'm more of a craftsman and know how important a sharp edge is, and have had the wheel replaced in the last few months.   There is play in the tool-rest arm but  I'm going to need a 3/4"  UNC TAP to make a new part.

Fortunately none of the chisels are struck very often, it's mostly paring and slicing of softwood and light hardwood like Meranti, so I've been going with 25 degrees.

However my own Clifton blade WAS square before I started and it was skewed a full mm across it's 2 3/8" length by using the T-7 and SE-76.  It was close to being really sharp when I started and it took me weeks to sort it out, in between other things.  To speed things up I had to use the viceroy to regrind the primary bevel before I started again.

To be honest, 90% of things I've sharpened have been skewed.  it can't surely be all down to me getting it monumentally wrong nearly every time?

[Ken S]

The machine can't modify your behaviour. You can modify your technique to compensate for the machine.

With our Clifton plane blade, a black marker examined after one very light pass would have shown the skew problem, as would the early use of a square. 

Hang in there.  If you persevere, you will have all your blades sharpened in time.  Yes, it will take a lot of hours.  Next year, your job will be much easier.

Ken

ps Do all 200 chisels and 100 planes have to be ready for the first day of school?

[Herman Trivilino]

To be honest, 90% of things I've sharpened have been skewed.  it can't surely be all down to me getting it monumentally wrong nearly every time?

I have a similar situation.  I agree with Ken S that it takes a great deal of practice and care to do it right.  I am far more careful when sharpening a plane blade, but for the rough work I do with my odd assortment of old chisels getting a truly square end is not that important.

As we've discussed on this forum before, properly mounting the tool in the jig and truing the grindstone are necessary conditions.  But they are not sufficient.  It also takes operator skill to apply more force to one side or the other.  Using the square and marker method are a big help, but I suppose a really practiced hand could do it all by eye.

[Ken S]

Kenny,

You need to prioritize. How many of the 200 chisels and 100 planes must actually be used by the students on the first day of class?

My father managed a home workshop most of his life with only a 1/2" chisel.  My grandfather built chairs and tables quite nicely with only a set of six chisels.

Before we start on chisels, the only reason for having a bench plane blade "dead square" is for the vanity of the sharpener.  All modern bench planes havd lateral adjustment levers. Plane hammers and adjustment levers can easily adjust a blade which isn't quite square.

If the blade of your Clifton plane is sharp and can be adjusted for an even cut with either the lateral adjustment lever or a plane hammer, I would call the job done.

Once you have decided how many chisels must be actually in use on the first day of school, set the others aside and out of your mind. If you have time to sharpen any of these, fine.  If not, that's OK, too.

Make a square block of wood approximately 8" x 8" (size is not critical). Tack on a cleat so that the block can be held in your bench vise with the outside edge clear of the vise.  Scribe a line a couple inches long two inches from the outside edge.  Tack on a small piece of wood next to that line.

Place a chisel in your SE-76.  Butt the front of the jig against the outer adge of the block (in the vise) and set the length of the chisel to the tacked on board (2" projection).

Decide what bevel angle you want and mark the board next to the block with that angle. You can use this setup for all of your chisels with this angle.

Then set the jig in your support bar.  Adjust the support bar distance with the angle master until you reach your desired angle.  Once this is set, use your black marker and mark a line on the non threaded leg of the support bar where it meets the collar.

With this done, you will never have to adjust either the projection length or support bar distance for any of your chisels.  Just make sure your support bar is set to the mark and your chisels are set in your wooden jig.

Now to the first chisel.  This has already been well covered. 

Finger or thumb pressure? Start light and add as needed.  Keep the marker and square handy. It's just like sharpening an edge with a bench stone.  On this side of the pond, we call this kind of minor adjustment "using a little English".

Once you are satisfied with the coarse stone grinding, remove the chisel and move on to the next chisel of the same width.  With so many to sharpen, popping a chisel in and out of the wooden jig is much faster than going back and forth with the stone grader.

Coarse grind all the chisels you need.  Then use the stone grader until the stone feels smooth.  Your fingers will tell you when the wheel is smooth.Put in your first chisel and go through them all with the stone set on fine.  Use less pressure and time with this finer grinding.

You will have to freshen the stone from tie to time.  You can tell when the grinding seems different.

Next step is to freehand hone all the chisels.

I believe you be amazed with how quickly things move along this way.  You will become very proficient very quickly. 

best,

Ken

ps, Sorry, this Neanderthal doesn't do Skype. 

[Ken S]

Kenny,

You have been given an excellent opportunity to teach your students (by example) a most valuable life lesson.  You have encountered great frustration.  You can show your students the value of perseverance.  By working through the problems with Tormek and achieving mastery of your Tormek unit, your students will learn how dogged determination carries the day.

Do keep us posted with your struggles.  We are with you.

Ken

[kennyk]

Thanks for your words of encouragement.

I'm finding that freehand honing is relatively straightforward.  What I tend to do is to start with the the top face of the chisel trapezoid, for want of a better description, on the honing wheel near the top at approximately horizontal, then I gradually move down the wheel, keeping the chisel level, until I hear the sound where I know that the full bevel is in contact with the honing wheel, and maintain a steady pressure for a few seconds.     As long as I'm careful I can get a perfect microbevel which is sharp enough to shave my arm hair with.  That's my sharpness test.  If it's not sharp enough to shave, then it ain't sharp!

[Ken S]

Having had a beard most of my adult life, I'm no expert on shaving.  However, shat sounds plenty sharp to me.  Good job, Kenny.

Ken