My 4-1/2 & 8 Lie-Nielsen's abuse

[Bobby Slack]

I find myself using these planes a lot! and I think that last time I sharpened them was about two months ago using the article on FWW and my Shapton stones.

Time to hit it again, this morning while planing some alder with my Nbr 8 I was getting too much of a workout.

Lately I found out that these are the planes that get the most use in my shop and I wonder if this is the same with others ... plus my block plane.

[Bobby Slack]

So ... how do I gauge if my planes need sharpening? if it gets too hard to work. At this time, I break the sharpening setup and sharpen all my planes whether they need it or not.

[Bombarde16]

Two months is a bit of a stretch to go between sharpenings. If these tools are seeing more use, perhaps you might pick up a spare iron or two so a sharp one is always at hand.

[Bobby Slack]

Rob, thanks. I will make an effort to have a "sharpening station" handy, accessible and clean so I can do this more often. My next goal would be every two weeks, I will schedule an alarm on Act and get it done.

When I sharpen tools, probably will be everything. Today I could not find my little Lie-Nielsen ruler for the micro back bevel so I just re-sharpened the iron blades without that.

Two months is a bit of a stretch to go between sharpenings. If these tools are seeing more use, perhaps you might pick up a spare iron or two so a sharp one is always at hand.

[Bobby Slack]

I think that the main reason for my lazy approach to re-sharpening was the process of re-setting the blades on my tools and making sure they are perfect. I have a new method. I back the blades all the way to nothing, then with small increments bring them out and test the cuts in the right, left and middle as the blade comes out.

Since I do my major hogging with machines, my hand tools are used for touch ups, so light passes are all I want.

May be when I get better at this, I will use them more frequently, although I find myself drawn to them more and more.

Nothing makes the fit more precise than a hand tool fit, no doubt.

[Jonathryn]

Two things I'd add. Always keep a candle or stick of paraffin at hand and draw a pattern on the sole of the plane with that. It makes a huge difference, especially with a #8. Also works on hand saws.

The other thing I've taken to lately is stropping. Before I start in with a chisel, or if a plane iron needs a little touch up, I draw it across a big strip of flat, thick leather that has some chromium oxide abrasive crayon rubbed on it. That gets it as sharp as sharp can be, and increases the amount of time between more aggressive sharpening sessions.

[Bobby Slack]

Thanks. I will follow this. So far, the Nbr. 8 is re-assembled and whistling fine. Now the 4-1/2 is giving me a hard time which I will deal with tomorrow.

After this, I will go for my rabbet bench and block plane plus my adjustable block plane, medium shoulder plane ... and I think that is it.

Like I said, sharpening is easy the problem I am having is re-assembling and tuning up the blade to be perfectly parallel. The less I re-sharpen, the less I practice. It will take time, and practice. Thanks.

Two things I'd add. Always keep a candle or stick of paraffin at hand and draw a pattern on the sole of the plane with that. It makes a huge difference, especially with a #8. Also works on hand saws.

The other thing I've taken to lately is stropping. Before I start in with a chisel, or if a plane iron needs a little touch up, I draw it across a big strip of flat, thick leather that has some chromium oxide abrasive crayon rubbed on it. That gets it as sharp as sharp can be, and increases the amount of time between more aggressive sharpening sessions.

[Jonathryn]

The blade shouldn't have to be perfectly parallel--that's what the lateral adjuster is for. Especially for big plane blades like that. One trick to get shavings that are of a consistent thickness from left to right is to put a long, thin piece of stock in your vise, about 1/4" thick, and take off a strip from the left side, then the right. Move the lateral adjuster accordingly to get a shaving that's the same thickness from the left and the right side, and the depth adjuster as needed, and once you're square, go to town. I saw this on a Lie Nielsen video on youtube. Lots of good tips on there.

[nikbrown]

Wow I wish I could go 2 months without sharpening! I run out of sharp planes before I'm done usually .

I was in the shop last night flattening my bench top and I dulled 4 planes in an hour of work (with hock blades) #605, #606, #7, & #608. Have to do a full sharpening before I start again.

[jwatson]

my guess is the material must be some really soft pine. I dull my planes after a few hours of working with oak. I am strictly a hobbyist and do maybe 8 hours a months worth of work. my pine work bench is going on two months i guess if you only consider i am getting 5 hours a month worth of flattening the top.

[Bobby Slack]

I am using mostly alder which is pretty soft so you are partially right, no oak yet. Frankly the grain of oak bores me, when I make a change, probably I will go to walnut and mahogany ... we shall see. So far Alder is the wood which is taking most of my projects.

my guess is the material must be some really soft pine. I dull my planes after a few hours of working with oak. I am strictly a hobbyist and do maybe 8 hours a months worth of work. my pine work bench is going on two months i guess if you only consider i am getting 5 hours a month worth of flattening the top.

[pmf2000]

I'm trying to adopt the philosophy I have with sharpening my wood turning tools.

1) Create a place just for sharpening If you have to pull out all of the equipment and set it up then you will do it less often but you spend more time in total getting this right. Here's my Sharpening Station in my shop.

2) Sharpen Often With my turning tools, if I think I need to sharpen then I just do it. Usually this is a 1 to 2 minute operation. With the new setup for chisels and planes, I'm hoping to do to the same.

3) Once it's sharp, keep it sharp - that is sort in line with number 2.

In the past, I would gather all of my planes and chisels, put in a movie (or two), and spend the next few hours sharpening everything. I never looked forward to it so I would let things get a little out of hand which meant that much more time doing something I don't like. However, the better you can sharpen your tools, the better the results you will get in the long run.