can I sharpen a hand plane blade

[Scott]

Hi friends,

I am shopping for a Lie-Nielsen n0 7 Jointer hand plane.  The blade is 2 3/5 inches wide but I am not sure how long it is.  Has anyone used the Wicked Edge system, to sharpen large hand plane blades, probably about the same as a Stanley or any other jointer plane blade.

Thanks for your assistance.

Scott Sherman

[tcmeyer]

I haven’t done it yet, but I did see that shortfall when I was sharpening my chisels.  The chisel adapter won’t go as wide as needed for hand planes.  It occurred to me that the simplest solution was to make an adapter plate to be mounted in the chisel adapter, with a single tapped hole to which you could screw your hand plane blades.

To be clear, I don’t use my hand plane very often – maybe twice in the last three years – and it’s still sharp, otherwise I would have tried this already.  I really like the chisel adapter but you should know it doesn’t provide for finishing the backs of the blades.  You still gots to do that by hand.

[Gregg776]

Scott,

You can certainly sharpen a hand plane blade on your WE; but it won’t ensure the cutting edge is necessarily straight or square.  The WE is perfect for making a super sharp edge and for quick touch ups.

Please excuse my inability to embed the pictures, I’m just getting used to the new forum and I am reluctant to sign up for an online picture hosting service with the associated BS involved.

Gregg

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[Anonymous]

Gregg I can help you with these issues of you like.

[Gregg776]

Scott

I forgot to mention that you need to keep the plane blade edge oriented so that the corners of the blade edge are equal distance form the pivot point as close as possible.  That is why the blade is canted in the pictures of my previous post.  Some people use tape on one of the paddles to mark the point where the blade meets the paddle; I just use a pencil mark on one of the finer diamond stones, see enclosed pictures. Also try to keep the blade as high (far from the pivots ) as practical; the longer the arc, the closer to a straight line the arc becomes; i.e. the horizon looking over the ocean looks like a straight line.  A straight cutting edge is probably more critical in a planer blade than in most hand held knives; however the system of keeping the arc of the sharpening stone as close to symmetrical from end to end applies to most all knives.

There is still the minor problem of any burr on the flat side of the plane blade.  Some use a wine cork or wood stick to attempt to remove any burr.  Also there is no law against stropping the back side flat against a strop or even a ceramic stone if done lightly and carefully.

For hand planes, I write down the last sharpening angle with a sharpie right on the blade where it will be covered and if it doesn’t meet my expectations I’ll have a ready reference as to the next angle attempt.

 

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[tcmeyer]

Gregg:  The common radius is a tool to maintain the same angle along a curved edge.  For straight edges, the best way is to mount is with the edge parallel to the base.  If you project a horizontal line thru the top edge of the vise, you’ll find that no matter where your stone contacts that line, the angle will always be the same.  The chisel adapter, for example, is designed to hold your chisel edge right at horizontal.

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