Between last weekend and this week it is finally warm enough to move back outside for a few hours each day. For me that means that the long, harsh winter is almost over (why do we care if a rodent sees a shadow anyway?) Most of you will disagree with the "harsh" characterization of my winter here in Charleston, but it really did pain me to have to see my unfinished boat each day without working on it. I am finally ready to get some use out of the new plane my parents sent me for Christmas. It's a good thing I have them our my warchest of tools would be much slower in growing.
From everything I have read online all planes are shipped from the manufacturer with a less than a perfect setup. This may be why I took so long to fall in love with my first plane. A plane really is a "hand" tool and need to be babied if you want it to work very well. From my research, the first thing you should do with a new plane is take it all apart, clean the packaging grease off (it's there to prevent rust) and sharpen the blade. I was under the impression that some machine in the factory would take care of the blade sharpening for me in one pass of some supper sharpener the might last a fraction of a second. This is either beyond the capabilities of our modern factories, deemed an unnecessary freebie for the customer by some tea-totaler or just an oversight. Whatever the reason, my blade came looking like it had been shaped by a dying CNC machine. I never really paid attention to "tool marks" on plane blades or chisels until about this weekend. Now they are the enemy. Nothing takes care of your enemies like Samurai!
The traditional way to sharpen a blade involves a sharpening stone of some sort and water stones seem to be a good choice for the woodworker. In my research I came across an applicable quote by Abraham Lincoln. "If I had eight hours to chop down a tree, I would spend six hours sharpening my ax." Since the man was known for never telling a lie, I believe him.
To sharpen the blade you start with the back. Lay the flat side of the blade on the 800 grit side of the stone with some water and scrape away. Both sides of the stone feel smooth to the touch but they cut the metal blade easily. After about two minutes the tool marks are gone and the back of the blade is a dull gray color. Then you fit the plane blade in the contraption at the top of the picture. It's essentially a jig that holds the blade at the right angle for sharpening while rolling on the wheel at the bottom. Simple trig gives the blade protrusion for different angles. Since the thing is made in China, the ones printed on the side are in millimeters, which no one can translate to 16ths of an inch on the fly with any accuracy (at least not in my garage.) Anyway, five minutes on the cutting angle turned it into a dull wood shaving machine. This raises a curl of metal, called a "burr," on the flat back side of the blade. So you flip the blade and give it one or two passes to get rid of the burr. Then we switch to the 8000 side. I didn't remove the blade from the jig because I am pretty sure there is no way you could match the protrusion close enough to grind the same exact angle twice. I didn't really believe that my blade would have a mirror finish like so many how-to's claimed it should. But there I was staring back at me! A few more passes and I called it good enough for boat work.
I also sharpened the blade on my other plane since I had never really done that before. I didn't know what I was missing out on. I was so excited about my newly sharp tools that I set to work on the chine to stem interface. A lot of stem had to come off to make the joint look fair. Of course plywood and epoxy will cover this eventually so my beautiful plane work will be covered for the sake of "watertight integrity." I'll still know that it looks REALLY good under the skin.
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