What's the finest grit sandpaper you use on plane soles?

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I don't use sandpaper anymore (except for flattening waterstones, where it seems to last a long time compared to sharpening). If you are going to do a fair amount with hand tools, a coarse(er) stone is a good investment in my opinion. Saves money (as compared to sandpaper), time (as compared to finer stones), and wear on your good stones.

I have the Norton 220 grit waterstone, which works, but I would not recommend it. It wears incredibly fast, and has to be constantly flattened. When it is gone, I will be replacing it with something hopefully better. Other folks may have specific stones that work well for them.

[Jim Koepke]

Excellent. So I take it you do not use any liquid on the paper, just dry? Also, how do you get the PSA paper off the granite? I went through hell to get mine off.
[edited]
Once I started flattening the chisel backs, it seemed like the paper dulled really fast - like 60 seconds fast. Wonder if it was just loaded up with metal dust?
[edited]

Usually I do not use any liquid on the paper.

To remove the paper it is often necessary to use some mineral spirits and something like a putty knife to remove excess adhesive.

My granite slab is not used much these days. With a jerry rigged honing guide it works fast to establish a bevel or clean up the back on the odd blade that finds is way into my shop. For those kinds of jobs it doesn't heat a blade as fast as my power sharpening set up:

http://www.leevalley.com/us/wood/pag...35&cat=1,43072

When removing any adhesive residue left when changing sheets on this, a bit more care is taken, but the same methods are used.

In its performance, The Veritas Mk.II Power Sharpening System is an electrified Scary Sharp system. The system naturally produces a blade with a secondary bevel. This is due to the difference in thicknesses of the abrasive sheets. I have found it easy to overcome this if one so desires.

The papers do not seem to wear overly fast for me. The paper on granite does seem to load up rather quickly which will make it feel like there is no cutting acton. The power sharpening system tends to fling the swarf off of the platform.

My reason for using the abrasive on granite is for larger items like plane soles and rehabilitating old blades for the initial clean up. On the power system they heat up too fast. With a long piece of abrasive, it is possible to get a piece of steel warm, but not as hot as the powered abrasive. It used to be my rust hunting would bring in a bunch of tools for rehab all at once. Then the powered system would be fine as one blade could be cooling while others went through the cycle. There hasn't been as much rust hunting on my part of late since there really isn't many open spots in my current tool lineup.

jtk

[Ray Selinger]

I don't use sandpaper anymore (except for flattening waterstones, where it seems to last a long time compared to sharpening). If you are going to do a fair amount with hand tools, a coarse(er) stone is a good investment in my opinion. Saves money (as compared to sandpaper), time (as compared to finer stones), and wear on your good stones.

I have the Norton 220 grit waterstone, which works, but I would not recommend it. It wears incredibly fast, and has to be constantly flattened. When it is gone, I will be replacing it with something hopefully better. Other folks may have specific stones that work well for them.

I know you are all saying "please not another sharpening post" But my experience is the same as Nicholas only I tried a 240grit Sigma Power Select II stone. I ended up spending a lot more time flattening after use than refining the bevel. And the bevel was only the slight difference between two jigs.

[Greg Krummel]

If you use spray adhesive on non-adhesive sandpaper, you can apply a very thorough coat of adhesive on the paper and wait to attach them together until the adhesive dries a little. This way it will hold enough to keep the paper flat and positioned, but not well enough to make removal difficult (it should peel right off with little residue). Check the can for the range of time to wait before attaching, and use the longer end of that time range.

[Mateo Panzica]

I make and sell fancy infill planes. I finish my soles with 220 on a granite plate. The rest of my planes are shiny, but the sole... ah, it's a working surface. It just needs to be "flat". One thing to consider is that, with the blade under tension, the sole will bow. I flatten first without a blade clamped down. Then I re-flatten with a blade secured.