low angle for end grain?

[adrian]

So it appears that my options to get rid of this chipping problem are:

• 1. grind the blade back but keep the same angle (why would this work?)

• 2. hone the blade higher than its current 27 degrees

• 3. Install a back bevel (which I understand cannot exceed 7 degrees because of the need for a 5 degree clearance angle).

• 4. Perhaps try O1 steel instead.

Any additional comments on these options? The merit of option 1 is unclear to me. Option 2 would obviously work, but with the loss of the low angle advantage. It would appear to me that option 3, the back bevel, has much to recommend it if I can figure out how to produce a 6-7 degree back bevel. (I'm a honing guide user, not a free hander, and I've been using the ruler trick so actually all my plane blades have tiny back bevels.)

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Install a back bevel (which I understand cannot exceed 7 degrees because of the need for a 5 degree clearance angle).

Adrian

You are one confused puppy :lol:

Forget you wrote this.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[adrian]

Install a back bevel (which I understand cannot exceed 7 degrees because of the need for a 5 degree clearance angle).

Adrian

You are one confused puppy :lol:

Forget you wrote this.

So you're saying you don't like the back bevel option? In your previous post you said they are bad if you freehand and they make stropping impossible. But if I don't freehand and don't strop...is there still some reason to avoid back bevels?

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Adrian

I consider a backbevel (1) an unnecesary complication to honing, and (2) it will take you too close to clearance limits.

In all the years I have been shooting hardwood endgrain with the LV LAJ and a 25 degree A2 blade, I never felt that the blade was letting me down.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[adrian]

In all the years I have been shooting hardwood endgrain with the LV LAJ and a 25 degree A2 blade, I never felt that the blade was letting me down.

So you would recommend that I grind the blade back and see if its performance improves? How much should I grind back?

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi Adrian

Grind just a whisker. If the edge is not holding up, which may suggest that the steel in yours is a little softer than mine, then I would increase the bevel angle a little - try it at 28 degrees or 30 degrees.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[custard]

Adrian, just a thought. You say that the plane is "sort of new", I've heard that it takes one or two grindings and honing cycles before an A2 blade is delivering its best. The explanation was technical metalurgical stuff that went completely over my head, but it's a statement that tallies fairly well with my own A2 experiences!

 

[adrian]

Right now I'm dovetailing a carcass together, so my focus has shifted. I imagine it may be a month before I need to do more shooting, as everything is cut to length now (except I didn't make the feet yet). But eventually I'll get back to it and try grinding the blade back a hair to see whether the performance changes. The blade in question has been honed 2-3 times, I think, and never ground back.