Can't cut, won't cut!

[Jacob]

Or freehand - you can be certain of the angle by checking it (basically "looking" at it as you do it, in the old fashioned way) AND have a bit of a camber, which you really need.

 

[GLFaria]

Freehand may be ok for pros (and even then I am not sure this is true 100% of the time), who have spent a lifetime practicing. IMO amateurs should always use a honing guide. Good sharpening is already difficult enough. And if anyone says "with a honing guide they will never learn how to sharpen properly", I say without a sharpening guide they not only will never learn how to sharpen properly, they just never will have a properly sharpened iron (or chisel, or anything...). Please, we are talking amateurs, who work on their spare time. How long until a pro becomes really proficient at sharpening?

 

[MMUK]

Freehand may be ok for pros (and even then I am not sure this is true 100% of the time), who have spent a lifetime practicing. IMO amateurs should always use a honing guide. Good sharpening is already difficult enough. And if anyone says "with a honing guide they will never learn how to sharpen properly", I say without a sharpening guide they not only will never learn how to sharpen properly, they just never will have a properly sharpened iron (or chisel, or anything...). Please, we are talking amateurs, who work on their spare time. How long until a pro becomes really proficient at sharpening?

Technically speaking, I'm an amateur. I've never been taught by anyone other than myself and up until 12 months ago I'd only ever sharpened an iron twice, on my #5 jack. All my sharpening previously had been chisels with a bench grinder and a 99p stone. I tried a honing guide once and threw it away. Without blowing my own trumpet, I can now sharpen any iron to scalpal sharp in minutes using my own, maybe unusual, methods.

 

[rafezetter]

Technically speaking, I'm an amateur. I've never been taught by anyone other than myself and up until 12 months ago I'd only ever sharpened an iron twice, on my #5 jack. All my sharpening previously had been chisels with a bench grinder and a 99p stone. I tried a honing guide once and threw it away. Without blowing my own trumpet, I can now sharpen any iron to scalpal sharp in minutes using my own, maybe unusual, methods.

Without starting another sharpening thread war.... could you describe or point to where you already have if it's "unusualness" is noteworthy please? I use a guide mainly because I find it gives me consistent accurate results, not so much in the angle and sharpness so much as maintaining a good straight 90deg to the sides edge.

(lol or pm me if you prefer )

 

[MMUK]

Technically speaking, I'm an amateur. I've never been taught by anyone other than myself and up until 12 months ago I'd only ever sharpened an iron twice, on my #5 jack. All my sharpening previously had been chisels with a bench grinder and a 99p stone. I tried a honing guide once and threw it away. Without blowing my own trumpet, I can now sharpen any iron to scalpal sharp in minutes using my own, maybe unusual, methods.

Without starting another sharpening thread war.... could you describe or point to where you already have if it's "unusualness" is noteworthy please? I use a guide mainly because I find it gives me consistent accurate results, not so much in the angle and sharpness so much as maintaining a good straight 90deg to the sides edge.

(lol or pm me if you prefer )

Quite simple method really. If there are any deep nicks, I take these out with a 600 grit wheel on the bench grinder. Everything else is then done with wet & dry paper on a piece of plate glass starting with P180 and moving up to P400 then finally P1200. I use clean engine oil as a lube and to remove swarf. I also find 1200 grit is fine enough for any honing.

As far as consistency goes, I'm not a stickler for precision of angle. I mean I don't measure it but get it to look right. Once I'm happy with my angle, I lay the iron on the wet & dry (wet) back edge of bevel first and then slowly tip it forward until the oil squidges out. With a thumb and third finger either side of the iron, I use these to keep it at the correct angle with the index and second finger applying even pressure across the bevel of the iron.

 

[GLFaria]

Gifted guy indeed!

 

[Jacob]

Freehand may be ok for pros (and even then I am not sure this is true 100% of the time), who have spent a lifetime practicing. IMO amateurs should always use a honing guide. ....

Vice versa.
Sharpening was never such a problem in the old days. 10 minutes to get the idea, 20 minutes to be really good at it.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Deep joy!!!! Another sharpening thread!

 

[Jacob]

I don't think it's controversial any more. People have finally accepted that there may be other ways of skinning a cat. It's been a long struggle though!

 

[Cheshirechappie]

I think the vast majority of people have never had any trouble accepting that there are more ways than one of sharpening, whatever their preferred method. Unfortunately, there does seem to be a small and vociferous minority who are rude about methods other than their own.

Personally, I'm quite happy to read (or even contribute to, if I think I have something worth contributing) threads comparing the relative merits and limitations of different methods of sharpening, thoughts and reviews of sharpening equipment, or techniques for unusual tools. There's always something to learn. What I'd prefer not to see is such threads hijacked by people claiming to have found the One True Way and dismissing all others as bunkum; I don't think that helps the rest of us to learn something that might improve our own results.

It's a shame that the Mods have in the recent past had to prune some threads, and step in with other measures, including (I understand) warning some contributors about their future conduct. Sharpening is something we all have to do if we want to cut wood, and it deserves to be discussed openly and sensibly without anybody feeling the need to denigrate others opinions or methods.

Sorry for the rant, but I thought it needed saying.

 

[bugbear]

Shame about the OP's question...

BugBear

 

[MMUK]

Shame about the OP's question...

BugBear

:?:

I think we have attempted to help the OP out with his original question and he seems happy to try the advice given. So I don't see the relevance of your remark :?

 

[ohms12]

Okay so i've got the honing guide out and i'm sharpening - it's taking me ages, but i'm getting there. Any advice at the best angle? Should I be going for 30° or 25°....or something else completely? I still think my iron has a slight warp to it. I've noticed that, even with a honing guide, my blade is sharpening on one half quicker than the other. I'm using DMT diamond stones, so no chance of me sharpening on a concave surface.

 

[ohms12]

Good news. I've got my plane working. I ditched the beech and moved to a piece of lime. After honing the blade a little more (it's not perfect yet, but I reckon it'll take another half hour of sharpening to get an even bevel). I resharpened to 25 degrees and put everything back together - frog much further forward, smaller mouth and a sharper iron. It still struggled bit on the beech, but was silky smooth on the lime and even on some knots and uneven grain on some oak did well. I'm pretty chuffed! I've ordered another iron - this one is definitely warped in some way. But for now, here's some pics!

Here you can see the uneven bevel at the top, it'll take me a little while longer to even that out.




Some oak i managed to smooth out - quite impressed I was able to do this without much bother!


Buttery smooth lime! (Excuse the cuts in the wood at the side - was gouging out bits with a new knife )


Thanks to everyone who helped me out - not sure i'd have bothered if it wasn't for all of you. So from a newbie to ukworkshop.co.uk, thanks very much. Not every forum I use is so helpful!

 

[Bod]

Well done!

Bod

 

[GLFaria]

Congratulations, well done.
It looks like you have chosen a difficult piece of oak for a start, no wonder you had some trouble!

What brand honing guide are you using? Not all of them are equal...

 

[GLFaria]

Before the flak starts, no, no, I don't want to start another thread on honing guides! Just curious...

 

[ohms12]

The reason for the top part being out is because the previous bevel was so out! I'm using a draper honing guide I got with some chisels - it's probably not the greatest in the world, but it does the job. I'm saving for a wedding at the mo, so i'm trying to cut down on unnecessary purchases! (That and the mrs would kill me if I bought another tool ) I'd love a better one, but hey, i'll make do.

As for the oak, I hadn't actually tried it before now, I had been trying on a piece of Beech. I had no idea it was so hard! Oak is soft in comparison. :shock:

 

[bugbear]

The reason for the top part being out is because the previous bevel was so out! I'm using a draper honing guide I got with some chisels - it's probably not the greatest in the world, but it does the job.

A google only shows one design of guide by Draper, and it's the old, and excellent, side clamping Eclipse style. It's a good guide.

You may find this helpful:

post308586.html?hilit=%20minimising%20labour%20#p308586

BugBear

 

[bugbear]

... frog much further forward, smaller mouth and a sharper iron.

The problem wasn't mouth size; the iron didn't have a flat surface to sit on.

Here's a helpful cut away picture. (*)

Look at the surface the blade is sitting on.

BugBear

* (from this page:
http://americanwoodworker.com/blogs/too ... plane.aspx )