So 40 years in, I finally know how to sharpen my tools.

[Patrick Chase]

Hi Pat, They're part and parcel, so can't have one without the other. If western blades were hardened to the same degree, they would need also be laminated to soft iron to support the edge and a hollow would need to be cut to allow one to back to be flattened with success, so it is not simple enough to conclude that because western blades aren't done that way that it is unnecessary since western blades do not share the same characteristics entirely.

Japanese and high-alloy Western blades are more similar in operating principle than many people think. They both use super-hard but brittle cutting elements welded to a softer but tougher matrix. In both cases it creates special handling requirements. To wit:

In a Japanese blade the super-hard part is a continuous insert of high-hardness steel welded to a soft backing. As Brian says this creates a requirement for a hollow back and for special handling to maintain a flat perimeter around the hollow.

In a high-alloy Western blade the super-hard part consists of carbides mixed/welded into the matrix. Those carbides are far harder than even the tip of a Japanese blade, though they're not continuous. The resulting special handling requirement is for sharpening methods and media that can deal with the carbides.

Pick your poison :-)

[Brian Holcombe]

He was referring to Duff Beer, if memory serves.

I hear that tapping out is like pool - you're better at it (in your own mind at least) with a couple sheets to the wind.

Hehe, it was Duff Beer, I grew up with the Simpsons, so for better or worse many of their lines come to mind during the day.

The key to success (and probably also failure) is to forget what you paid for the blade before hitting it with a hammer. I would imagine most chip outs, while painful, can be restored to success, even thought they are they requiring a lot more work of the same type that just chipped the blade.

The blade I just repaired would not budge at all....then when it finally started moving it cracked right down the center. Even with very even tapping out, since it is best not to tap out one section dramatically, and typically not the aim of the work. Interesting part was that it didn't crack while I was working the blade, like would be expected, but while I was holding it and between the work, the pressure on the cutting edge must have been enormous.

It remains a bear to work with, and has been significantly harder to work than any of my other blades, while nearly as hard for some reason tend to work with ease by comparison.

[William Fretwell]

Yes David. I've not had the same issue with BD irons, beyond burr removal the flat side requires little work. My BU irons develop a distinct roughness right behind the edge on the flat side. While you can create a burr and remove it the same way the roughness detracts from the edge obtained. The plane still works of course and as it's mostly the jack plane getting hard use it may not matter.

A few days ago I planed what I thought was white oak 3" wide by 7' long, I had to reduce it 1/4" down to the level of two cherry strips glued either side. It took almost 3 hours! This was much harder than the real white oak I have been using. The roughness on the flat back was very noticeable during frequent sharpening. It reminded me why I love cherry as it planed like butter when I reached it!

[William Fretwell]

I'm not sold on the ruler trick but do work the leading 1 inch with pressure on the edge. If I take it back to 800x then up to 8k it removes the roughness. It is interesting that this happens. The bevel is lifting the wood shaving and pulling the remaining surface into the flat of the blade.

[David Eisenhauer]

You don't want anything to do with the remainder of 1,000 BF pile of pecan I have been working through lately. I have had to bring several 3/4" panels down to 1/2" - 3/8" and have not felt the need to head to the gym for any reason. As I said, I don't have any magnification available to look closely at an edge, but I always re flatten/polish the back of my irons and chisels as a matter of course when sharpening. Of course, since the original flattening brought everything flat, the back work now is basically mostly just re polishing and does not take more than 30 seconds or so, if that. It does stand to reason that the back (non bevel side) of a plane iron does not make contact with the planning surface, so that should lessen the wear to that face, but it still takes the abuse of severed wood sliding over the face on its way out of the plane.

[Brian Holcombe]

1/4"-3/8" is a hefty amount to take off, I try and keep it around 1/16", except for minor things like thin strips in which case you take 1/4" off in a minute.

I now bandsaw the stock down to +1/16", but prior to that I would handsaw it down to that. The plus, of course is that you have a 1/8" or 1/4" or whatever panel left over, which comes in handy constantly when making cabinets/furniture.

[Dave Zellers]

I've been spending a bit of everyday sharpening on the new stones and today was by far the best. BTW, is a little blood in the slurry helpful? It was a small cut but I never felt a thing- all of a sudden the area was turning red. After washing my hands I couldn't even locate it but going back and applying finger pressure started it again. It made me think of 'The Red Violin'. An awesome movie if you haven't seen it.

What I learned today was I probably have been applying too much pressure. Especially when flattening backs. When I backed off and let the bloody slurry do it's thing, I got completely different results. At first I thought how could this possibly do anything but then instead of creating a couple shiny spots (that may have correlated to finger position), I was getting a nice clean, even dull gray after working on the 1500 stone very much like the back of a new Lee Valley iron. It's rather surprising that such light pressure would be so effective but I guess what I was doing was squeezing out all the water and in a few seconds I was working on a dry stone on a build up of dry iron and stone waste.

Pretty encouraging. Might have taken the first step towards actually understanding what is happening while I'm rocking to and fro.

So anyhoo, I have decided to buy a 1000 grit stone to fit between the 320 and 1500. Leaning toward the Chosera that was mentioned earlier, it's more expensive than the Shapton but thicker and comes with a dressing stone. OTOH, at some point soon, the accountant (LOML) is going to start asking questions. It would also give me an experience with a different quality stone to better understand the nuances involved.

Anyway, it was another good day...