Can I cut a block plane iron down to fit ?

[Mr_P]

Bought myself a weird user made plane on ebay and it works amazingly well considering its a bevel down with no cap iron.

Iron's a bit short so had a look on ebay found a few contenders in 1 1/4" size but they look a bit thick.

So thinking of attacking a block plane iron with a hacksaw.

Will that work or should I just be patient and wait for something more suitable to come along ?

 

[AndyT]

Bristol Design has a large stock of shoulder plane irons, cut down from bench plane irons, either side of the slot. They even have a stock of offcuts! So it must be possible.

I suspect that a decent iron would ruin your hacksaw blade, so you might need to either soften/saw/reharden or else use some sort of metal cutting blade in an angle grinder. On a small scale, the little cut-off wheels in a Dremel should be worth a try.

 

[bridger]

You don't say what the plane configuration is. post some pictures, please. I love to see successful user made planes.

Trying to hacksaw hardened tool steel is going to be a dead end exercise. If what you need to do is make a blade a little narrower, a bench grinder will be the way to go. If you need a more complex shape you may be better off starting with new steel and making the blade from scratch.

 

[JohnPW]

Hardened steel can be cut, but not with a hacksaw! I think you have to grind it, a cutting disc is effectively a very narrow grinding wheel.

Yes you can soften the blade so you can use a hacksaw and then reheat,quench and temper , but I think if you're going to do that, you might as well start off with a bit of new tool steel and make it from scratch.

 

[Dee J]

Thin cut-off disk in an angle-grinder will walk through it. But it might be wise to do it in stages and allow to cool regularly. Anything that cuts that quickly generates a lot of heat.

 

[Doug B]

I'd use a 1mm slitting disc http://www.toolstation.com/shop/Power+T ... isc/p35514 in a 4" grinder, they don't cause as much heat as standard discs as they remove less material, take it steady not to over heat the blade if necessary only cut so far & let the blade cool before proceeding again.

 

[Mr_P]

Thanks all, will have a bash with a Dremel copy. No angle grinder, under the illusion I'm a woodworker but some days think I've taken up metal work by mistake.

Will report back with pictures.

 

[Sheffield Tony]

I cut an iron for my scrub plane using an angle grinder. I clamped it between two thick bits of angle iron to act as a heatsink and guide, with the waste protruding. It worked, but in this case I used M3 HSS, so a lot less likely to lose temper.

 

[Mr_P]

Thanks to AndyT, Lidl/Parkside and all the above for the suggestions I'm sorted now.

Apologies to the mods I did start out with good hand tool intentions but was talked out of it.

Steps 1, scatch a line into the big iron,cut a rebate into a bit of scrap and clamp into place.

actually first step, should be sweep up, sparks and shavings not a good idea.

Step 2, Attack with Dremel, wear goggles or even better a full face guard. Sparks plus the dremel disc grinders can break into dozens of tiny projectiles.

Slow work, taking care not to get it too hot and stopping to replace either worn down or shattered mini grinder discs.

I swapped the clamp to an old iron, thinking it would be a better heat sink and protect the business end.

Tada I'm through

Step 3, Clean up the cut, I used my parkside belt sander. Once again take care not to overheat, at least when its not clamped I could dunk it easily in a mug of water so a lot quicker.

Step 4, quick sharpen and test

No where near as good as it was, iron needs a bit more work.

Lessons learned, before I would do this again.

I need a face mask and a bit of blue metal die or similar, maybe I'll try a black marker it was easy to see the line on the black end but not the shiny end.