Well Brian a big welcome to the family. It sure is great to have another couple as members and Canadian too.:D:thumb:

I will make sure to add the tags to this post cause it sure is gonna come in handy all the info you provided here. With my gray hair i have to rely on search and tags.:rofl:

While i am at it seeing as how you a glass man, do you have any idea just how flat glass really is. Sounds like a crazy question but i would like to order a piece of glass that is say around 10 or more millimeters thick to use for sharpening my woodworking tools. But i was wondering if glass that thick is uniform flat across say 20 inches by 18 inches. What would be the nearest standard thickness for this kind of glass.

I am going to take a guess that the thickness of a plate glass are within 0.005
 
Well Brian a big welcome to the family. It sure is great to have another couple as members and Canadian too.:D:thumb:

I will make sure to add the tags to this post cause it sure is gonna come in handy all the info you provided here. With my gray hair i have to rely on search and tags.:rofl:

While i am at it seeing as how you a glass man, do you have any idea just how flat glass really is. Sounds like a crazy question but i would like to order a piece of glass that is say around 10 or more millimeters thick to use for sharpening my woodworking tools. But i was wondering if glass that thick is uniform flat across say 20 inches by 18 inches. What would be the nearest standard thickness for this kind of glass.
Rob,
I use a piece of marble for my sharpening. It is 1" thick and 12"x12" square. It is dead flat. I picked it up from Tandy Leather years ago when I used to do leather work. I don't have any idea where my leather tools are anymore but the plate makes a dandy way to sharpen.
 
Yeah i been thinking and smacking my head a dozen time Brent, when i was in Grizzly i should have picked it up but in Grizzly store when you start that there aint no stopping so i had to draw the line somewhere. I been thinking about glass simply cause there is a large glass guy in our village.:D
 
Yeah, I have that same issue. That's why I've got lists on little pads all over the house. The big problem is when I can't find my lists... :rofl:

I think the granite has the advantage over glass due to weight. Less likely to move around. Wouldn't want to drop either one on a concrete floor though...
 
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ya go Rob and I know ya got a store near you.
 
Well Brian a big welcome to the family. It sure is great to have another couple as members and Canadian too.:D:thumb:

I will make sure to add the tags to this post cause it sure is gonna come in handy all the info you provided here. With my gray hair i have to rely on search and tags.:rofl:

While i am at it seeing as how you a glass man, do you have any idea just how flat glass really is. Sounds like a crazy question but i would like to order a piece of glass that is say around 10 or more millimeters thick to use for sharpening my woodworking tools. But i was wondering if glass that thick is uniform flat across say 20 inches by 18 inches. What would be the nearest standard thickness for this kind of glass.

Hi Rob,
Many thanks for the welcome and apologies for the slow reply.

Commonly available float glass, (as opposed to the old fashioned polished plate glass), should work very well for a sharpening surface plate. It is manufactured by drawing the glass over a bed of molten tin. Some literature I dug out of my files indicates that the flatness is 1 or 2 microns per inch maximum deviation, and not cumulative over a longer dimension. As a micron is one millionth of a meter, or 40 millionths of an inch, the max. deviation from perfectly flat is 80 millionths of an inch per inch of glass surface.

I would suggest using min. 12mm, (1/2"), thick float glass. Having it tempered would reduce the chance of it breaking if you dropped a heavy tool on it, but non-tempered, (annealed), should work fine. Ideally when not using it, it should be stored on edge, upright. When using it to sharpen, I would lay it flat on some 4" strips of masking tape spaced about 4" to 6" apart.

Float glass is readily availalable in 3mm, 4mm, 5, 6 10 and 12mm. Especially if you go to a shop that makes glass table tops, etc. They may even have some 19mm, (3/4"), kicking around which would be even better. The 12mm weighs about 6.4 lbs. per sq.ft. so if your surface was 18" square, about 15 lbs. total.

Regardless of the thickness or tempered/annealed, I would suggest ordering it with flat polished edges, (i.e. with 2 small bevels at top & bottom of flat edges), or pencil polished, (slightly rounded).

Thanks a lot Rob; now you've gone and got Cynthia nagging on me for the one of these things.

Cheers,

Brian
 
Hey Brian

Thanks for the glass info. I really appreciate all the detail. Now i will be able to act like i know what i am talking about when i go to the store.:D

Ask Cynthia what she plans to do with glass.:D We aint see her with any handtools like planes, chisels, or spokeshaves to sharpen. She first needs the evidence before she can qualify for a sharpening surface.:rofl: Oh boy i can see you on a trip to Lee Valley soon. Hide your wallet.:D
 
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