What's this then

[Pabs]

This white powder on the stone when flattening the back of a new Stanley spokeshave cutter?

Could it be it residue spillover from the etching at the top (STANLEY)? Or some unwanted anti-patina/oxidiser?

Thanks Oracles




Not to let it stand in the way of a good flattening!

 

[raffo]

Are you using a diamond stone dry? The powder is probably the lacquer coat these blades come with from the factory.

 

[Pabs]

Thanks Raffo. Yes indeed dry as a bone. Not come across it before but I usually buy second hand stuff.

It's nice to sharpen though

 

[baldkev]

You might want to consider oil or water as lube..... i use oil, not everyone does, but it takes away the metal dust and prevents the stone clogging

 

[raffo]

I use mineral oil, too. I don't like the idea of the dust getting airborne.

 

[Jacob]

This white powder on the stone when flattening the back of a new Stanley spokeshave cutter?

Could it be it residue spillover from the etching at the top (STANLEY)? Or some unwanted anti-patina/oxidiser?

Thanks Oracles

View attachment 157262View attachment 157263


Not to let it stand in the way of a good flattening!

View attachment 157264

You don't have to flatten the face of a spokeshave blade.
It's just another modern sharpening ritual.

 

[baldkev]

You don't have to flatten the face of a spokeshave blade.
It's just another modern sharpening ritual.

In fact, why not point out he doesnt need a spokeshave? An axe would do, or failing that, just chew the wood down with his teeth? Unless he has dentures i guess

It's true that you wouldn't use a spokeshave to take a blades width pass and attempt to use it like a no4, but equally, as it only takes a minute with a diamond setup, it certainly wont hurt.......

 

[Inspector]

baldkev. Little known fact is our dentists can supply specialty dentures. Like flat top ones for chewing hides to make them soft. Popular with the native community. Hole punch ones for gasket making. Mechanics love those. Woodworkers can get beaver choppers. They have little blades with chip breakers so they can be removed for sharpening or changing to scrub, low angle, high angle (tropical hardwoods) and skewed. To be honest I think the added cost of multiple dentures is worth it for fast changing rather than switching blades.

Pete

 

[baldkev]

baldkev. Little known fact is our dentists can supply specialty dentures. Like flat top ones for chewing hides to make them soft. Popular with the native community. Hole punch ones for gasket making. Mechanics love those. Woodworkers can get beaver choppers. They have little blades with chip breakers so they can be removed for sharpening or changing to scrub, low angle, high angle (tropical hardwoods) and skewed. To be honest I think the added cost of multiple dentures is worth it for fast changing rather than switching blades.

Pete

Ahhhh. We dont get these luxury add_ons in the u.k. i feel cheated now, the amount of mdf skirtings i could have scribed in with my face, saving me the need to buy a jigsaw.
Maybe festool can come up with something?
And maybe a buttcrack planer block, allowing me to thickness 4x2s inbetween my cheeks?

 

[Jacob]

In fact, why not point out he doesnt need a spokeshave? An axe would do, or failing that, just chew the wood down with his teeth? Unless he has dentures i guess

It's true that you wouldn't use a spokeshave to take a blades width pass and attempt to use it like a no4, but equally, as it only takes a minute with a diamond setup, it certainly wont hurt.......

It's just that flattening is a bit of an obsession - often not necessary, sometimes a positive disadvantage e.g. most new chisels arrive with slightly hollow flat side which actually makes sharpening very easy...etc

 

[Adam W.]

That's true, Ashley Iles bench chisels have a hollow ground flat side and lapping them flat before use would be pointless.

 

[Pabs]

It's just that flattening is a bit of an obsession - often not necessary

although I've previously found putting some time into the flat cheek any single bevel blade - e.g chisel ground / japenese style kitchen knives etc seems to help greatly in refining the cutting edge. once it has been done to coarse grit to get consistency along the back, I can then just knock the wire edge off from future sharpening with just one or two light passes on a higher grit stone. it makes sense to me as the factory grinding marks are so coarse that what would the point be of sharpening the bevel side to anything med-fine if the obverse side is effectively serrated under the loupe? appreciate perhaps not the entire back of the cutter but it's so small and easily done it's barely any extra work and perhaps helps the bedding a little...

anyway not used one before and was keen to experiment. am trying to knock the sharp edges off the frame, this was something I'd forgotten to do before assembly so I've alternated between a chisel, the spokeshave and a block plane to start doing this. good learning for end grain work and finer chisel work.

 

[Jacob]

although I've previously found putting some time into the flat cheek any single bevel blade - e.g chisel ground / japenese style kitchen knives etc seems to help greatly in refining the cutting edge. once it has been done to coarse grit to get consistency along the back, I can then just knock the wire edge off from future sharpening with just one or two light passes on a higher grit stone. it makes sense to me as the factory grinding marks are so coarse that what would the point be of sharpening the bevel side to anything med-fine if the obverse side is effectively serrated under the loupe? appreciate perhaps not the entire back of the cutter but it's so small and easily done it's barely any extra work and perhaps helps the bedding a little...

anyway not used one before and was keen to experiment. am trying to knock the sharp edges off the frame, this was something I'd forgotten to do before assembly so I've alternated between a chisel, the spokeshave and a block plane to start doing this. good learning for end grain work and finer chisel work.


View attachment 157291View attachment 157292

Block plane is made for exactly that sort of job. Better than spokeshave or chisel, except where you can't get a block plane in.
Factory grinding marks get their sharp edges smoothed off very quickly during the usual process of removing the burr from the face, and by normal use. You may still be able to see them years later but they aren't a problem, as long as the edge itself is good.
Best not to use magnification - the more you can see the more faults you can find - there's potentially no end to them!
PS if you really want to smooth grind marks to lower friction just a few quick passes with emery paper will do it in 5 seconds. You only need to take off the sharp top edges of the scratches, not to take them right back to nothing

 

[baldkev]

It's just that flattening is a bit of an obsession - often not necessary, sometimes a positive disadvantage e.g. most new chisels arrive with slightly hollow flat side which actually makes sharpening very easy...etc

Yes, like Japanese chisels so you only have to keep the first 3 or 4mm flat, but some comments are like that obsession.... often not necessary, sometimes a positive disadvantage

 

[Jacob]

Yes, like Japanese chisels so you only have to keep the first 3 or 4mm flat, but some comments are like that obsession.... often not necessary, sometimes a positive disadvantage

Yes I know it's boring but it comes up as regular as clockwork.
Worst case a few years back when someone with a brand new set of Blue Spruce chisels set about flattening them and getting worried as they seemed to be getting worse instead of better. Could have been taking the peas I suppose but probably not!
Then there was the collection of planes bought cheap, with the soles flattened away to the point of fragility and cracking..and so on!

 

[Tony Zaffuto]

I would suspect more damage than good is done to the sole of a plane while flattening (unless one has a sufficiently large enough surface grinder and fixtures the plane correctly).

 

[raffo]

am trying to knock the sharp edges off the frame, this was something I'd forgotten to do before assembly so I've alternated between a chisel, the spokeshave and a block plane to start doing this. good learning for end grain work and finer chisel work.

You can do that very easily with a #4 or #3 plane, even the endgrain bevels, block planes not necessary either. The hard to reach places with a chisel.

 

[Inspector]

Pabs the way you learn is often forgetting to do something and working with what you have to fix it. When you don't have the benefit of first hand instruction by someone knowledgeable playing with tools to see what you can do with them is educational too. Keep playing and above all enjoy.

Pete