Planing Oak

[Joe]

I'm recycling an old school table-top, cutting some 70mm x 20mm x 60mm boards out of it. The problem is that it seems to be shredding my plane iron - I can barely clean up a single face of the timber (which is fairly flat anyhow) before the blade's cutting edge appears minutely serrated and a wire-edge forms on the back. I started off with a 30 degree secondary bevel and 32 degree micro-bevel then increased both these angles by 5 degrees, but it doesn't seemed to have helped much (the blade is A2 steel). Is this normal, or am I doing something wrong?

If anyone can offer some advice it would be much appreciated!

 

[newt]

Joe, from what you have said I would question the steel, perhaps there has been incorrect heat treatment. How hard was it to sharpen? A2 at 32 degrees should not result in a wire edge being formed. Has the blade ever been overheated during grinding?

 

[Joe]

Thanks Newt. I've not used a grinder on the blade, only waterstones, and it certainly seems pretty tough when re-establishing the primary bevel by hand. It is a Lie Nielsen iron, so I'd rather hope that it was manufactured to a high standard.

Joel

 

[Scott]

cutting some 70mm x 20mm x 60mm boards out of it

What you making? A fag packet??

Seem to recall reading somewhere that there were some dodgy LN blades in th early days. Maybe it was on here. Is it an old blade?

You tried another plane/blade?

Is this happening when you plane the original surface? i.e. could it be impregnated with all kinds of cr*p? Is the sole of your plane scratched? If so, clean it up with a belt sander before planing.

Apologies if teaching granny to suck eggs etc

cheers

 

[woodbloke]

I think here I would agree with Scott in that there's probably about a century's worth of cr@p on an old school desk. My approach would be to use a cambered blade in a 2" woodie and take a narrow, fairly deep shaving off to clean up the surface an then attack it with the better quality :? steel - Rob

 

[Digit]

I use a lot of reclaimed timber and it does have its hazards. A decent nail detector helps but I wire brush or run a belt sander over all surfaces before doing any serious work. Your description of damage to the plane iron seems to indicate a lot of rubbish in the wood. I can see no reason why you should have this problem suddenly unless the timber is to blame.
Roy.

 

[GCR]

I agree, reclaimed timber can have a very gritty surface, not to mention the remains of thumb tacks if its from a school! I have improved the life of my plane blade by giving the surface a good sanding - orbital or belt - before planing.

Bob

 

[Joe]

Oops, should have said 70mm x 20mm x 600mm. Thanks to everyone for the advice. The surface seems fairly clean, but I guess rubbish could have worked its way into the grain over the years.

I seem to remember reading somewhere that sanding before using a cutting tool might be a bad idea because grit left in the wood might dull the blade - is there any truth in this?

 

[Digit]

Never noticed it myself. I certainly have a lot less blade damage since I adopted sanding and wire brushing.
True, there might be some damage, but it's certainly a damn site less than if no cleaning is done, and as I sharpen my own machine blades the slight wear increase that might occur hasn't been a problem.

Roy.

 

[mr]

This is what can happen if you don't take a few preparatory swipes with an old woodie or similar.

This is the sole of my LV LA jack badly scored by silica embedded in the wood surface. A lesson learned there. All wood now gets at least the once over with a spid brush - anything recylcled gets the top layer removed with my woodie fore plane from ****.

Cheers Mike.

 

[Handrubbed]

I would not recommend planing a previously (fresh) sanded surface. That is sure to muck up your plane sole. A hand scraper might remove the top crud. It will also be easy to refresh the scraper's edge when your are done. The wood may also be "work-tempered" near the surface, making it less planable.

 

[Paul Kierstead]

I use a strong steel brush on suspect wood. It seems to help quite a bit.

 

[Joe]

That photo of your plane sole looks rather familiar Mike. I guess I should dig out the old wooden fore-plane I inherited from my grandfather.

Thanks again to everyone for the tips...

 

[mr]

That photo of your plane sole looks rather familiar Mike. I guess I should dig out the old wooden fore-plane I inherited from my grandfather.

Thanks again to everyone for the tips...

Thats exactly what I did. It gets used on anything recycled and is quite useful just used in its role as a fore plane.

Cheers Mike