May the swarf be with you!


Tom Cancelleri

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Just finished up sharpening my Stanley C-255 block plane, and my Dunlap smoothing plane. When I last sharpened them I used my Tormek, didn't have my MKII or Shapton stones yet. Today I decided to reprofile them and sharpen them up nicely.

 

Started with my DMT extra coarse to remove the bulk of material and get it angled right.

Block - 30 degrees

Smoother (bevel down) - 35 degrees

 

Went to 120, 1000, 2000, 5000, 8000, then micro bevel

 

Just tried them again, and I've never had such fine shavings come from those planes. Smoother gave me such thin shavings I could see through them.

 

Happy Monday!

 

IMAG3105.jpg

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My knives in my house are crazy sharp, my axes are really sharp. I thought my handtools were sharp, however they've reached a new level of sharp, never liked working with hand tools because of performance of the blades, and durability of the blades. Hats off to Veritas for the MKII. I've had it and the Shaptons about 4 months and it's damn impressive.

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==>May the swarf be with you!

The swarf is strong in my family --- my father had it, I have it, my sister has it and now you have it... But a true Jedi edge must but pass in the general vicinity of the stock to take a fine shaving:

 

 

 

==>My tools are so sharp that we were taking shavings so thin they melt in your hand

Truly sharp young padawan … But the sharpest sword remains in its sheath*…

 

 

*1960s movies for $100 Alex    – this one’s not so easy… Hint: Think Japanese Chisels…

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My tools are so sharp that we were taking shavings so thin they melt in your hand. This was also done on the carpet in the living room with no work surface or hold downs. Sharp tools are the bees nees, the cats pajamas.

My planes are so sharp when I run out of tp, I call the kids to grab me a smoother and block of maple.

I see a trend starting here.

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Tom, do you attribute it to the MKII or the stones?

I have a set of Norton water stones, 220 thru 80000.

Any or all of that.  Even with a guide, the hands still do the work.   A guide makes it almost foolproof, but the "almost" is the important part.  Those Norton stones will do just fine.  I used them for years.  They will get an edge sharp.  There are several methods to get to sharper beyond them.  I use Diamond Lapping Film.  Some people use compound.  Some people use finer stones.

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==>My tools are so sharp that we were taking shavings so thin they melt in your hand

Truly sharp young padawan … But the sharpest sword remains in its sheath*…

 

 

*1960s movies for $100 Alex    – this one’s not so easy… Hint: Think Japanese Chisels…

Sanjuro?

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Any or all of that.  Even with a guide, the hands still do the work.   A guide makes it almost foolproof, but the "almost" is the important part.  Those Norton stones will do just fine.  I used them for years.  They will get an edge sharp.  There are several methods to get to sharper beyond them.  I use Diamond Lapping Film.  Some people use compound.  Some people use finer stones.

 

I have an inexpensive guide from Rockler that works pretty well. Just wondered if yours would be worth the investment. What the heck, I need some more toys :rolleyes:

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I have an inexpensive guide from Rockler that works pretty well. Just wondered if yours would be worth the investment. What the heck, I need some more toys :rolleyes:

 

I have some other misc "guides" however the MKII made sense to take out any guess work for initial setup, also the ability to do a microbevel appeals to me , as well as the option of the camber roller to round off the square corners of a smoothing plane so you don't catch an edge and gouge your workpiece. The jig is well made, easy to use. It can be kind of gimmicky, for people who aren't completely anal about perfect edges, completely square and even bevels, etc. I fall in that category.

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I am trying to revamp my sharpening kit. I recently picked up the MK II to replace my old MK I. I just ordered an Atoma 400 plate to flatten my old doubled-up waterstones that are separating from accidentally leaving them soaking in Tupperware after a move. I want to upgrade to Shaptons, but may do it in steps as I don't have the funds to get a kit right this moment. 

 

Are yours the Shapton Pros or glass (I don't see a bottom glass plate in the photo)?

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I am trying to revamp my sharpening kit. I recently picked up the MK II to replace my old MK I. I just ordered an Atoma 400 plate to flatten my old doubled-up waterstones that are separating from accidentally leaving them soaking in Tupperware after a move. I want to upgrade to Shaptons, but may do it in steps as I don't have the funds to get a kit right this moment. 

 

Are yours the Shapton Pros or glass (I don't see a bottom glass plate in the photo)?

 

 

They are Shapton pros. they start getting pretty costly at 5000 and higher. If I remember correctly I paid almost 100 for the 8000 grit stone. 

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I have some other misc "guides" however the MKII made sense to take out any guess work for initial setup, also the ability to do a microbevel appeals to me , as well as the option of the camber roller to round off the square corners of a smoothing plane so you don't catch an edge and gouge your workpiece. The jig is well made, easy to use. It can be kind of gimmicky, for people who aren't completely anal about perfect edges, completely square and even bevels, etc. I fall in that category.

 

Just ordered it from Highlands.

Thanks

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