Sharpening a router plane blade


rodger.

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Don't forget to check, and if necessary, set it up, for cutting a flat bottom.

 

Place two identically thicknessed or ripped blocks on opposite sides of your fine stone.  Place the plane on the blocks and lower the iron so it just touches.the stone.  Move it back and forth to create a small bevel.  If the bevel isn't rectangular, regrind, sand, or file the face of the iron to the back edge of the bevel.

 

Now you can polish the bottom and remove the wire edge from the face.  You only need to check each iron once.

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I can offer a step up from Chris' description. The method he uses is a traditional one. The feature that makes the task more difficult is that the bevel is flat, and this means that there is the maximum amount of steel to remove before you achieve a wire edge at the back of the blade.

 

I use a round grinding stone on a Dremel to create a slight hollow grind on the bevel face. Now there is far less steel to remove, and honing proceeds rapidly. You are also more likely to create a sharp edge.

 

Regards from Perth

 

Derek

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The veritas router plane comes with a jig for sharpening help. Looks like it can be placed right in the mkII. Anyone have experience with this setup?

http://www.leevalley.com/en/shopping/Instructions.aspx?p=52759

 

 

It works OK for the blades it accepts.   Many router plane irons are one piece, and "L" shaped.

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Yep I have it too and it does work fine in the MKII but also helps if you sharpen free hand as it gives you something to hold on to. The other way I sharpen the regular L-style is I milled a block of wood to the thickness so the bevel of the cutter sits flat on the stone and the tip of the shank of the cutter rests on the top of my sharpening station. This gives some support for when you slide the cutter back and forth on the stone and helps you keep the bevel perfectly flat (on the narrow cutters there is a tendency for it to twist a bit and hone one side unevenly). The nice thing about this is that after you get the bevel perfect just add a few pieces of paper under the block of wood, this tips the cutter just a tad allowing you to give it a secondary bevel. Now each time you need to hone the cutter you just have to polish the secondary instead of the whole bevel, until of corse your secondary bevel gets too large but then your just go back to the block without the paper shimming it up.

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  • 1 month later...

Use a Dremel with a sanding wheel to create a slight hollow on the face of the primary bevel. Now hone the blade at the side edge of a waterstone. This is quicker, and easier, to get the blade really sharp.

 

Routerironhoning1jpg.jpg

 

 

Blade with hollow grind  ..

 

A4.jpg

 

Regards from Perth

 

Derek

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  • 6 months later...

Bumping an old thread with a related question...

 

How sharp do you get your router plane irons? I sharpen my other planes, spokeshaves and chisels on water stones (1000/4000/8000) until they're sharp enough to shave/pare end grain with. But my new old #71, which arrived yesterday, has been run through the sharpening cycle 3 times, and still seems dull. I've only tested it doing some cross-grain rabbets in a fir 2x4, but it's definitely not cutting as well as a chisel of the same width. Is that just how the tool works? Or should I give it another go or three?

 

The blade arrived completely dull, and the bevel was completely rounded over. I'm very tempted to just say screw it and buy a replacement blade from LN/Veritas.

 

Thoughts?

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I had similar issues with my Record router plane. I bought it back to life by holding it on the side of the Tormek with light pressure creating a flat bevel that registered well. On the underside it had been dubbed and getting it out was taking an age. So I very slightly hollowed this edge on the Tormek wheel which meant I could get the flat behind the bevel established again.

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Derek - I stuck some 100 grit sandpaper to a holesaw with double-sided tape, and gave your solution a go. And it works! I still followed the other suggestions to polish the bottom of the iron (and focus on just removing the burr from the top edge, but chucking that into the drill press made the reshaping and sharpening of the bevel much, much easier.

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==> There is a tutorial for sharpening router plane blades on my website

 

That's quite creative --  drill-press scary sharp... or maybe, scary drill-press sharp...

 

I love my router plane, but I do hate sharpening it...  Bet I'm not alone -- maybe there's a support group... Sharpeners Anonymous?

 

PS, like the wooden router plane...

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