UPDATE & GLOAT - Bevel-up Smoother or Scraping Plane or.

[Jake]

Is that an advert? (insert smiley)

Doesn't matter either way, does it?

I haven't used a LAS/164, I confess. Got the BUS and the LAJ and see no reason for anything in smaller or less compatible.

 

[promhandicam]

Hi again. Just a quick update to say that I still haven't bought anything yet 'cos I found out on Friday that someone, other than SWMBO or me, has been using my credit card to do their Christmas shopping - £350 in Comet :evil: So my card has been canceled and an investigation is underway - so no more shopping on the internet for a bit. It actually looks as if it was someone at WH Smiths as my wife ordered something the day before online with them. I guess it is easy for someone in one of these offices to note down someones details and then use them themselves.
I think when all gets resolved I will probably now go for the LAJ although they are currently out of stock in Canada. Main reason being for the interchangability of the irons and the added weight - similar to the BUS but still with the ability to use for shooting.

Have a good week,

Steve

 

[engineer one]

that's a **** of a excuse for not going down the slope :lol:
hope it gets sorted

paul :wink:

 

[Alf]

Doesn't matter either way, does it?

Are you kidding? A Stanley 164 is worth a fortune...

It's not relevant to this thread any more it seems, but it's worth bearing in mind with low angle smoothers that the LN and LV aren't directly comparable, especially if you're thinking you'll be swapping blades in and out like there's no tomorrow. The LN has the most finicky and irritating adjustment system imaginable so really doesn't lend itself to frequent displays of versatility unless you have the patience of a saint. Not that it's not a nice plane - I use mine on the shooting board all the time - but it is a drawback to it.

Cheers, Alf

 

[JesseM]

Doesn't matter either way, does it?

It's not relevant to this thread any more it seems, but it's worth bearing in mind with low angle smoothers that the LN and LV aren't directly comparable, especially if you're thinking you'll be swapping blades in and out like there's no tomorrow. The LN has the most finicky and irritating adjustment system imaginable so really doesn't lend itself to frequent displays of versatility unless you have the patience of a saint. Not that it's not a nice plane - I use mine on the shooting board all the time - but it is a drawback to it.
Cheers, Alf

I recently purchased an LV BUS with an extra 50 degree blade to tackle some bubinga. And so far it has done a fantastic job. Pretty much all I ever use my LN LAJ for is shooting so I can easily imagine the LN LAS being about the same. The LV has literally no backlash, and is a little aggresive on adjustments, but I just have to get used to that.

BTW the 50 degree blade came somewhat off and had to regrind it. This was quite a challenge with the MKII. I finally figured out a way to hold it to keep it from rotating forward.

 

[labuzz]

BTW the 50 degree blade came somewhat off and had to regrind it. This was quite a challenge with the MKII. I finally figured out a way to hold it to keep it from rotating forward.

Hi Jesse can you elaborate on that? My 50 degrees blade ( on my LAJ veritas but its the same blade if I remenber correctly) was more near 45 and also can you check if the blade is slightly curved?

 

[JesseM]

BTW the 50 degree blade came somewhat off and had to regrind it. This was quite a challenge with the MKII. I finally figured out a way to hold it to keep it from rotating forward.

Hi Jesse can you elaborate on that? My 50 degrees blade ( on my LAJ veritas but its the same blade if I remenber correctly) was more near 45 and also can you check if the blade is slightly curved?

Yeah this was not at 50 either. I didn't check but would guess 45-48. When I first put it in the MKII I noticed I was getting an uneven bevel, so I took the blade out to check the squareness. It was off a bit so I put it back in and started grinding away. This is O1 BTW. I only ground enough down to where it was straight which was still a lot of work.

The high angle settings on the MKII leave very little side registration, so you have to be careful. The thing is I took the blade out of the jig multiple times and everytime I put it back in it produced the same skewed bevel which led me to check the squareness.

The trick I used to holding the MKII when grinding this high bevel was to use the left hand on top of the jig and the right hand near the roller mechanism. Both hands push forward together. I tried different ways and this is the only one that really worked consistently.

 

[labuzz]

happy to see that its not just me being a complete newbie :roll:
And yes the registration for high angles on the mkII is tricky...Tks for the tip, I will try.
some photos of my blades ( sorry I have no macro lens ):


Not sure what to do with the blades now I have no grinder

I have checked the flatness of the sole of my block plane ( veritas standard )...The sole was a tiny little bit concave on the length! After 10 minutes of scrubing on 120, and 400 he is flat now.

 

[engineer one]

well you could always cut some wooden wedges, and use them to hold the blade :lol:

but actually if you have an eclipse type of jig, then you need some kind of register device, and a shadow guide is quite useful. so wedges might be the way to go.

paul :wink:

 

[JesseM]

happy to see that its not just me being a complete newbie :roll:
And yes the registration for high angles on the mkII is tricky...Tks for the tip, I will try.
some photos of my blades ( sorry I have no macro lens ):


Not sure what to do with the blades now I have no grinder

I have checked the flatness of the sole of my block plane ( veritas standard )...The sole was a tiny little bit concave on the length! After 10 minutes of scrubing on 120, and 400 he is flat now.

On the LAJ54 photo it looks like the microbevel is a bit uneven. Did you regrind and if so using what? Thats the same problem I saw on mine and in fact its on the same side.

Sorry I forgot to add this. I have powered ways of regrinding (Powered MKII) but I stopped using on plane blades because it usually made things worse. This time I used sandpaper on glass just to take most of the metal the fastest.

 

[labuzz]

I am just using a cerax combination waterstone (1000/6000) and the mkII honing guide nothing else on those blades. I have tryed to compensate for the bevel problem (on the LAJ54) with fingers pressure without success.
I think I will try to regrind the skewed blade on a coarse sand paper.

I have just order an eclipse type of honing guide. How the shadow guide looks like?

 

[engineer one]

you could draw the angle you want on a sheet of white card,
or cut a wedge of wood say mdf, to the angle you want.

the important thing is to have an accurate reference point.

paul :wink:

 

[JesseM]

I am just using a cerax combination waterstone (1000/6000) and the mkII honing guide nothing else on those blades. I have tryed to compensate for the bevel problem (on the LAJ54) with fingers pressure without success.
I think I will try to regrind the skewed blade on a coarse sand paper.

I have just order an eclipse type of honing guide. How the shadow guide looks like?

I think your blade like mine is sitting in the jig properly, its just that the initial grind on the blade is off. You will see that uneveness in the bevel until its straightened.

The eclipse is a useful jig to have, but I think you will have a harder time pushing it at 50 degrees than the MKII. I haven't tried it though so I may be wrong.

 

[Alf]

Gentlemen, is it terribly bad form to ask if these unloved bevels actually successfully planed wood? Or didn't you try?

Cheers, Alf

 

[engineer one]

oh alf you do ask the obvious #-o

paul :wink:

 

[JesseM]

I prolly coulda cut with it, but I didn't try. It was a new plane to me and I wanted to make sure that 50 was sharp because I didn't know what to expect if it wasn't.

 

[labuzz]

Gentlemen, is it terribly bad form to ask if these unloved bevels actually successfully planed wood? Or didn't you try?

Cheers, Alf

Dont get me wrong I love my planes ( all veritas btw ) and I can get really good results ( for a complete newbie in this field...) . It's just recently that I have had some hard time with a piece of rosewood. The fact is that I have discover that they were not perfect ou of the box...but very near!


http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... r01hp9.jpg
http://img166.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... n01bd9.jpg
http://img166.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... agequ6.jpg

 

[Alf]

oh alf you do ask the obvious #-o

paul :wink:

Sorry It's just I see all this concern about not-quite perfect parallelness (is that a word?) of bevels, and quite honestly does it matter? If it does, send them back. Otherwise, if they work, what's the problem? There's no rule that says bevels have to look perfect in order to work - thank goodness, 'cos an awful lot of mine look much worse than those... C'mon, chaps, can we have a reality check before we scare off hundreds of potential Slope Sliders 'cos they don't want to have to buy a micrometer before they ever put plane to wood. :lol:

Cheers, Alf

 

[David C]

This is all very interesting and highlights how difficult things can be at the beginning.

There is a huge advantage in grinding plane blades at a relatively low angle. I use 23 degrees. Coarse paper stuck to a flat surface will do the grinding function if you have no grinder.

Honing on a coarse 800g stone or equivalent,is now easy and quick.

Appropriate honing angles are easy and quick to change if the honing bevel is kept narrow. You can choose, 27, 30, 40 or 45, whatever suits the timber. I am thinking bevel up here.

Squaring of out of square blades is easy and fairly quick as long as you have a guide which does not dictate from a wide flat roller. Big trouble ensues if the blade is not perfectly registered in one of these.

Some planes with azimuth error require a blade to be prepared out of square.

I think the single flat polished bevel, which the Japanese use is much the most difficult to achieve, and not often necessary, if ever.

David Charlesworth

 

[labuzz]

Hi David,
taking any decision is really hard when you start.Rubbing my planes on sandpaper was a hard one...trust what you see is difficult too...
Should I deal with the squareness of my blades first ( it looks like there's not too much work) ? I know that your advice is to stop the grinding just before the cutting edge is reached.

Btw I have just received your first 2 books and will receive the 2 dvds on sharpening next week...I sound like a happy fanboy now :roll: the complete collection I own 8)