Sharpening using the ruler trick

[The Bear]

As per DCs method, anyone know where I can buy a suitable thin stainless steel (or other rust proof material) ruler to use?

Mark

 

[jlawrence]

pretty much anywhere. my thinest one came off a market stall.

 

[bigjoe]

Have you got a poundland near you,they regularly have them on the shelf.

 

[woodbloke]

Make sure you get a thin one though...some are quite thick - Rob

 

[The Bear]

All the ones I've seen in shops have looked too thick, though I'm not sure how thick is right either. Anyone know of anywhere mail order that are suitable?

Mark

 

[woodbloke]

Try a local second hand tool emporium...we have a good one in Salisbury (Penny Farthing Tools) that's usually got loads - Rob

 

[Mr Ed]

Rabone Chesterman make a thin 150mm that is suitable.

Personally I have moved away from using the ruler trick recently.

Ed

 

[frugal]

I cut 6" off of the end of a broken bandsaw blade and ground the teeth off. Works great.

 

[David C]

Axminster about £0-69.

Mine is 0.5mm thick.

David Charlesworth

 

[Harbo]

At the ME Shows RGD Tools give them away free!

Next one at Ally Pally in Jan.

Rod

 

[ali27]

I think it would be great if a quality jig would be made
that can sharpen a backbevel of about3-5 degrees
without having to remove the blade from the jig while sharpening
the front bevel.

I have the newer Veritas jig which is quite good, but takes too much
time to do the backbevel and also the lowest is a 10 degree backbevel.

I have to remove the blade. Loosen the big knob and bring it from ''2''
to ''3'' to do the backbevel thing.

I suck at describing these things.

Ali

 

[David C]

Ali

The ruler is a simple aid which gives a back bevel of 2/3 of one degree.

A one mm thick ruler would give about double

David

 

[bugbear]

I think it would be great if a quality jig would be made
that can sharpen a backbevel of about3-5 degrees
without having to remove the blade from the jig while sharpening
the front bevel.

Why do you want such a small back bevel?

BugBear

 

[Steve Elliott]

I think it would be great if a quality jig would be made
that can sharpen a backbevel of about3-5 degrees
without having to remove the blade from the jig while sharpening
the front bevel.

Why do you want such a small back bevel?

BugBear

I've found that a back bevel of only a few degrees results in an edge that seems sharper than an edge honed on the same stone with the blade back kept flat. By "seems sharper" I'm referring to the results of the thread-cutting tests I've done. I realize there's some dispute over whether the thread test results reflect actual sharpness and I don't want to start up a discussion of that, but my subjective impression based on feeling the edges, shaving hair on the back of my hand, using the thumbnail test and actually planing wood also suggest that a back bevel increases the level of sharpness.

I believe that Japanese woodworkers consider a very thin ura on the blade back to be beneficial, and a thin ura is similar to a narrow back bevel.

 

[George_N]

I don't think the "ruler trick" is intended to produce a back bevel per se. It is just a quicker way of polishing enough of the back (or face, depending on who you are talking to) of the blade to produce a good edge.

 

[ali27]

Ali

The ruler is a simple aid which gives a back bevel of 2/3 of one degree.

A one mm thick ruler would give about double

David

Yes the ruler trick works, but I still have to remove the blade
from my Veritas jig to use the ruler trick.

I sharpen the front bevel on 800,3000 and 8000 waterstones.
I sharpen the backbevel on each to remove the wire edge. So
having to remove the blade every time from my jig to remove the
wire edge(using the ruler trick) takes a lot of time.

Mr Charlesworth do you think that only using the ruler trick on the 8000
stone is sufficient?

Why do you want such a small back bevel?

BugBear

Bugbear, actually I don't care about the back bevel at all. It's just that
I don't want to polish a large piece of the back of the blade. The ruler
trick is great, but I still need to remove the blade from my jig.

I would buy a jig that you could use to sharpen the backbevel,after having done the fron bevel, WITHOUT removing the blade from the jig, that would save time and make sharpening a lot more ''fun''.

Ali

 

[woodbloke]

I use a Kell III guide and have to remove it from the guide each time to do the 'ruler trick' If the honed bevel still needs a final swipe though, it's as easy to just pass it across a strop rather than put it back into the jig - Rob

 

[David C]

Ali,

I grind plane blades at 23 degrees.

Get a wire edge on 800 grit stone at 33 degrees.

Change projection to 35 degrees and polish tip of blade on 10,000 stone.

THEN do ruler trick on 10,000 stone only.

This is very quick, as little work is being done on each stone.

I have found recently that I can flatten Plane Blade backs to remove manufacturers grinding marks on 800 stone, and then go straight to ruler trick.

David Charlesworth

 

[Mike B]

I grind plane blades at 23 degrees.

David,

Just out of interest what do you use to grind the blades??

Wet grinder, dry grinder, or something else??

The "ruler trick" is most useful - thank you.

Cheers
Mike

 

[David C]

Mike,

In the beginning I had a high speed bench grinder, but have now used large Tormek for many years.

I have lots of beginners here so it is good that blued blades are a thing of the past.

David