Scrub Plane Blades

[ytg_2@yahoo.com]

What is the best way to sharpen a curved Scrub Plane Blade?

[Ken S]

Welcome to the forum, Larry.

As a bench plane user, I was delighted when Tormek introduced the SE-77 square edge jig with camber control. With the SE-77, I can control the amount of camber on my jack, jointer, and smooth planes. Before that, I just extended the projection of the blades and put extra pressure on the two sides, an adequate, but not ideal solution.

I do not know if the SE-77 can produce enough camber to match a roughing plane blade. A roughing plane was on my wish list for a long time, but, sadly, never had the purchased check mark. Tormek markets the SE-77 primarily as a tool to square up chisel grinds. It does that, but so does tapping the chisel. It's just my opinion; however, I do not believe Tormek designed the SE-77 primarily for cambering.

If you don't already have an SE-77, it will do anice job of cambering your bench planes. It may be able to camber sharpen your roughing plane blade. If not, you can always add pressure when grinding the edges of the arc.

Plan B is using the SVD-110 platform. Start gently until you feel confident.

Keep us posted.

Ken

[ytg_2@yahoo.com]

Thanks Ken.  I do have the SE-77 but the camber settings are not enough to do the scrub plane curved blades.  I did try the SVD-110 and it did give me the correct bevel angle, but I had to carefully and manually follow the existing curve.  This did work, but is would be nice to have a way lock in the arc of the blade curve.  This is not so important on a scrub plane blade, but I also have blades for my Stanley 45 that have very specific arcs and it would be great to have a way to maintain/reproduce those specific arcs.  I haven't tried sharpening the 45 blades on the Tormek yet.

Thanks again for your input.

[Ken S]

Well written reply. I agree. I sharpen my jack plane blade, which I use as a fore or almost scrub plane, with my Tormek. I use the SE-77, set to full camber. It is designed for initial, rougher work. A precision arc is certainly not necessary.
I confess that I have never used my 45. Should I ever need to sharpen any of its blades, I will carefully use my India or Arkansas finishing shaped oil stones. As much as I like the Tormek, it is really not designed for sharpening small blades like those on the 45.

Keep posting.

Ken

[OneRogueWave]

  I was given a Stanley No.40 scrub plane in fairly good condition except for the iron. I came up with many ideas to create the radius required but went with a simple solution. The SVD-110 and a fine point sharpie. Takes a little freehand but the resulting radiused cutting was a joy to scrub a rough-cut plank. I was foolish and overlooked this gem of a plane for general handiwork so after flattening the back and establishing the radius point, I carefully drew the centerline of the iron from behind the radius to the bevel edge, then drew from the radius to the corners or the projected corners depending on the previous shaping. Depending on how well you see the layout lines add enough to maintain a perpendicular line to the face of the wheel. With the SVD-110 and the radii, the bevel can be shaped & sharpened and the layout can keep a nice smooth radiused edge as long as the radius is lined up perpendicular. Setup on the honing wheel and polish but keep in mind its purpose as there are no fine adjustments on this plane. I went with about 25 degrees as I'm mostly working with softwoods. I was using mine for an architectural hand-hewn look on wood so my final honing was over-done.
   The scrub plane is unique, even with the frog back as far as possible and a slight radius on my No. 4 1/2 smoothing plane it can't get close to the controlled stock removal of the ugly duckling scrub, wish I learned that years ago but no one I knew even liked them.

[Ken S]

In my younger, tool buying days, a number forty was on my short wish list. The narrower blade makes bigger bite possible!

Ken