Scary Sharp on "new" hand planes

[John Barncord]

Recently, I have been intrigued with the use of hand tools. My shop is full of power tools, but with the exception of 4 chisels and a few hammers is devoid of hand tools. On a whim, I purchased an old Union transitional smoothing plane (from estate sale) and an old Craftsman #5 plane (from eBay). Knowing nothing about planes, I downloaded The Hand Plane Book to my Kindle and started absorbing.

Once I went through both planes, I also tried another first: the Scary Sharp method of sharpening. In the past, I have used diamond stones for planer and jointer knives, so this was a change. The end result was nothing less than magical. There is nothing better than feeling, seeing, and hearing that shaving ripple off of the chip breaker along the length of a board.

I am currently finishing up a series of projects that are ready for finishing, so I'm not able to use my new-found addiction productively. So I had to use it unproductively . . . by hand planing and jointing about half of the lumber on my rack.

Next, I will be looking for a good crosscut saw and some carving tools.

This is some good stuff . . . .

[Dave Parkis]

Welcome to the slippery slope!! Before you know it, you'll have several smoothers with different bevels or just so that you don't have to stop during a job to sharpen. You'll have jacks with varying amounts of camber and you'll have several block planes with different uses.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Sounds like you have made some great progress.

[Jim Koepke]

John,

Welcome to the cave by the Creek. Your profile doesn't show your location. What part of the world do you keep shop?

Have you checked out the Neanderthal wisdom/FAQs link?

jtk

[John Barncord]

Yeah, I'm still experimenting with chip breaker location and depth-of-cut, but that's just part of the fun.

My next plan is to hit up my father for his old hand tools. I seem to remember he had quite a collection when I was a kid.

As for my location, I currently live in Knoxville, TN - which is currently covered in ice.

[Alan Wright]

John, a note on scary sharp... when I first started using it, I would brush off the debris. Then I read somewhere to us a magnet. I got one at Harbor freight for about $8 bucks. Works much better. If you aren't using one now, you might want to give it a try.

[Ryan Baker]

John, a note on scary sharp... when I first started using it, I would brush off the debris. Then I read somewhere to us a magnet. I got one at Harbor freight for about $8 bucks. Works much better. If you aren't using one now, you might want to give it a try.

Use a magnet wrapped in paper. Take the paper off and all the debris comes with it. Otherwise it stays stuck to the magnet forever.

[Ken Parris]

John, I live just south of you between Madisonville and Tellico Plains. Enjoy the ride, you will soon be covered up with handtools. We actually live in a fairly good place to find handtools. I use the scary sharp sharpening process myself. It really works fine for me. Good to have you trying the handtool way.

Ken

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I started with scary sharp years ago, and it was an eye-opener for me about what sharp really was over whatever I had been doing, but after a year or two, I started to do some back of the envelope calculations about what I had been paying for sandpaper, and quickly bought some cheap stones, wishing I had done it earlier. I actually got better edges off the stones, (which may just have been my technique with the paper was lacking) and I'd rather deal with the mess of waterstones over the mess of papers, cleaning adhesive of my flat plate.

That's just me however, and there's nothing wrong with scary sharp, just the conclusions I arrived at. My math may have changed dramatically had I known about stropping earlier. Stick with what you like, but you may down the road you may want to look at your long-term costs. Definitely buy your sandpaper in bulk if you go this way, you end up saving a lot! The finer wet-dry can often be had cheaper at auto-parts stores, too, particularly if you go someplace that caters more to professionals, and again, buy the larger packs.

[John Barncord]

Use a magnet wrapped in paper. Take the paper off and all the debris comes with it. Otherwise it stays stuck to the magnet forever.

This is a great idea. Much better than spraying it off with a bottle - which is what I have been doing.

John, I live just south of you between Madisonville and Tellico Plains. Enjoy the ride, you will soon be covered up with handtools. We actually live in a fairly good place to find handtools. I use the scary sharp sharpening process myself. It really works fine for me. Good to have you trying the handtool way.

The K-ville CraigsList is usually loaded with good stuff. It's where I go first.

I started with scary sharp years ago, and it was an eye-opener for me about what sharp really was over whatever I had been doing, but after a year or two, I started to do some back of the envelope calculations about what I had been paying for sandpaper, and quickly bought some cheap stones, wishing I had done it earlier. I actually got better edges off the stones, (which may just have been my technique with the paper was lacking) and I'd rather deal with the mess of waterstones over the mess of papers, cleaning adhesive of my flat plate.

That's just me however, and there's nothing wrong with scary sharp, just the conclusions I arrived at. My math may have changed dramatically had I known about stropping earlier. Stick with what you like, but you may down the road you may want to look at your long-term costs. Definitely buy your sandpaper in bulk if you go this way, you end up saving a lot! The finer wet-dry can often be had cheaper at auto-parts stores, too, particularly if you go someplace that caters more to professionals, and again, buy the larger packs.

This is very interesting. I have just been using my leftovers from some auto body / painting projects. I just assumed SS would be the cheaper way to go. I will have to think twice about it, though . . .

Thanks