# Preferred way to grind primary bevels?



## Neil (29 Mar 2007)

What is your preferred way to grind the primary bevel on plane irons & chisels?

I'm going round in circles trying to decide what to do for this, being unhappy with my present approach. I know we've done this to death a bit, but never in the form of a definitive poll as far as I know. I would like to see how many forum members use one of the two methods I'm contemplating!

Cheers,
Neil

PS Alf, I missed off hand-cranked grinders but seeing as though you're managing 1100rpm I think you just about qualify for the high-speed option :wink: :lol:


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## Paul Chapman (29 Mar 2007)

Coarse diamond stone and WD40. If you do it regularly it takes no time at all and the secondary bevel never gets too long. An inexpensive option that really works well (and doesn't wreck your blades by burning them).

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Alf (29 Mar 2007)

That's not high speed, mainly 'cos I can't keep going at that rate for that long... So I opted for "something you've forgotten" - 'cos I bet you did. :wink:

Cheers, Alf


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## Lord Nibbo (29 Mar 2007)

Alf":qd4g8wd6 said:


> That's not high speed, mainly 'cos I can't keep going at that rate for that long
> 
> Cheers, Alf



Or is it really because in Cornwall do as the Cornish do ? 

i.e. Drekly :lol: Manyana without the urgency :lol:


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## Wiley Horne (29 Mar 2007)

Hi Neil,

1800rpm grinder. 6", but 7" is planned. I like soft wheels; 'H' rating is great. One pink wheel at 40g and one white wheel at 80g or 100g. 

Wiley......also in the 'Something I've forgotten' category, as 3600rpm is the typical high speed grinder.


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## MikeW (29 Mar 2007)

I selected belt sander. 

It is what I use the most I suspect. But a "many of the above" selection would have gotten ticked if available.

Take care, Mike


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## dunbarhamlin (29 Mar 2007)

Depends just how much I need to take off. Reshaping, I'll use 60 grit paper to break its back, otherwise diamond stones, which at nearly the cost of a wet flat grinding wheel for an extra coarse I wouldn't consider particularly _low_ cost, but I seem to be able to maintain my flats better than with wet'n'dry.


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## Chris Knight (29 Mar 2007)

I voted Tormek because I have one and use it for that purpose but I have also used many other means including belt sander, high speed grinder etc. Now, having built up experience I probably wouldn't spend the money on the Tormek but instead, go with a high speed grinder or a belt sander. Most of the work that's important for normal woodworking edge tools goes into the secondary bevel and subsequent final stages which I accomplish on bench stones etc. , not the Tormek.


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## Anonymous (29 Mar 2007)

If you do my favourite "rounded bevel" honing you never need to retouch a primary bevel as your chisel/plane never gets that much out of shape, unless you hit a nail or something. In which case: coarse oil stone, or wet grindwheel if things are really bad.
Worst of all is bench grinder cos of overheating.

cheers
Jacob


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## Derek Cohen (Perth Oz) (29 Mar 2007)

Before I consider which method to grind a primary bevel, I will decide what shape I want the bevel to be. 

My ideal bevel shape is a hollow grind - because this allows me to freehand hone an iron more easily. Just lock the two walls of the hollow flat on a waterstone/diamond stone/strop and away you go. This is important also because I like to strop the iron as I work - be it chisel or plane blades - and freehand is quick. (Often I just use a 1200 diamond stone and a leather strop loaded with green rouge).

The above process is straight forward with BD planes (mostly use a hollow grind of 30 degree primary created on a bench grinder, but a relatively tight control of the final secondary bevel is not that important). However, when it comes to the steep secondary bevels of HA BU planes, then I am looking to use a flat grind since a hollow grind above 35 degrees is not efficient (but can be done). Now I prefer a belt sander - quick, cool, safe.

I do see the wisdom of Jacob's rounded bevel for some applications, such as my mortice chisels, but it would not work (the bevel angles would be too unreliable) with BU planes or LA paring chisels. 

I think that it is time to set up a jig to hollow grind on the belt sander.

Regards from Perth

Derek


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## engineer one (29 Mar 2007)

i think that one of the answers to this question is "how many bevels do you have to do right now?"

if it is a lot because you have just bought many new tools, then the tormek offers many advantages IMHO. :lol: , but then i know i am biased towards one. :twisted: 

and as has been said if you invest (is that the right word :? ) in diamond stones, or shaptons, then they can be almost the cost of a jet, if not the tormek, by the time you have bought the stones, the lapping fluid, the hone, and the paste and strop, then made the workstation. 

however the biggest thing is what have you learnt, and how quickly does that allow you to do what you want?

as we have seen elsewhere so many times, this is a difficult subject to 
consider sensibly because of the many preferred options. :roll: 

but personally now that the diamond truing tools is re-designed the tormek does it for me.

paul :wink:


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## Neil (29 Mar 2007)

Many thanks for the responses thus far, folks . The two ways I've been considering are the wet grinder and the coarse diamond stone (having found an very cheap source for an extra-extra coarse DMT) although I have considered the belt sander approach too. HS grinder is just too scary (in terms of overheating and getting a straight grind)



engineer one":aw8mpxf8 said:


> i think that one of the answers to this question is "how many bevels do you have to do right now?"
> 
> if it is a lot because you have just bought many new tools, then the tormek offers many advantages IMHO.


Not many new tools, but lots of old ones! Once everything is sorted out I don't see myself changing bevel angles every 5 minutes, so I could keep on top of the grinding via a fairly slow method like the diamond stone. I'm concerned that after the first week, the wet grinder wouldn't see enough usage to justify such a big outlay.

Please keep the votes (and advice) coming!

Cheers,
Neil


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## engineer one (29 Mar 2007)

typical irishnman :lol: 

once you have worn it out during the first week, you will be able to sell it off cheap :twisted: :twisted: 

old tools or new the number that you need to sharpen does make the sums seem strange, i guess the question is how much site work do you do where you might damage your nice sharp edges???

other wise go the way you are going.

paul :wink:


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## Paul Kierstead (29 Mar 2007)

Neil":3pimfmn2 said:


> I'm concerned that after the first week, the wet grinder wouldn't see enough usage to justify such a big outlay.



Well, then, you would just have to buy more things to sharpen. You clearly are not thinking straight here.


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## Woody Alan (29 Mar 2007)

Started off with high speed grinder got the knack but hated the messing about and risk once you've blown it that's it, also surprisingly messy. Used the belt sander and preferred that, still some risk albeit a lot less. Treated myself to a Tormek and don't regret it a lot less stress and speed and for me anyway less mess. 
I do have an engineer mate who modified his high speed grinder to run wet, by drip feeding from a reservoir onto the wheel and gets colected underneath very simple and does work, just in case you want to go cheap.

Alan


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## Colin C (29 Mar 2007)

I use a HS grinder and have alway done ( well used the ones at work ), I now work for myself and got a cheap one from Alidi's that come with a grey and white wheels.

I do all my grinding on it, tools on the white one and metal that I need to shape on the grey one.


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## Paul Chapman (29 Mar 2007)

Another way, Neil, if you want to keep things as simple as possible, is to just use one bevel. The main reason for having a primary and secondary bevel is that it's supposed to make honing quicker. However, if you had, say, three stones (I have DMT coarse, fine and extra fine plus a leather strop) and honed fairly frequently (ie before the edge became too rounded over from use), it can be quick. I use just one bevel on my Multiplanes and some block plane blades (particularly those used for trimming laminate and similar stuff) and some other blades depending on what I am doing, and find it no real problem. Interestingly, I was chatting to Mike Hudson of Clifton at Ally Pally and he uses just one bevel on his blades (and they are really sharp).

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## woodbloke (29 Mar 2007)

I do all my primary honing on a Tormek which gives a good hollow grind primary bevel - Rob


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## engineer one (29 Mar 2007)

i think a lot of the need for multiple surfaces is the cleaning up the 
none sharp side of the chisel/plane, (some of us call it back, others the front,but the side opposite the bevel.) to make this smooth and polished takes more tools than making and keeping the bevel. :? 

paul :wink:


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## Alf (29 Mar 2007)

Paul Kierstead":29s664cj said:


> Neil":29s664cj said:
> 
> 
> > I'm concerned that after the first week, the wet grinder wouldn't see enough usage to justify such a big outlay.
> ...


 :lol:


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## Paul Chapman (29 Mar 2007)

engineer one":1jnbaki6 said:


> to make this smooth and polished takes more tools than making and keeping the bevel. :?



I don't understand you.  I've only ever used my diamond stones and leather strop to flatten and polish backs of blades. What more do you use?

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## engineer one (29 Mar 2007)

paul sorry, what i meant was how many diamond stones people end up buying.

or waterstones etc. maybe 3 to 4 then the strop. then the container, and
then we make a stand, and a holder etc.

i am being facetious i know, but :twisted: :roll: 

another
paul :wink:


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## Colin C (29 Mar 2007)

engineer one":2dadmlua said:


> paul sorry, what i meant was how many diamond stones people end up buying.
> 
> or waterstones etc. maybe 3 to 4 then the strop. then the container, and
> then we make a stand, and a holder etc.
> ...



I have two daimond stone, one for the workshop and one for site :roll:  :wink:


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## Paul Chapman (29 Mar 2007)

engineer one":2pw6j60o said:


> what i meant was how many diamond stones people end up buying.



But nobody on here has just one of anything :lol: 

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## engineer one (29 Mar 2007)

wot, i have only one tormek honest!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :twisted: 

lots of other stones though :? 

paul :wink:


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## Philly (30 Mar 2007)

Paul Chapman":2o8u4am2 said:


> But nobody on here has just one of anything :lol:
> 
> Cheers :wink:
> 
> Paul



That's not true Paul. I have only one, um.......ah.........
Can I come back to you on this??  :lol: 
Philly


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## MikeW (30 Mar 2007)

> But nobody on here has just one of anything


Well, gee. I have but one 45 degree smoother. Only one #1 round [well, I do have a half set :lol: ], only one 1/2" dado plane, only one ...

Ok, Ok. I get your point Paul :wink: 

Off to see if I only have one hour of sleep tonight...Mike


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## Neil (30 Mar 2007)

engineer one":c2i0k2nu said:


> typical irishnman :lol:


Not everyone who lives in Ireland is Irish, Paul :wink: 



Colin C":c2i0k2nu said:


> I use a HS grinder and have alway done


I thought you had a cheap Tormek from ebay, Colin? 



Paul Chapman":c2i0k2nu said:


> Another way, Neil, if you want to keep things as simple as possible, is to just use one bevel


Thats interesting, Paul. I use waterstones for secondary bevel/honing at the moment (in fact one of the attractions of the x-x coarse diamond stone is that it will be great for waterstone flattening) but I take your point about minimising the amount of grinding to do. I'll certainly try this out on the multiplane etc. (which doesn't get a lot of use )



Paul Kierstead":c2i0k2nu said:


> Well, then, you would just have to buy more things to sharpen. You clearly are not thinking straight here.


You could have a point there, Paul :lol: 

Cheers,
Neil


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## gidon (30 Mar 2007)

Interesting poll Neil - quite a mixture! I voted high speed grinder - but I use my extra coarse diamond stone too - it does depend how much grinding I have to do. The high speed grinder is great if you want to change bevel angles.
I've tried pretty much everything except a Tormek - for the exact reason Chris mentions - I would quite like a Tormek for grinding my primary bevel - but would feel I was paying a lot (not to mention the space requirements) for the honing part of it which I wouldn't use - am quite happy (for now ) with my honing routine. Before I got a high speed grinder I used my extra coarse diamond stone or belt sander (I still found you have to be pretty careful with a belt sander).
Cheers
Gidon


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## Colin C (30 Mar 2007)

Hi Neil

I am not sure where you got that from as I might get a Tormek if I could get one ( very cheaply that is :wink: ).

The main thing with a HS grinder is not to push the tool on it but to let the grinder do its job, plus dont let the wheel get too glazed ( keep it dressed ). 

I have a little dress for mine :roll: :-$


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## Neil (30 Mar 2007)

Hi Colin,

Turns out it was the other colinc!  :lol:



Colin C":uytvtw0s said:


> I might get a Tormek if I could get one ( very cheaply that is ).


Not trying to tempt you or anything O

Cheers,
Neil


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## dunbarhamlin (30 Mar 2007)

Hey! That XX Coarse DMT is a good price from Dick - dammit, already got a 'backup' in the post (though in consolation it does have some of Mike's teeth as a travel companion)


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## Colin C (30 Mar 2007)

Neil":ct9s0dvp said:


> Hi Colin,
> 
> Turns out it was the other colinc!  :lol:
> 
> ...



Sorry Neil

It will not work :shock: [-X :wink: 

I dont get temped to buy tools like that  honest Ask Alf :^o :^o #-o


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## Mirboo (30 Mar 2007)

I voted for high-speed grinder, although it is a bit of a new thing for me. 

Up until quite recently I've been shaping my primary bevels with a course waterstone (Norton 220) but I was finding that with A2 blades in particular this could take ages and keeping the stone flat was a real pain. If I dropped my 220 waterstone tomorrow and it broke I don't think I'd worry too much. I certainly wouldn't buy another one.

I recently bought an 8-inch, or 200mm, bench grinder that runs at 2850 RPM. The store where I bought the grinder only had one type of wheel other than grey ones, 80-grit white wheel with a K-bond, so I bought one of those as well. At about the same time I ordered a 60-grit Norton 3X grinding wheel from Joel at Tools For Working Wood (I couldn't find them in Australia). I ordered the 3X wheel because I read on some of the US forums that these are good for grinding A2 steels without burning them.

I initially installed the white wheel on my grinder and used it to grind some old high carbon steel chisels of mine that needed rehabbing. I found that I could grind these chisels quite successfully without burning them using the white wheel. I just proceeded slowly, but much more quickly than I ever could with my 220 grit waterstone, holding the chisel with one of my fingers up really close to the edge being ground. As soon as my finger started feeling hot I removed the chisel from the wheel and either let it cool in the air or dipped it in cold water.

Since this time my 3X wheel has arrived from the USA and I have installed it on my grinder. I haven't actually ground anything with it yet though. I'll have to let you know how it performs on A2 steel.


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## gidon (30 Mar 2007)

Mirboo - please do let us know how you get on with the Norton stone - I've been tempted to swap my 36 grit grey stone for one of those. All the American mags seem to favour it.
Cheers
Gidon


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## engineer one (30 Mar 2007)

i see that the newest available issue in the uk, of popular woodworking
april 2007, has another sharpening article by michael dunbar,
he uses sandpaper, and dowels. still not sure how the american
types of sandpaper relate to ours??? :? 

thought about expense, neil, how often do you use some of the actual tools you bought? some saws etc are not used as often as we hoped when we bought them. maybe the same decision should be made with these??

nah only kidding :twisted: :roll: 

paul :wink:


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## MikeW (30 Mar 2007)

There's the CAMI [US] and FEPA [Europe] standards for grading abrasives. The chart linked below has the corresponding grits, as well as to stones and in microns.

Much/most of the abrasives I buy here correspond to FEPA, such as the Mirka I purchase. I believe Norton's 3X is graded to FEPA also.

Up to about 240 grit they pretty much correspond.

The chart of course.

Take care, Mike


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## engineer one (30 Mar 2007)

as usual thanks mike, it is not the grading so much as the different types.
we get told about various types of material used. and i am often unsure whether we can buy some of the types here.you know aluminium oxide,
and so on

plus of course getting things like emery cloth and paper here is getting more and more difficult.  

paul :wink:


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## MikeW (30 Mar 2007)

Hey Paul--seems like I am getting more and more in a hurry and dashing off posts before reading a tad more carefully  

The Mirka brand for wood working [Gold, Silver etc.] are aluminum oxide. Their Sica products are Silicon carbide. They have the different weighted backings and can go from quite flexible to quite stiff.

But...they don't do Garnet nor Emory as far as I know. We still can get Garnet and the other natural rock product sandpaper from a variety of manufacturers, but it is getting spendy. And I don't think they are worth what is being charged now, either. Whoever carries 3M brand sandpaper can probably get them for you. The 3M web site may list distributors.

For most our stuff now, from wood to working metal, we buy the Norton 3X. Best stuff around for the longevity and finish it can provide.

When I am working on an actual woodworking project, I like the Mirka.

Take care, Mike


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## engineer one (30 Mar 2007)

thanks mate,
love to deena and the chickens and bears :lol: 

paul :wink:


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## MIGNAL (30 Mar 2007)

Hand crank grinder with a 80 G ruby red wheel although in hindsight the cheaper 100G white would have been more suitable. I go straight from this to a 8000G waterstone, then to green soap.


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## engineer one (31 Mar 2007)

silly question?? any bright idea about sharpening small hand held power planer blades, and at what angle??? :? 

too wide for a roller holder, and too small for the tormek without spending on the plane jig, and no good in the scissors jig cause of the difficulty of locating.

paul :wink:


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## Anonymous (31 Mar 2007)

engineer one":3aisxboz said:


> silly question?? any bright idea about sharpening small hand held power planer blades, and at what angle??? :?
> 
> too wide for a roller holder, and too small for the tormek without spending on the plane jig, and no good in the scissors jig cause of the difficulty of locating.
> 
> paul :wink:


You make a holder, just a simple thing - a slot in the end of a bit of 2x1 with a bevel so that you can lower the blade to the angle required. Then do it freehand, keeping it as close as you can to the existing honing angle - just like any other blade or chisel really.
Speed it up by doing my style of rounded bevel honing, but be systematic so that you are doing the same amount to all the edges, to maintain balance.
PS or you could buy the veritas planer-blade honing guide, which has a lot of attractive brass knobs :lol: 

cheers
Jacob


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## engineer one (31 Mar 2007)

thanks jacob, was kind of thinking that way myself, 
actually i will cut the correct angle on the wood, and then cut a recess to allow the blade to touch the stone, then run on the stone in the flat.

thanks for the link too, but whose article., yours???

paul :wink:


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## Benchwayze (1 Apr 2007)

How did we manages before diamond stones, waterstones, Japanese Chisels, saws and planes? 

I confess to using a Tormek these days, but I hone on a 3" wide oilstone I have had for aeons. I polish on a piece of slate. 

I tried a Japanese dovetail saw, but just couldn't get used to sawing backwards! 

John :?


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## engineer one (1 Apr 2007)

unless we were apprenticed, we muddled through, and threw the toys out of the pram because we were not happy about the sharpness. :twisted: :lol: :roll: 

paul :wink:


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## engineer one (2 Apr 2007)

personal observation, 
hand sharpening power planer blades is a REAL PITA  

because they are so small, they dig into bits of your hand you had forgotten you had :lol: , and because when they come to you they have mega lumps out you need to do it for ages. :roll: 

ended up doing it free hand on an edgecraft diamond, seemed to be the only way to get what i needed.

i wonder whether the plane jig for the tormek works with short blades?

paul :wink:


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## Neil (2 Apr 2007)

engineer one":3fgjwxex said:


> i wonder whether the plane jig for the tormek works with short blades?


I think it might be the width of the blades which would give you problems, not the length.

Thanks to everyone for your input. The poll results so far are almost as I expected - I ordered the options according to what I expected the results to be, except for the catch-all option at the bottom. I just about got it right, except that I overestimated the popularity of abrasive paper for the grinding stage - I thought that there would be more people who wanted minimum up-front expenditure on sharpening and so would have to go down this road.

Anyway, I've ordered the x-x-coarse DMT stone from Dick - the price was too good to resist and it will still be useful even if I go down the wet grinder route later. I'll let you know how I get on.

Cheers,
Neil


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## engineer one (2 Apr 2007)

trust me neil the depth is a pain, but the length is a real pain :lol: 
not least because it digs into the fleshy part of your thumb.

paul :wink:


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## Anonymous (2 Apr 2007)

engineer one":15hmsvkm said:


> trust me neil the depth is a pain, but the length is a real pain :lol:
> not least because it digs into the fleshy part of your thumb.
> 
> paul :wink:


Well that's why you need to make a holder, as I pointed out earlier :roll: 

cheers
Jacob


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## Ian Dalziel (2 Apr 2007)

engineer one":1pt8k4er said:


> personal observation,
> hand sharpening power planer blades is a REAL PITA
> 
> i wonder whether the plane jig for the tormek works with short blades?
> ...



Paul....it might be a possibility to use the scissor jig for power planer blades in the tormek


for Primary Bevels i use a surface grinder with an angled vice....used to use a tormek but the SG is sooo much better.....i use an air/coolant mix to prevent overheating. secondry is waterstones.

I


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## engineer one (2 Apr 2007)

jacob i tried to make a handle with a lump of wood, but actually found it easier to work freehand. it took less time. :roll: 

ian, i tried the scissor jig and it was not very good due to the problem with holding it properly and getting the angles right. :? 

seems like the makita ones i am doing have an almost 50degree angle,
anyone have a chart about the various planer blade angles, and also why does a rotating drum need such an angle???

paul :wink:


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## engineer one (2 Apr 2007)

found it :tool: 

veritas make a small blade holder especially for spokeshave etc,
but as usual i had stocked it??(well you know what i mean :roll: )
so tonight i found it and have tried it on the tormek, bliss.

it's a holder with a couple of rare earth magnets, part number 05P32.03
and is thin enough to fit in the normal tormek chisel holder. which of 
course makes sure it is square to the wheel.

anyway it should save me hours by hand (what a relief :lol: :roll: :twisted: )

paul :wink:


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## AHoman (5 Apr 2007)

I recently tried something new (to me) on the Tormek. I got the "Torlock" tool rest and have been using it for all kinds of blades. Its a flat tool rest like you'd use with a grinder. Initially, I got it for use with scrub plane blades. Worked great for them. Then I started sharpening other blades with slight cambers -- works a treat! Has anyone else had any success with this? I like it because I can leave it set up to my typical primary bevel angle. It has decreased the amount of time it takes me to regrind a primary bevel and eliminated some of the "fiddliness" of using the standard jig.
-Andy


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## engineer one (5 Apr 2007)

hi andy, can you give us a link, not heard of this before so would be interested to see.

paul :wink:


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## AHoman (6 Apr 2007)

engineer one":376aa75o said:


> can you give us a link, not heard of this before so would be interested to see.



sure:
http://www.thebestthings.com/newtools/tormek_jigs.htm
Scroll down to "tool rest with torlock".
Note that I am not using it for its intended purpose. However, a friend recommended it for sharpening primary bevels on scrub plane blades, and it worked great for that (for me). I also tried a number of slightly cambered bench plane blades. If anyone else tries it out and realizes that there is a reason not to keep doing it, please let me know, because as far as I can tell, it's great, particularly since I tend to go to a 6000 grit stone afterwards, freehand, and this makes the whole process very quick (especially since I can leave it set up at 25 or 30 degrees, locked into position).
Cheers,
-Andy


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## engineer one (6 Apr 2007)

ok mate, actually have that jig, and tried to use it for the planer blades
but of course it was not stable enough for such small things.

i can think of only one problem at the get go which is that it places the blade on the up motion of the wheel, tending to move it away from the support. however i can see it being valuable when put on the vertical stand and used as if using the normal plane or chisel jig. 

was thinking about cambering some other blades this week, so will give it a try. thanks for making me think outside the box :twisted: :lol: 

paul :wink:


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## AHoman (6 Apr 2007)

engineer one":2fpxucmg said:


> i can think of only one problem at the get go which is that it places the blade on the up motion of the wheel, tending to move it away from the support. however i can see it being valuable when put on the vertical stand and used as if using the normal plane or chisel jig.



Paul,
I haven't tried it on the horizontal stand with the wheel on the up motion, but I've been using it on the vertical stand -- so the wheel in effect pushes the blade against the rest. It took me a minute or two to come up with the right motion for the camber on the scrub blade, but once I found it, it was very smooth running. I had a scrub blade that looked like Fred Flintstone had put the camber on it (eBay find), and by the time it was done, it looked like a new scrub blade from LN.
-Andy


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## engineer one (6 Apr 2007)

hi andy it was just because of the way that the rest is pictured on the site.

that thought is good, though, will try 

thanks for the help

paul :wink:


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## newt (6 Apr 2007)

course diamond stone and WD 40 same as paul.


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## Sailor (7 Apr 2007)

Evening,

Has anyone used the Robert Sorby?

A friend who does a lot of lathe work has one and swears by it!

http://www.robert-sorby.co.uk/images/proedge1.jpg

Colin


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## engineer one (8 Apr 2007)

andy, just tried out your idea of using tormek part SVD 110
to produce cambered blades on a hand plane. just worked on an old record blade which i was going to discard.

i had thought that because you are putting the short end of the jig to the wheel, on the vertical support, basically, in place of the normal clamp,
you might have too much unsupported blade but because the wheel is coming toward you that is less of a problem than i thought it might be.
the reason for using the short end is of course you need the jig as near to the wheel as possible, and with the long end, you would have the thimble nut in the way.

i will try to adjust it nearer to the wheel later, as it appears in the drawing on the tormek accessory box, not sure how near i can get. :? 

only real problem that i can see, is making sure the blade stays vertical, but if you are only modifying the camber after sharpening , then i cannot see the problem. except of course getting the same number of wheel rotations on each side. but then you have to remember that when 
doing it by hand on a waterstone. :roll: 

anyway first attempt quite quick and not bad, must try one of my 
LV/LN blades to see what it does then.

paul :wink:


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## AHoman (8 Apr 2007)

engineer one":22igd0x3 said:


> only real problem that i can see, is making sure the blade stays vertical, but if you are only modifying the camber after sharpening , then i cannot see the problem. except of course getting the same number of wheel rotations on each side. but then you have to remember that when
> doing it by hand on a waterstone. :roll:



Hi Paul,
The series of events that made it "click" for me:
0. I started to freehand on waterstones except for certain microbevels.
1. I had begun to use to the suede honing wheel with green honing compound to "touch up" my blades, and to save time I started doing it freehand.
2. Over at a friend's shop, I needed to establish a primarily bevel on a Hock blade for a plane that I had just made. He had a normal grinder with a flat surface for a toolrest. I hadn't tried this since I first learned to sharpen, and when I tried it this time, it was sucessful, but I didn't enjoy the grinder. Basically, I saw that a toolrest is somewhere halfway between freehand and a jig, but is a real timesaver.
3. Now I got the tool rest for the Tormek, and decided to give it a try. I use the horizontal grooves on the rest as a visual aid while moving the blade back and forth. Now I plan to use the original jig only for blades that must be perfectly straight across.
-Andy


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## engineer one (8 Apr 2007)

hi andy, must say i kind of agree with you, having so far only done two blades, i will continue with the experiment. but it does seem a decent way to move forward.

worked on the LV 41/2 quite well.
thanks for the heads up
:lol: 
paul :wink:


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## engineer one (10 Apr 2007)

having used this idea a couple of times i can see that there is a possible problem in that you have to be careful with the edge of the blade when you camber, otherwise you can chip the corner of the stone wheel when the edge can dig in slightly.  

still it needed truing again anyway :lol: and with the new tool that's a breeze.

still working more carefully, this is definately a good way to initiate a camber using the tormek, as far as i am concerned.

paul :wink:


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