a wooden plane for sharpening blades & chisels

[Bob Hammond]

Hello,

Sharpening has never been an enjoyable activity for me, and I doubt I'll ever acquire the 'muscle memory' to do it freehand. Also, I've been disappointed by the roller-type guides. So I made a sharpening plane that works very well. I use coarse abrasive paper on a granite floor tile for badly damaged blades and then finish up with a diamond plate (or progressively finer abrasive papers). I use a granite tile because it will not shatter as glass does if a mishap occurs.

The pictures are explanatory, but I'll add a comment or two. The blades are installed bevel side down, and are adjusted much as in any ordinary wooden plane. The paper is held to the granite plate by a few squirts of waterless handcleaner (it's good for removing pitch from sawblades, too). Unlike while using a roller-type guide, the wooden plane will not wrinkle up the abrasive paper and result in nicking the paper. Also, it's easy to add a micro-bevel if desired. Just project the blade a tiny bit, and then press down on the toe of the plane for a few swipes on the diamond plate or very fine grit paper. The degree of micro-bevel is dependent on the projection of the blade and the distance from the blade to the toe of the plane.

This same plane body can accommodate chisels too by substituting a different wedge that compensates for the taper of the chisel blade.

[Barry Daniels]

I use a similar setup for some finger plane blades that are too small for the roller jig. Instead of a plane configuration, I just have a triangular block of wood the the blade sits on.

[Bob Hammond]

Barry,

I think a simple block is fine for smaller blades. But for larger items such as bench chisels and plane irons, I've found that a wooden plane gives a secure, wobble-free grip on the tool and thus provides consistent results in a short time. I might make another one for my lathe chisels such as a skew, diamond, and bedan, although those are typically done on white slow-speed wheel.

[Barry Daniels]

I'm not disagreeing. It looks like a good idea.

[Bob Hammond]

No worries. Oh, I forgot to mention stropping afterwards, for the razor edge.

[Clay Schaeffer]

Cool!

[Bob Francis]

Great idea !