My new hand tool.....

[Ken Fitzgerald]

While in Spokane yesterday, we stopped into the local Woodcraft store. I wanted to pick up a low angle block plane to use for "touching up" the miters on the windows I am getting ready to trim out.

The only low angle block plane they had in the store was a Wood River. I looked at it. On sale for $79? I decided to take a chance. Today I have been doing some remedial grunt work for the contractor who is building the addition to our kitchen. If I do the grunt work, he doesn't have to pay "paid labor" to do it and it saves me money. So I have been pulling staples and scraping glue off floors and baseboard area of the walls. I finally decided to sharpen my painters 5-1 tool on my Work Sharp 3000. When I was done, I thought since I have it set up to use....

I got my new low angle block plane out of the hand tool rolling cart. I disassembled it, wiped it down with lacquer thinner...and dried all the parts. After sharpening the blade, I put it back together, adjusted the blade and I was happy with the results.

[julian abram]

Ken, do you like that Work Sharp 3000? I've got a new one that's been setting on the shelf for a couple years. Keep thinking I'll open the box and read the instructions but don't seem to ever get around to it.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Julian, I do have the Work Sharp 3000 and I like it. It puts a decent working edge on the "working" tools I use, primarily chisels and block planes.

[Phil Thien]

Julian, I do have the Work Sharp 3000 and I like it. It puts a decent working edge on the "working" tools I use, primarily chisels and block planes.

Yeah I like mine, too. I don't do a ton with hand tools and I find the WS3000 puts a pretty good edge on the tools I use, and does so quickly.

[ian maybury]

Wood River planes seem to be a very decent good spec/reasonable money deal Ken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYM08CSopNA There's seemingly a bit more variability in blade flatness and the like than some, but not a big problem.

I guess there's lots of ways of using a WorkSharp. They originally emphasised chisel sharpening using the underneath port. There's also an accessory top working surface that mounts in the same plane as the top of the disc that e.g. permits use of the top surface of the wheel with a honing guide.

I've ended up using mine as a light duty grinder off the top surface with a honing guide and (mostly 80 and 180 grit) low cost diamond lapidary discs from EBay to re-cut the bevels on chisels and plane irons - it's a very good solution as with with the low RPM and diamond there's very little heating and risk of blade damage. It's not got the grunt to do heavy work like say putting a bevel on a thick BU plane iron from scratch - at least not within any reasonable timeframe. It's very good for Japanese chisels sharpened single bevel - the guide transfers with the chisel in situ and undisturbed straight on to waterstones or whatever for honing. (just make sure the work table is set accurately in the same plane as the disc surface)

I also use it for power stropping, again off the top surface with a leather faced disc. I've never actually sharpened anything on it using the chisel port underneath.

It's been dead reliable so far over a major sharpening binge (setting up a bunch of new chisels and plane irons) last year. That said i'm not 100% sure as to how robust/long lived it may ultimately prove to be. The biggest negative (especially over here) is that the stock aluminium oxide paper discs get expensive very quickly - hence the switch to diamond as above. Which probably (even in finer grades) are not the deal for honing. It'd probably be possible to use self adhesive 3M lapping film on it though (i use waterstones and haven't tried it), which might well open the way to it coming close to being a complete sharpening solution........

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ian,

I will never be Neander because I enjoy the speed of accomplishing something that my power tools provide. Yet, the more I learn about hand tools, the more I find myself using them in situations where they just make practical sense.

Over a period of a couple decades while remodeling around the house and building some furniture, I had purchased a couple cheap block planes including one Stanley. Dummy me! I just took it for granted they would arrive sharp and ready to use. Go ahead and laugh.

A few years ago, I took the opportunity to take a Rob Cosman class on hand plane restoration. The class was held at the nearest Woodcraft shop in Spokane, WA. It was in that class I learned what "sharp" is. Shortly there after, I bought my Worksharp. After taking Rob's class, I realize it's not the same level of sharpness that I would get if I went to the extent of using stones but for everyday chisel and block plane use, the Work Sharp provides my tools enough sharpness. Now all of my planes and my chisels get sharpened as necessary and in every project I find more uses for hand planes and chisels because when it's sharp, I can control it better. Again...not perfect but certainly an improvement for what I personally need.

[Alan Lightstone]

Ian,

A few years ago, I took the opportunity to take a Rob Cosman class on hand plane restoration. The class was held at the nearest Woodcraft shop in Spokane, WA. It was in that class I learned what "sharp" is. Shortly there after, I bought my Worksharp. After taking Rob's class, I realize it's not the same level of sharpness that I would get if I went to the extent of using stones but for everyday chisel and block plane use, the Work Sharp provides my tools enough sharpness. Now all of my planes and my chisels get sharpened as necessary and in every project I find more uses for hand planes and chisels because when it's sharp, I can control it better. Again...not perfect but certainly an improvement for what I personally need.

I took the same class earlier this year with Rob Cosman at my local Woodcraft here in town. I have a Tormek, but it collects dust. While I learned a ton from Rob, and am fortunate to have some nice planes, I just can't bring myself to sharpen freehand. I always use a jig. Rob was saying very good things about the newest generation Wood River planes - and Lee Valley. He won't talk about Lie Nielsen (some bad blood and legal disputes between them). Made me feel wierd, as I brought a bunch of Lie Nielsen planes to the course, but he's a very nice guy and all was well.

I still wonder if there is an easier, powered way to quickly sharpen plane and chisel blades...

[ian maybury]

Rob Cosman seems a straight up sort of guy - and i like the way he talks openly about how to deal with slightly hollowed irons on the WR planes rather than blurring the issue as many would. Only found out recently that he lives way up in the North of Canada...

I started in as a kid in a pretty unspohisticated way on hand tools Ken, and only since the 90s got access to machinery. Then to more sophisticated approaches to hand tools courtesy of websites and the mags - and lately this site. So basically I tend to think of both simultaneously - and hand tools at times are very effective. Learning to get a blade truly sharp is the key breakthrough.

Hand versus guided sharpening is a perennial on the Neanderthal forum. I have to say that despite doing little except hand sharpening for very many years that as an engineer with machine time and toolrooms in my background i'm these days very keen on the precision that guides bring. Which isn't to say that hand sharpening isn't just as effective and a lot more flexible done right. Dependence on guides has its downsides when you start getting into odd sharpening scenarios that need alternative jigs and so on, but i'm a sucker for a nicely polished and genuinely flat and properly aligned bevel/facet..

I think the big issue with sharpening as it stands is that there's such a wide range of metal removal rates involved. Which makes it tough to come up with a one does all powered solution. Potentially heavy grinding to light grinding to honing to polishing. Then there's the wide variety of tool shapes and edges. We all somehow seem to end up finding we missed a base, or evolving our methods and finding we need to buy more sharpening stuff...

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Normally I try not to revive an old thread but it seemed appropriate to reopen this one.

Today I scribed the last piece of baseboard to go down the hallway in our home. The floor has some real curves to it.

Initially I started with my belt sander to get it to the line but what a tremendous amount of dust!

Then I elected to use my jig saw until I broke the blade. I couldn't find my replacement blades. They may still be in the shed and haven't been moved to my shop yet.

Then I remembered my low angle block plane. What a dream it was to use. No dust......absolute control. Took a little longer than a power tool but results were great!

As I said earlier in this thread, I will never be a full fledged neander but I am becoming more and more impressed with hand tools!

[Jim Becker]

That's a classic tool that needs to be in every shop, even for the most die-hard machine woodworker! 'Glad it worked out for you.

[mreza Salav]

Last night I was putting down some baseboard on a floor that had a slight bow, block plane to the rescue! same with adding some trims against the wall, us the block plane to plane the trim to be tight against uneven wall.

[Larry Frank]

There are many of us who are not Neanders but use hand planes. I love my low angle block plane and could not be without it. I also have a medium shoulder plane. I really want a small router plane.

I also sharpen using the Worksharp for sharpening. I do not use the hand planes often enough to be good at hand sharpening. As others have mentioned, the Worksharp may not give as good an edge as good hand sharpening, it is good enough for my uses.

[Frederick Skelly]

Normally I try not to revive an old thread but it seemed appropriate to reopen this one.

Today I scribed the last piece of baseboard to go down the hallway in our home. The floor has some real curves to it.

Initially I started with my belt sander to get it to the line but what a tremendous amount of dust!

Then I elected to use my jig saw until I broke the blade. I couldn't find my replacement blades. They may still be in the shed and haven't been moved to my shop yet.

Then I remembered my low angle block plane. What a dream it was to use. No dust......absolute control. Took a little longer than a power tool but results were great!

As I said earlier in this thread, I will never be a full fledged neander but I am becoming more and more impressed with hand tools!

Necessity was exactly how I got involved with hand tools. I was struggling to insert/fit a box of drawers in a tool stand, saw this goofy little 2" plane in the bottom of my toolbox and said "what if..." Now, I use hand tools where they make sense and machine tools for the heavy lifting. I can work more flexibly - multiple ways to accomplish something if needed - and the quality of my work has improved.

Buy an Iwasaki Carving File at Woodcraft or an Auriou Rasp online, and you'll be amazed Ken. They will work wonders. And since I learned to use a smoothing plane, I haven't bought sandpaper . . .