Dressing cap iron on vintage planes

[Ken S]

Michael,

I would highly recommend the top topic in the Tormek General part of the forum. You can get the jist of it from the first post. I posted it to encourage new users to begin with a 3/4" bench chisel. A chisel has onlt one large bevel. The 3/4" width is much easier to work with than the smaller widths like 1/4". I recommend using an Irwin (formerly Marples) Blue Chip chisel. They are inexpensive and well made. The blades are long enough for a lot of sharpening. The backs have proper square corners, not rounded over. I have around a dozen of these. Three or four would serve you very well. Shop around for a goid price. Do not be tempted to purchase a multiwidth set of four or six. These are learning tools for sharpening.

Having several gives you direct visual and tactile comparison. You can see the difference in various stages of sharpening, as can your students. You can try out different bevel angles. The humble bench chisel can be an invaluable learning tool. It is also very safe. The jig holds the tool.

This method, in my opinion, shortens the learning curve of the Tormek considerably. You can learn the sound and feel of grinding; the stone grader and trying tool; the leather honing wheel; water trough procedure. You can learn all of this, as can your students, with a single eight dollar US (probably a bit more now) chisel. And, after the learning exercises, you have a sharp fundamental tool.

Do keep us posted. Teaching young people is so important.

best wushes,

Ken

ps I am continually bugging Tormek for more and more in depth training videos. Be sure and register your Tormek online, and the school's T7. It secures your warranty, lets you download the latest edition of the handbook, and, very importantly, gives you access to the well done videos by Alan Holtham.

Also, do not be shy about contacting Tormek support. (support@tormek.se). Tormek does a lot of teaching, and may have useful suggestions for you..

[cbwx34]

...
Recently I have been learning about knife sharpening.  When I tried to use my T1200 a few years ago I was disappointed and went back to the diamond stones.  Again I gave up too soon. After some more reading (including this forum) watching training videos etc  I have identified some of the mistakes I made previously.  Hopefully I will become a proficient knife sharpener!

I would be interested in knowing what you learned in the knife sharpening area... a lot of sharpeners try the Tormek, but find it "doesn't work"... so it would be beneficial for me to learn what areas you identified and corrected.  (There's a Knife Sharpening section if you'd be willing to start a topic and share... or just stick them in this thread).

[RichColvin]

Why Jeff Farris video's are old, they are pretty much the only ones out there.

I've catalogued a number of resources on my site (www.SharpeningHandbook.info).  Click on Sharpening Resources at the bottom of the page.

Rich

[EconoMichael]

Thanks Ken - I have re read your Tormek General advice - your right in saying start with a 3/4 chisel.  This is where I started learning the Tormek way.
The lessons I have noted in knife sharpening has been
1/ follow a fairly straight line - not follow the Curve of the knife.
2/ grade the wheel to the finer level.
3 remember to hone the burr off.j

[Daniel]

I could say many things regarding cap iron dressing, but others have said it much better before:

https://vimeo.com/126307973

It works for me, and surely for you too. If you are interested on knowing why:

https://vimeo.com/158558759

My chipbreakers are almost as sharp and polished as my blades. I'm a very happy man since I found out

[RichColvin]

Did you sharpen the chip breakers on the Tormek also ?

[Ken S]

Very interesting videos, Daniel.

Rich, the last time I worked on a cap iron, I used a bench stone.

Ken

[Daniel]

Rich,

Nope, I dressed all my chipbreakers before acquiring my T-8. Even so, I would probably still do it by hand, since the amount of metal you have to remove is so minimal we could be talking here about "resharpening your chipbreaker" or polishing it instead of sharpening. Sure, if you have an old chipbreaker that is all battered and dinged go ahead and tormek it, Just be careful because it is too easy to remove too much metal and ruin your chipbreaker.

Also, note that polishing the leading edge of the chipbreaker with CrOx or similar compounds might sound overkill, but in my short experience it does look as if it reduces the amount of gummy residue stuck to it.

The only handycap I have found so far is that I am becoming lazy and forgetting to read grain direction before planing LOL!

[Daniel]

Ken,

Glad that you liked them. The second one might seem a bit boring and slow at first, but it was an absolute revelation to me when I saw it first some years ago. It completely transformed my working methods and the ripples of it still affect my workshop distribution and even future plans!