Lie Nielsen Blades Not Staying Sharp

[Stewie Simpson]

Is it standard practice to remove the bur on each grit?

No its not. The burr (wire edge) should separate of its own accord, as you work your way through your finer grit stones. This denotes to 01 steel. The burred edge on A2 steel will likely react differently. The idea of switching to 01 or PM makes perfect sense.

[David farmer]

Just a long shot, but I would double check your other blades on the same wood. Or the LN blades on something else.
Once I had a random batch of regular Red Oak that was some how loaded with a blade destroying mineral (Silica?). As in one pass and the blade was toast. I had to burn the stuff.

[Brian Holcombe]

Just a long shot, but I would double check your other blades on the same wood. Or the LN blades on something else.
Once I had a random batch of regular Red Oak that was some how loaded with a blade destroying mineral (Silica?). As in one pass and the blade was toast. I had to burn the stuff.

This is what I was driving at earlier as well, I recently planed a slab that had been sanded, likely by some sort of industrial belt and it was hell on my blades. Once the top layer was off then it planed normally.

[Mike Brady]

DMT doesn't make a diamond stone anywhere near 8000 grit. You need to have someone who is experienced at sharpening evaluate your technique. It's also impossible for blades from three different planes to be faulty. I hate to be harsh about this, but this is a problem with not getting the edges keen enough. A-2 is difficult to get extremely sharp, but the diamond stones will not get you there. Unfortunately, there is no readily available alternative for non-A-2 blades that fit Lie-Nielsen planes, so you must work with what you have and learn better technique. Watch their instructional videos on the subject. Good luck.

[Frederick Skelly]

At this point I'm researching after market irons (hock o1, veritas pmv11) to see what would fit. Even my block plane is showing a weak edge. I took apart my jack plane that I can't remember the last time I sharpened and as a blind test my fiancé felt more of a burr on the lie Nielsen after a handful of passes than the jack that probably has a couple hours of use.

Adam, you bought a quality tool from a quality manufacturer. Don't buy an aftermarket iron under any circumstances. Let LN make it right, even if it means sending all 3 irons back. They dont want you to have a flawed tool.

As others have said: Either the steel has a problem - which you might be able to tediously grind past. Or there's a subtle problem with your sharpening technique. Or, as David Farmer points out, you have some abrasive wood. I'm guessing it's not your sharpening technique if you've been sharpening the same way with your other irons. So try David's idea and then call LN.

Please let us know what happens here.
Fred

[William Gullage]

DMT does make an 8000 grit stone. http://www.bestsharpeningstones.com/...rp_ee8000.html

it doesn't produce an edge quality like my Shapton 8000 but it does a wonderful job of getting a polished edge.

But I agree, LN wouldn't have three bad blades from different planes. Maybe one bad apple, but not three.

[Adam Chevalier]

After really letting some of the advice sink in, I went and double checked my blades to see if the scratch patterns from the lower grit stones were showing. Turns out what I thought was just a scratch pattern from my 8000 was from my lower stones. I'll have a long day of polishing backs today and see if that won't fix my problem and report back.

I have a hard time believing these are faulty tools, maybe one but not three. I feel I'm at fault somewhere, I appreciate everyone helping figure out where.

[William Fretwell]

I had a lot of very difficult black walnut to plane. I used 40 degrees. My LV BU A2 edge suffered great wear on the back edge and needed frequent sharpening. I would not describe the edge as rolling over, just blunt after a few minutes. I would strop the blade front get a few more strokes then back to the sharpening. The same set up would plane Cherry effortlessly for ages. At the same time I planed some old quarter sawn White Oak that was the hardest wood I ever planed but even that was much kinder to the blade than the Black Walnut.
You could try increasing the angle to 40 degrees. It would like to say it's just your wood, it's certainly highlighting the problem with your blades but getting A2 to roll is weird. From what I've seen it just pits and rounds over, it never gets as sharp as 01.

[Derek Cohen]

William makes a relevant point. Try the blades on a few other types of hardwoods.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Brian Holcombe]

The chance of a manufactured blade from LN, LV, Hock, similar being bad is so near to zero it can be practically eliminated as a variable.

I had a new blade from hock that kept chipping very lightly at one spot. Any guesses as to who was at fault? Hint: it was not Ron Hock. Going back to soft ark on up a second time on the back side cured the problem.

[Jeff Ranck]

Although sometimes the very first edge portion of a new blade can be different (softer, whatever) just because of how it came through the heat treating process. I think that is what you meant by try honing a few more times and if it is still a problem, then start worrying. Sometimes you do need to grind back just a bit to get into the "good" steel.

[Brian Holcombe]

There is a truth to that along with the fact that one normally does not rework the back with each sharpening and so the edge is improving because coarse marks that are otherwise hard to see are slowing eroding away. I've liked practically every blade I own a bit more after long use and a few sharpenings.

[Adam Chevalier]

I tried working some of this advice with my 1/2 chisel from Lie Nielsen (smallest tool in A2 I could try). Took my time and really made sure each grit was removed by the next and got a nice finish on it. Proceeded to test the edge in paring SYP. I had some nice shavings, but looked at the chisel and saw a good size chip in the edge that scratched my nicely finished back. The chisel just came in this week so it probably needs a few more sharpenings. However, the edge didn't roll over so I'd call it some improvement.

I don't have any of these issues with my old vintage tools. Maybe the softer steel was more forgiving.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Adam, where do you live? (Roughly speaking). If you live near me, we can sharpen it up and even try some of my other blades and planes to see how they react on your wood.

If you see the problem on all three blades, I would not rework all 3, I would start with one in case your process does not help.

[Brian Holcombe]

Also, I should have mentioned this earlier but diamond plates do not make for a fine edge, they cut very well and do the edge will always have some serration to it until you get way way up there in terms of fineness. Finish with a fine synthetic stone. I prefer a natural finisher and HC steel but a workable edge can be made in A2. Aside from that, load a "strop" made of MDF or plywood with green compound and finish the edge with that.