Sharpening

The discussion of sharpening stones is like discussing cutting dovetails. Do you cut tails or pins first and do use machines to cut them?  Like many of us I too fell into the trap of believing everything you read without actually testing or asking a professional in the field.  

The subject for today is sharpening stones.  What sharpening stones should I buy and why?  The answer to this question is quite simple, well today it is.  For bench chisels and plane blades my choice is water stones. The main reason why I prefer water stones is how quick water stones establishes a keen edge. The only negative to water stones is they need to be flatten regularly.  Years ago water stones needed to be soaked all the time in a bucket/container of some sort. Today though we are blessed with ceramic water stones that don't need to soaked but rather sprayed with water before use. 

The stones of choice for me are Sharpton ceramic water stones and the grits I use are 1000, 5000, and 8000 grit.  

When it comes to sharpening carving and turning tools I use a totally different set up. I like to use oil stones for curved tools because the stones are hard and don't get out of flat.  While oil stones cut slower they allow you to focus on the tool rotation side to side.  While the stones are hard they still need to be maintained by wiping the stones with clean oil and rag. If you don't wipe down the stones than they can get glazed over. If the stone gets glazed boy you have your work cut out to bring them back to working order. The oil stones I use are from norton. The grits I use I is coarse, medium, and black surgical.  The lubrication for oil stones can be just about anything but I prefer mineral oil.  

My last must have stone for multiple reasons is the coarse and fine diamond stone from DMT.  I use this stone to flatten my water stones, flatten plane and chisel backs, and to help the process of sharpening the cabinet and card scraper. I use water as my lubricate because I use the diamond stone to flatten my water stones.  

This selection of sharpening stones are what I use and many other trained professionals in the field. But like everything in the field of woodworking there are always an exception of the rule. 

Free hand sharpening is a skill I recommend everyone to learn. This process takes practice. But there is nothing wrong with a honing guide. I own the Lie-Nielsen version and it works great. Lee Valley also offers a honing guide and it too works awesome. The only issue with honing guides is that they can't hold every tool so you will sooner or later need to sharpen free hand.  

Happy sharpening!

The Toothing Plane

The array of toothing planes in the collection.

     

The toothing plane is one of those planes that reminds me of the fashion industry. First it appeared around the 18th century, fell out of fashion in the mid 20th century, and now its back.  I am shocked that this plane once lost its popularity.  In my world this plane serves as the "when all else fails" plane.  The plane itself  works with and across the grain, and there isn't the need to be concerned of grain direction.  The teeth won't dig into the grain and tear out isn't of concern. In my opinion nothing can challenge a sharp toothing plane

A toothing plane is nothing more than a wooden plane with an iron with saw like teeth on the sharp end. The pitch angle can vary anywhere from 60 to 110 degrees. The coarseness of the teeth configuration also vary, and commonly the higher the pitch the finer the teeth. The purpose of such a plane was once used to prep all wooden surfaces that were going to be veneered. The striations left by the plane told the period craftsman that the surface is flat. If there wasn't any striations that meant there was a low spot on the wood and further flattening was necessary.  Also in the period it was standard practice to use a coarse iron for the substrate and the finer iron for the veneer.

Range of blade angle.

 An example of a fine toothed blade.

An example of coarse toothed blade.

If you are interest in purchasing a toothing plane, than you are in luck. Commonly these planes show themselves at flea markets,  ebay, tool auctions, or at Joshua Clark's tool sale on hyperkitten.com .  If you can't seem to find one made out of wood or if you prefer a metal version than you can visit Lie-Nielsen ToolWorks.   The Lie-Nielsen #212 plane was my first toothing plane and its a joy to use.  Commonly I get asked what do I prefer, Wood or Metal? Honestly I love the wooden version due to the selection of of teeth per inch. Yet if I had to pick one, I would go with the Lie-Nielsen.

Lie-Nielsen #212 with toothing iron. 

As a maker and restorer of furniture I thoroughly enjoy working with all hand tools. The toothing plane is one of my favorite to use and to collect. I collect them simply because I work so often with veneer.  Yet that isn't an excuse to have as many as I do.  Maybe I can still use the excuse that I need them for the "students" in the classes I teach. 

 The result of a using a toothing plane on pine. 

A common question I often get asked is how to sharpen the serrated edge? Some will say file the bevel first and than sharpen in the usual way.  I would say the first step is to grind the bevel on a slow speed grinder.  Since the iron isn't harden to high degree you must pay attention not to over heat the iron.  Also the craftsperson needs to remember the golden rule when grinding, the length of the bevel should not exceed more than two times the thickness of the blade at the point of grinding. Otherwise, the blade will dull quickly and the edge could crumple like tin foil. 

Grinding the bevel, being careful not over heat the iron.

Once I'm done grinding the blade, I then hone the bevel only on 1000, 5000, 8000, & 12000 grit water stone. Please note that any type of sharpening stone will work and you don't need to sharpen to 12000 grit.  

    

Honing the bevel on a water stone.

After going through the series of grits I remove the burr by hitting the iron into the end grain of a piece of Hard Maple. Never hone the back of the iron to remove the burr, for the teeth are only so deep and any honing can remove the the saw like grooves.  

Striking the non-bevel end of the plane iron into the end grain Maple.

 After striking the plane iron, the only remaining step is to set the plane for a light cut and tooth away.