So how do you grind yours????

[Karl]

I need to re-grind a couple of cambered irons, and wondered how others approach this? One iron is already cambered, the other is presently straight.

I have a cheap APTC grinder and Veritas jig, and was thinking about making some contraption to fit. But before I do, I wondered how others approach this.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Paul Chapman]

Hi Karl,

I needed to do this to some blades for planes which I converted to scrub-type planes and wanted a steep camber. I used my old Elu grinder and the bottom half of its blade grinding jig. I was able to fit a piece of MDF to the jig so that it pivoted, and then clamped the blade to that. Hope the picture makes it clear

Chris Schwarz wrote an article about this very subject in his blog recently. He also used an MDF guide but did it free-hand. Here's the link http://www.woodworking-magazine.com/blo ... Plane.aspx

Be careful, though, not to burn your blades. I don't like using high speed grinders as burning can be a problem - quench frequently.

For honing these heavily cambered blades I use the Veritas Mk2 honing guide with cambered roller, which I find excellent.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[tnimble]

Mt complete kit used for shaping, sharpening and honing:

Guidance / measuring:
- my hands
- veritas MK I and II with acc.
- some shopmade wedges and other guides
- straightedge and good square
- thick glasplate
- long thinner glasspalte
- granite surface plate (400x250mm)
- pieces of MDF to put compound on
- pigment
- few sheets of paper

Metal removing:
- flat and oval engineers files
- set o needle files
- engineer scrapers flat and curved
- lamnated sanding brush for drill
- scotch brite brush for drill
- cloth backed 3M sand paper from 40 grit to 120 grit
- paper backed 3M wet and dry upo 600 grit
- 250 grit diamond stone
- 220 grit norton water stone
- 1000 grit norton water stone
- 8000 grit norton water stone
- nagura stone
- steel wool
- various grit polishing compounds

Lubrication
- turps
- alcohol
- WD40
- water

With this I manage to shape, sharpen and hone blades of about any size into any shape from either bare steel or an old or new blade / chisel / file.


For cambering a prepared piece of iron I use the Veritas MK II and course to fine water stones. Sometimes starting on my diamond stone. For wide and thick blades or when a heavy chamfer is desired startng on the low grit sand paper.

 

[Smudger]

Any advice on a small camber for my Jack, using a Tormek?
Or would it be to knock the corners off on a stone of some ilk?

 

[Paul Chapman]

Any advice on a small camber for my Jack, using a Tormek?
Or would it be to knock the corners off on a stone of some ilk?

Dick, if you want just a small camber, then you could do it with an Eclipse-style honing guide with a narrow roller or a Veritas Mk2 with a cambered roller, and press on the edges of the blade as you hone on a coarse stone. However, if you want a steep camber, and you have a Tormek, grinding would be quicker. I seem to remember that Rob (Woodbloke) constructed a jig for his Tormek to grind a camber on the plane he made with a curved sole when making his casket with curved sides - this was a variation of a jig that David Charlesworth made and published details of in F&C (can't remember which issue it was but if I can find it I'll let you know).

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Smudger]

Thanks, Paul. I guess the other answer would be to slacken off the jig slightly (keeping the grind angle) and move the cutter slightly.

 

[Paul Chapman]

Thanks, Paul. I guess the other answer would be to slacken off the jig slightly (keeping the grind angle) and move the cutter slightly.

No need to slacken it off, Dick, finger pressure on the corners of the blade should be sufficient if you want a slight camber. Here's a link to the thread showing the jig Rob made to do a steep camber on the Tormek (scroll down a bit) - but I suspect that this is far more of a camber than you are talking about https://www.ukworkshop.co.uk/forums/view ... ht=#194754

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[tnimble]

A camber as steep as Rob did in that thread can be done on he Veritas MK II. When starting a coarse grit (prob around 80 grit ceramic or silicon oxide not the cheaper more common aluminium oxide that wear out far to much) it would take less than 15 minutes to be done.

 

[Anonymous]

Karl

Why grinda camber?

I have used a cambered blade for years and never ground a camber.

Typical cambers are very slight (feww thou) and can be added at the honing stage unless you are thinking extreme camber such as a scrub plane

 

[Karl]

Karl

Why grinda camber?

I have used a cambered blade for years and never ground a camber.

Typical cambers are very slight (feww thou) and can be added at the honing stage unless you are thinking extreme camber such as a scrub plane

Indeed - this blade is in fact for a scrub plane. I also believe that Derek Cohen recently made a post about grinding a camber on Bevel Up planes.

Cheers

Karl

 

[Hokie]

Paul,

So, that 75mm radius on a scrub iron can be honed with the cambered roller attachment on the MK II?

 

[Paul Chapman]

Paul,

So, that 75mm radius on a scrub iron can be honed with the cambered roller attachment on the MK II?

Yes, it's what I use to hone mine. I don't bother to hone the extreme edges of the bevel because it's unlikely that you would have the whole width of the heavily cambered blade projecting from the plane, as the shavings would be too thick.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[Hokie]

Thanks! I'll give it a shot. The old Record 5 1/2 does an admirable job of taking down most timber, but I just bought a L-N scrub and anxious to use it on wide figured maple. Makes sense about the extremities of the camber.

 

[Hokie]

Thanks! I'll give it a shot. The old Record 5 1/2 does an admirable job of taking down most timber, but I just bought a L-N scrub and anxious to use it on wide figured maple. Makes sense about the extremities of the camber.

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Karl

Here are a couple of articles I have written on grinding a scrub plane profile on BD and jack profile on BU blades:

http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/dCohen/z_art/scrubPlaneBlade/index.asp

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com.au/showthread.php?t=58168

Keep in mind that honing a camber on a smoother is different from grinding a camber for a scrub. The former just requires pressure on the side edges of the blade. The latter requires removal of a significant amount of steel prior to honing.

Paul makes the valid point that honing a scrub plane blade only requires polishing the inner third of the camber.

The best guide is still the LV Mk II, whether it is used with the cambering accessory, or if it is used in my "upside down" method (lower end of following article) ...

http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=handtools&file=articles_566.shtml

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Hokie]

hmmm... that's not too bad, Derek. You started me thinking...if I could adapt my oar by putting a wooden saddle in the bottom to hold the flat scrub blade...

Thanks.

Link to oar in case you're interested or have used one and wish to share thoughts:

http://www.woodcraft.com/family.aspx?FamilyID=3890