Yesterday, Thomas Lie-Nielsen and I finished teaching a weekend class that introduced the students to handplanes – how to sharpen, tune and use them. Curiously, the class wrapped up a couple of hours earlier than usual, and we’d covered more material than in the last eight classes.
What changed? We steered clear of a full discussion of the silly debates that circle around the forums, woodworking clubs and blogs – selecting tool steel, chipbreakers, bevel-up or -down tools and sharpening media (for starters).
So instead of a technical discussion of the different tool steels available, we told them that all of them work and that keeping them sharp was more important than their molecular composition. Chipbreakers (or back irons) are one of five primary strategies you can employ to reduce tear-out. Here are all five. Use them as you like. What’s the most important strategy? Sharpness.
Instead of getting into a detailed explanation of cutting geometry, clearance angles, wear bevels and the like, we explained the simplest sharpening strategy that will work with all tools, from paring chisels to high-angle smoothers. And that what was more important than the angle of attack was that blade was wicked sharp.
Oh, and about sharpening, the message was this: Making tools dull is way more fun than making them sharp. All the sharpening systems work (including using a cinder block). The more important message about sharpening media is that you should pick a system and stick with it for at least a year before considering a change. This is what I call “sharpening monogamy.”
Our goal with presenting the information this way was to inoculate these new handplane users so they didn’t feel the need to learn everything a metallurgist and machinist knows before flattening a board. If we’re lucky, when these 26 woodworkers see these debates raging on a messageboard they’ll shrug their shoulders, close the browser window and head to the shop.
— Christopher Schwarz
Personal note: I have exactly 103 messages in my inbox that require a response. I am going to be out of commission for about two weeks, and I will be particularly slow to respond to messages. I apologize in advance for the inconvenience. If you have questions about an order through our store, John will be happy to help you at john@lostartpress.com.
anti-tearout tactics – in no particular order- (many are redundant in that they effectively increase the angle of attack in different ways):
– sharpen primary bevel to a higher angle
– close the mouth
– back bevel
– angle plane during stroke
– use higher angle frog
– try moving the chipbreaker closer
– try a BU plane set up with a higher effective angle
– finer shaving
– sharper blade
– toothing blade
– scraper
– sandpaper
any others?
Yes: plane in the other direction or find mellower stuff. Those are more for completeness, for those cases where you /can/ actually plane the other way or have the liberty to use another piece of wood.
I hope “out of commission” means a two week vacation with the family to some out of the way place and not convalescing. If it is the former, have fun, the latter, good luck.
Why is all this woodworking content so addictive?
I also hope the two weeks are for fun.
We could only hope that everything you said in that class could be pasted in place over all the sharpening forum topics the World Wide Web over and be done with it. 🙏
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