"rounding " a smoothing iron


Brendon_t

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In my limited time using hand planes, I've found that no matter how light of a cut in trying to make, I still get plane tracks I can feel wroth my fingers. I'd like to get to a place where I all but remove sanding in exchange for a smoother and scrapers. I'd like to slightly camber the blade but don't know what is a suitable radius to give the end. Is there a rule of thumb you guys use?

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Care to share?

 

Yes. 

 

Just messing... I'm bored... 

 

If you have one of those eclipse style sharpening jigs, this is easier...

 

1) Sharpen as normal, (straight) raising a burr, once that is done you have fresh metal to work with.

2) In your mind, or you can draw it.. divide the bevel into 5 sections.

3) With your thumbs behind the jig, and three fingers on each hand on the blade, focus pressure on the left making 6 strokes (or until raising a fresh burr)

4) Repeat for the other sections... something like 6 on the sides, 4 on the inner sections, and 1 stroke just to even it out on the middle section.

 

This should generate a minor radius. Sufficient for smoothing needs.

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Well, you have the 'how'.... Now, I’ll give you the why...

 

A smoother is tuned to take a couple thou per pass... So you need enough camber (radius) to bury the corners in the plane body while leaving enough edge protrusion to cleave the couple thou desired...

 

 

How much camber depends on the width of the blade and the bedding angle... A low angle plane will need a tighter radius than a York pitch... A wider blade (say a #4 1/2) will need more edge treatment than an a narrow iron (say a #2)...

 

If you use a compass to draw a couple of cambered irons and play with the bedding angles you can demonstrate the relationships...

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I use a regular ol honing guide with the somewhat narrow wheel. I'll make several strokes with even pressure, then 3 or 6 pressing only on the right, then an equal number on the left side of the blade. You might have to take a few more on the sides until you get your blade shaped. It doesn't take much to get the tracks out since you usually aren't taking thick shavings with a smoother.

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For a smoother that takes really thin shavings, just more pressure on the outside edges on the sharpening stones can get you there.  I use different amounts of camber on different planes.  All except a couple of block planes, shoulder planes, and a no. 8 have some camber on them.  The thicker the shaving you need, the larger the camber.  For bench planes other than a 5, I never bother to measure a radius, but do measure shaving thicknesses.

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