Lost Art Press

10 Guidelines for the Cutting Edge of a Handplane

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During the last eight years I’ve tried to refine how I explain how to use a handplane to students. The biggest problem the students have isn’t ignorance. I wish that were the case. Instead, their biggest problem is they have been flooded with so much contradictory information that they are paralyzed.

So I’ve been trying to increase the signal and decrease the noise so they can focus on what is important. To help cement these ideas, I’ve created a list of principles relating to handplanes. Here are the ones for the tool’s cutting edge. The most important one is No. 10.

1. A sharp edge is two surfaces that intersect at the smallest point possible. This is called a “zero-radius intersection.”

2. A dull edge is where damage has occurred (hitting a nail) or the zero-radius intersection has worn away to create a third surface at the intersection.

3. A zero-radius intersection will not reflect light. The third surface created from wear will reflect light. So you can see a dull edge as a bright line. You cannot see a zero-radius intersection.

4. In general, a tool can be made sharp (a zero-radius intersection) by ANY medium – from a grinder to a waterstone. Polishing the edge only makes it more durable. The more polish, the longer the edge will go between sharpenings.

5. A sharp edge is TWO surfaces. Both must be polished for the edge to be durable. But only a small portion of the edge cuts wood (about .010” on each surface). So do not waste your time polishing steel that does not cut wood.

6. There are only three grits in sharpening: grinding, honing and polishing. Grinding removes damage or an edge that has been oversharpened. Honing removes a dull edge and restores the zero-radius intersection. Polishing makes the edge more durable. All other claims are marketing.

7. The larger the angle between your two surfaces, the more durable the edge. However, large angles can make tools unusable. If you sharpen an edge above 35°, you have to educate yourself about cutting geometry and clearance angles to stay out of trouble. If you sharpen at 35° or lower, you’ll stay out of trouble.

8. The smaller the angle between the two surfaces, the less durable the edge will be. Edges that are sharpened at 20° or lower do not work well in planes.

9. Plane edges can have a curve or be straight. Both perspectives work.

10. There is no such thing as “cheating” when it comes to sharpening. Use jigs and fixtures – or don’t. There is only sharp and dull.

— Christopher Schwarz

Campaign Hardware from the Home Center

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You do not have to spend $20 on a corner brace for your next piece of Campaign-style furniture. You can, in fact, spend less than 98 cents per brace and pick them up at your corner hardware store.

While finishing up work on the folding bookcase I’ve been working on the last couple weeks, I walked down to our local hardware store to pick up some cork feet for the bookcase so it wouldn’t scratch the living snot out of the furniture below it.

At the hardware store, I spied some brass mending plates and corner braces that look darn near like the hardware shown on many old piece of Campaign furniture I’ve been researching. A pack of four plates was $3.89. I snatched several sizes and shapes to mess around with in my shop.

The good news: These are available everywhere. You can find them at home centers and hardware stores in a wide variety of shapes, sizes and finishes. You aren’t going to find a corner brace with an ogee ornament, but that’s the price of frugality.

More good news: They don’t totally suck a lemon turd. From a distance, they look pretty good. With some careful insetting and some new screws, them might pass – like bringing home a top-notch cross-dresser to meet maw and pa.

The bad news. The “brass” is one molecule thick on these babies. If you rub them the wrong way with your thumb, the brass will disappear.

Other bad news: On some corner braces the countersink for the screws is on the wrong side of the hardware. These braces are supposed to be used on inside corners. If you have a countersink bit, this problem is easy to remedy.

The bottom line: Don’t buy the “brass” ones. Buy the steel ones and make them gunky with a combination of gun blue, flame and urine. That will give them the grunge they need to look sweet.

I plan to make a lap desk or small chest using these braces – after they have been given a golden shower and the torch (just kidding about the pee-pee). They really are not as bad as I thought they would be. And at less than $1 each, it’s hard to complain.

— Christopher Schwarz

A Workbench for the Shop-deprived

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One of the workbench problems I’ve yet to solve is what you should do if you don’t have a dedicated place to work.

I’ve seen lots of portable, fold-up benches, but none that I thought were worth building. I’ve seen many vintage plans for workbench tops that are supposed to go on top of your kitchen table. But again, none inspired me enough to take up a saw.

Yesterday a reader sent me a link to the photo above. Damn. I don’t have time for this, but I just might have to build that thing and see how it works. It’s just too ingenious (and crazy) not to build.

If you are still a bit confused, the photo is showing the underside of the portable benchtop. The two clamps at the top of the photo attach the rig to a worktable. The whole thing is 1-5/8” thick, 9-5/8” wide and 31” long – smaller than I assumed when I first saw the photo.

Here is why this is clever/crazy enough to build.

1. The face vise. You have two screws and four holes. You can move the screws around to clamp whatever you have at hand. It’s a double-screw, it’s a shoulder vise. It mows the yard.

2. The dog holes. Despite the fact that the holes are deep into the assembly, they are still near an edge. So you could still use fenced planes with this benchtop – a big plus in my book.

3. The wooden wagon vise. That’s just cool.

What are the downsides? My biggest concern is the weight combined with the cantilever. I imagine that you have to clamp this to a pretty stout table or a fixed countertop. Even so, I wouldn’t want to mortise over a portion of this bench that was unsupported.

The example is for sale at this Australian tool auction site. So if you live in Australia and buy it, drop me a note about how it works. The auctioneer’s description says it’s of “Scandinavian origin,” so if you’ve seen one in Europe, drop me a line. I’d love to learn more about this gizmo.

— Christopher Schwarz

Repeat After Me: One Bench

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Despite the photo above, you do not need two benches in your workshop. I have two benches for the following reasons:

1. The cherry workbench belongs to Katy, my 11-year-old.
2. I have to take lots of photos and video during a typical day, and being able to shoot from both sides of the bench makes my life much easier.
3. Taking photos while using my daughter’s bench protects you (the sensitive reader) from having to see lots and lots of photos of my rumored buttocks.

Several readers have asked about my favorite specifications for a second bench, so here they are: Don’t make one. But, you might ask, won’t a second bench be better for assembly? No, a second bench will only gather crap. Instead, make your only bench longer and assemble stuff on that. Or assemble on your sawbenches.

Right now I have a third workbench, as well, the Holtzapffel. It’s in our sunroom. I hope to move that bench onto its new home soon and move Katy’s cherry workbench up to our sunroom so she can work there – on her homework, crafts or whatever.

Then I’ll have one bench and more floor space. And you will see more photos of my backside.

— Christopher Schwarz