My scary sharp sharpening system

Tom Niemi

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
6,020
Location
Plainwell, Michigan
At least that is what I think I came up with;) After accumulating a few planes I needed to have a way to sharpen them so this is what I have come up with. First is what needs sharpening, then the special glass, yep some old bullet proof bank glass with a cool signature with sand paper going through the grits withe the Veritas Mk.II honing guide to hold it all in the proper angle, Hopefully this will take care of getting the toys sharp:)
 

Attachments

  • To be sharpened.jpg
    To be sharpened.jpg
    80.6 KB · Views: 155
  • Glass thickess.jpg
    Glass thickess.jpg
    44.5 KB · Views: 160
  • Glass label.jpg
    Glass label.jpg
    58.7 KB · Views: 165
  • Signature.jpg
    Signature.jpg
    43.6 KB · Views: 152
  • The grits.jpg
    The grits.jpg
    57.8 KB · Views: 178
  • Vertias System.jpg
    Vertias System.jpg
    54.4 KB · Views: 159
Very neat Tom. I actually think thats better than my small piece of granite approach.

Just a small tip which i am not sure if you know or not but given the fine grits we talking about between the various papers make sure to clean the wheel on the veritas blade holder before you move from grit to grit.

I got that tidbit from a video on Fine Working by one of the famous guys Bill Satko hangs out with up in the great schools up Bills way.:) Had never thought of the one grit poluting the next. Of course goes without saying toclean the blade.

So next pics we should see are fine gossamer thing curlys right?:rofl::thumb:

Oh and use your fancy headgear with the magnifier built into the lenses. You will be surprised at what you see when looking at the edge throught it as you go through the grits. Certainly an eye opener on what you trying to achieve in the process.
 
Thanks Mohammad and Rob AND great tip Rob, makes total sense and did not know that, thanks. Good ol' Captain Flash sure hangs out with some good folks:thumb:
 
Hi Tom. Great set up, that will help for sure, but... how will you get a camber on your blade edges?. If you use the veritas jig you'll need the camber accessoire roller, or get it by hand at the final stage of sharpening. Of course that only if you think you want/need the camber.

If you hadn't noticed yet, the planes vortex is as dangerous as the spinning one my friend.:)
 
Toni, I dont have the same veritas jig but the previous version. I find that i can get the corners kinda knocked off just by how i lean my hands while driving the unit back and forth. Of course this does not cater for a real camber across the whole blade width. Have you any suggestions on how to do it for something like a scrub plane.?
 
. Have you any suggestions on how to do it for something like a scrub plane.?

Hi Rob. So far I've never seen a jig to sharpen a curved edge plane blade, at least not here in Spain. I have a LN scrub plane and another curved one I made myself see http://familywoodworking.org/forums...ittle-curved-sole-plane/page2&highlight=plane, and I sharpen them by hand in the same way I sharpen my gouges, it is not as difficult as it seems but of course it needs some practice and learning process to sharpen them fast but you can get the knack of it in one hour or less. No kidding.

Sharpening is not that difficult as it may seem,IMHO I never used a jig for plane blades until I knew about the fact that the bevel angle had its importance, so I got a jig to get the first bevel angle right (on a straight edge blade) once I got it I continued sharpening the plane by hand.

I think that learning to sharpen by hand pays off, saves time and frees you from depending on jigs, besides it builds a lot of self confidence. Gee, not so many years ago (5 or 6) I didn't know what a sharpening jig was!
 
Top