Wood Planing Problem

[Nigel Burden]

Good diamond plates are expensive but, long term they work out cheaper than using sand paper/wet and dry paper which will tear and needs sticking to a flat surface. In fact, long term, diamond plates are probably the cheapest. Good quality oilstones are not cheap either, and water stones need flattening as they wear fairly quickly, and again, good one are not cheap.

As far as method is concerned, find one that is not complicated and stick to it. If, after perseverance it's not working, find another. Sharpening is an emotive subject and there are threads on this forum that are pages long. (hammer) It's what works for you, but have a look at two or three videos and give one a try. After all, you can only learn.

Nigel.

 

[transatlantic]

Its a shame there is a real lack of very fine diamond stones. Lots of brands sell 1K stones, but then as far as I am aware it's only DMT that do anything higher, which is around 8K.

I know that many people go straight from 1000 to a strop, but I find it helps to have one grit between. I currently use this at 2500, which as it wears, I'd guess is more around 3-4k.

I have also seen the very cheap (80-3000 grit) diamond plates on Ebay/Amazon, but they're very small and super thin.

 

[Nigel Burden]

I go from a 600 plate to some sort of slate stone, I haven't a clue what it is, and then strop. It works for me.

Nigel.

 

[sploo]

Thank you for that. Yeah I had actually been watching that video a few days ago. I managed to buy a planer from eBay (see pictures attached) any good!?

What you have there is a Record Stay Set. The cap iron is a bit unusual in that it's split into two parts - the idea being that you can just lift the end off in order to sharpen the iron, without having to unscrew the whole cap iron. Ask 10 people on whether they're better or worse than a normal cap iron and you'll get 11 answers, but regardless, it should be a decent plane.

This (rather long) video goes through a complete restoration (which is more than you need, looking at the photos) but it also has good info on sharpening and setup: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYyV6IUpsYk

A number 5 will be a great all-rounder, and will be perfectly acceptable as an only/main plane. This article has a good explanation of the intention of the various sizes of hand planes: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/tool ... ch_planes/

 

[Ttrees]

Its a shame there is a real lack of very fine diamond stones. Lots of brands sell 1K stones, but then as far as I am aware it's only DMT that do anything higher, which is around 8K.

I have also seen the very cheap (80-3000 grit) diamond plates on Ebay/Amazon, but they're very small and super thin.

They get finer the more you use them though.
I have a wee Dia-sharp extra fine hone, I must look at what grit it is, but it produces a mirror polish
and much finer scratch pattern than the higher grit 4000g King waterstone I have in a box somewhere.

I must have another look at what's out there on the bay.
It seems that rubber backing bonds well even when dirty, onto a polished granite stove hearth offcuts I have, a big pallet outside the shop with some nice bits occasionally.
I chose the convex side to bond it to, and that was the polished one.
Bigger offcut plates all have the slightest convexity, so I know I won't get a troublesome hollow profile.
Used cheap epoxy from Lidl, it makes a stable hone.

I'm not certain but I seem to have issues if I hone on the stated grit section, it must collect the burrs
even when thoroughly sprayed off with water,
so I stay away from that end if the hone, they're cheap enough to discount that end of them.

Some folks have mentioned that some of the cheap ones bonded to the nickelled plate
can be warped...
Has anyone tried to straighten them, or does the nickel separate from the plate?

Thanks all
Tom