Sharpening scraper plane blades

[Karl]

Hi all

Those out there who use scraper planes - how do you go about sharpening the extra wide blades? I'm not talking about raising a burr, but the stage before that to get a razor sharp blade.

I'm having difficulty doing it on my stone (which isn't wide enough to sharpen the entire blade width).

Cheers

Karl

 

[wizer]

anything useful hereKarl?

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi Karl,

All the literature I've ever read tells you to start by filing off the old burr. Well, I don't do it that way. Seems an unnecessary step to me.

I treat mine just like a plane blade. I wipe off the old burr holding the unbevelled side of the blade dead flat on my extra fine DMT. I then hone a 45 degree bevel using the Veritas Mk2 honing guide. I work through the coarse, fine then extra fine DMTs (use them with oil). All my DMTs are 8"x3".

As a final step I polish them on the leather strop with jewellers rouge. I do the bevel side with it still in the honing guide, then the flat side out of the guide.

I then turn the hook.

I'm talking here about the blades for the Veritas #80 style scraper and the the Veritas scraper plane (thin blade). The way I do it is quite fast.

Hope this helps.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Karl]

All my DMTs are 8"x3".

I think therein lies my problem - my stone is only 2 1/2" wide, and the LN and Veritas blades I am trying to hone are wider.

Maybe time to get some of that LV honing paper from Matthew......

Cheers

Karl

 

[joiner_sim]

when a stone isn't wide enough, don;t you just sharpened in a circular motion? figure of 8 or 6 or summin?

 

[PaulO]

By hand across the stone?

That's how I sharpen mine (LN #112), it's one of the few occasions I sharpen freehand (that and some marking knives)

Further ramblings on turning a hook:
https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/viewtopic.php?t=18920

 

[joiner_sim]

Yes, by hand,I sharpen all my tools free hand over my diamond stone and the plane blades are done in a circular motion so that it sharpens evenly.

 

[Smudger]

when a stone isn't wide enough, don;t you just sharpened in a circular motion? figure of 8 or 6 or summin?

8. That's what my ole dad taught me.

Never mentioned 6. Isn't that when the cutter slips off the stone?

 

[Paul Chapman]

All my DMTs are 8"x3".

I think therein lies my problem - my stone is only 2 1/2" wide, and the LN and Veritas blades I am trying to hone are wider.

Maybe time to get some of that LV honing paper from Matthew......

Cheers

Karl

When I bought my 3" wide stones several years ago they cost a lot more than the 2" ones, but I've never regretted it. A lot of my blades are 2 3/8" wide and the scraper blades are even wider and 3" stones centainly make life easier :wink:

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Karl]

Thanks for all the replies. I have never really got along with freehand honing. I use a 3 or 4 stage sharpening process, and I think I struggle with maintaining a constant honing angle when moving between grits. Maybe practise makes perfect (and I haven't done much practising!).

Cheers

Karl

 

[Paul Chapman]

I have never really got along with freehand honing.

Same here - I think that getting consistent, repeatable results with freehand honing is so difficult that, if I didn't have honing guides, I'd probably give up woodworking.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[bugbear]

Hi all

Those out there who use scraper planes - how do you go about sharpening the extra wide blades? I'm not talking about raising a burr, but the stage before that to get a razor sharp blade.

I'm having difficulty doing it on my stone (which isn't wide enough to sharpen the entire blade width).

Cheers

Karl

Unless your stone is MUCH narrower than the blade simply do a left side right side thing, making roughly the same number of strokes. This will only fail if you blade is so wide that the roller of your guide isn't on the stone in these cases - I imagine that approximate limit is a blade twice the width of you stone, allowing a 4" blade to be sharpened on a 2" stone.

If you're freehanding, holding the blade edge obliquely (skewed) will make it fit the stone; this is much harder with a guide.

I notice that people have repeated the hallowed idea of a figure 8 sharpening motion spreading the wear evenly. Since a figure 8 is narrow in middle, I've never understood this, since it appears to concentrate wear exactly where you don't want in - in the middle (both axes) of the stone. :?

BugBear

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi Karl and all

The answer is really simple.

Stop trying to do it down the stone. Do it across the stone.

Alternately ...

My choice is to freehand the blade with a side sharpening technique.

There is a full description in this article...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/Side Sharpening and The Sharp Skate.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Sharpdon]

Karl:

Here is a link to a video showing a technique for sharpening card scrapers using a Lap-Sharp. The principles are the same as with water stones. The results should also be the same or at least similar. The abrasive shown in the video is 5 micron.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzAYZ92z5C4

 

[joiner_sim]

I said figure of 6 or 8..... because I remember hearing it when i was first shown, but couldn't remember the number...... :?

When I sharpen a wide blade on my stone these days, I just tend to do it without thinking, so I didn't know what the figure was.

 

[wizer]

Karl:

Here is a link to a video showing a technique for sharpening card scrapers using a Lap-Sharp. The principles are the same as with water stones. The results should also be the same or at least similar. The abrasive shown in the video is 5 micron.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzAYZ92z5C4

Whilst an interesting video, this covers sharpening a card scraper. A Scraper plane blade has a 45 degree angle bevel.

 

[Sharpdon]

Whilst an interesting video, this covers sharpening a card scraper. A Scraper plane blade has a 45 degree angle bevel.

Yes, the scraper plane is honed at a 45 degree bevel rather than the 90 used on the card scraper. The tool bar shown in the video can be set to 45 degrees for scraper planes. The sharpening process is much the same.