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Thread: Flattening Plane Irons

  1. #31
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Chase View Post

    I use commodity precision-ground 1018 plate from McMaster-Carr, which is cheaper still.
    Patrick,

    Can you let us know the part number for the McMaster Carr 1018 precision steel. Also, where do you get the diamond paste?

    I have a few wide chisels and gave up after a few hours of trying to flatten the backs.

    Thanks,

    Dennis

  2. #32
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    Hi Steve -- I picked up this tip from David Weaver in one of his wood plane making videos. It just makes use of a chunk of 2x4 that allows you to bear down hard on whatever medium you're using to flatten. I use anything from diamond plates to 80 grit self stick sandpaper on a granite block. It really saves wear and tear on your fingers.
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  3. #33
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Chase View Post
    I use diamond paste starting at 60 um grit size on cast iron and/or mild steel plates. I have a set of 8" by 4" precision-ground 1018 plates that are particularly nice for flattening. They stay pretty flat, and in my experience it's by far the fastest hand-powered flattening method. It isn't cheap, but neither are sandpaper or DMT plates.
    SNIP
    I was lucky enough to come across a chunk of cast iron 1" X 3" X 12". The local community college machine tools course students flattened it for free. So far the only cost is for the diamond paste, about $12. Even 15 micron past made child's play out of a 2" chisel.

  4. #34
    Patrick, yep, it's the Sigma 120. And i will use it on stones that are bunged up badly, but not on new ones. It's nearly as fast as a grinder on bevels, especially since there's no chance of drawing the temper of a blade.

  5. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Bjorgen View Post
    Hi Steve -- I picked up this tip from David Weaver in one of his wood plane making videos. It just makes use of a chunk of 2x4 that allows you to bear down hard on whatever medium you're using to flatten. I use anything from diamond plates to 80 grit self stick sandpaper on a granite block. It really saves wear and tear on your fingers.
    This is brilliant! I guess you'd have to keep your sharpening medium on the edge of your bench though since the screw heads protrude. Steve Graham I feel your pain though, I just went through the exact same thing. 60 grit sandpaper helped some but it still takes forever.

  6. #36
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    You're correct, Steven. Actually I use a holder for the diamond stones that elevates the nuts and bolts enough so they don't contact the bench surface. When using sandpaper on the granite block it's off the edge of the bench. Most vintage plane irons I've acquired have needed a lot of work. This basic little jig has has really saved my hands.

  7. #37
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    Quote Originally Posted by Dennis Yamamoto View Post
    Patrick,

    Can you let us know the part number for the McMaster Carr 1018 precision steel. Also, where do you get the diamond paste?

    I have a few wide chisels and gave up after a few hours of trying to flatten the backs.

    Thanks,

    Dennis
    9517K496 for the steel. It's a 4x24 piece that I cut into 3 8x4 plates.

    I get my diamond paste from a mix of McMaster-Carr (Sandvik/Hyperion), PSI, and Norton. McMaster is probably the most cost-effective source for quality monocrystalline compound.

  8. #38
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Bjorgen View Post
    Hi Steve -- I picked up this tip from David Weaver in one of his wood plane making videos. It just makes use of a chunk of 2x4 that allows you to bear down hard on whatever medium you're using to flatten. I use anything from diamond plates to 80 grit self stick sandpaper on a granite block. It really saves wear and tear on your fingers.
    It seems to me that bolting the blade down like that might just straighten the blade a bit if it were convex. OK, but then it will spring back a bit when unbolted. No doubt it makes a good blade holder though.

  9. #39
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    As it turns out David Weaver, perhaps inspired by this thread, just uploaded a video to YouTube that shows his jig that inspired me. Do a search for " The best way to flatten a plane iron." David's jig has longer handles but he explains that one needs to hold the jig firmly on the center of the back in order not to rock it on the medium.

  10. #40
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Barry View Post
    It seems to me that bolting the blade down like that might just straighten the blade a bit if it were convex. OK, but then it will spring back a bit when unbolted. No doubt it makes a good blade holder though.
    Curve along the lengthwise/longitudinal axis is mostly harmless and need not be flattened out. It's not like that iron is going to be longitudinally flat after you attach a cap iron to it, after all.

  11. #41
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    Unless the chipbreaker is also bent....BTDT.

    A LOT of these old vintage planes have just sat around on a shelf..for YEARS. Left with everything cranked down type, and half the time put together backwards. Lever cap slowly over time (Decades?) will bend things out of shape, simply because someone had cranked that bolt down as far as they could. Have seen many an old plane come through my shop with this sort of "treatment". Can't move the lever cap, without having to turn the bolt completely around four or five times. Chipbreakers mated to the bevel side of the iron, with enough junk under them to build a decent sized No. 2 pencil. Then, they leave it where a waterline can drip on it, or near an open window. Then just forgotten about until a yard sale day comes up.

    Seen too many of these things. Then I get to clean up the mess...

  12. #42
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    Quote Originally Posted by Patrick Chase View Post
    Curve along the lengthwise/longitudinal axis is mostly harmless and need not be flattened out. It's not like that iron is going to be longitudinally flat after you attach a cap iron to it, after all.
    I agree - I was talking about the clamping causing the bow along the blade edge to be straightened a bit.

  13. #43
    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Bjorgen View Post
    Hi Steve -- I picked up this tip from David Weaver in one of his wood plane making videos. It just makes use of a chunk of 2x4 that allows you to bear down hard on whatever medium you're using to flatten. I use anything from diamond plates to 80 grit self stick sandpaper on a granite block. It really saves wear and tear on your fingers.
    I wouldn't recommend doing this especially on thinner irons like Stanley. I'll bet he is using fairly thick irons.

  14. #44
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    Quote Originally Posted by Pat Barry View Post
    I agree - I was talking about the clamping causing the bow along the blade edge to be straightened a bit.
    It takes a fair bit of force to flatten out bow along that axis. Just don't whale on it and everything should be ok IMO...

  15. #45
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    The irons I am fooling with right now are for a Stanley 57R and a 151. They are pretty thin. I like that jig thing. May try it.

    I have a big block (4" square and over a foot long) of 1018 sitting around doing nothing. I should flatten one end side on the mill and see if it works for lapping.
    Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of bench.

    I was socially distant before it was cool.

    A little authority corrupts a lot.

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