Sharpening small blades

[Jason Buresh]

I was surprised over the recent holiday with a Veritas mini router plane. It is actually a really neat little tool.

I am having a bear of a time getting it sharp though. It is A2 steel and 1/8 wide i believe. I have been using my waterstones but cannot seem to get an edge to save my life. I got the bottom flat and worked on the bevel but it will not get sharp.

Is there a trick to honing these small blades that i am missing? I have been working from 1000-8000 grit. I do have an india stone as well if that may be a better choice, but veritas says in thw manual that waterstones are recommended.

I have a Veritas replacement blade for my Stanley router and that honed quite quickly and easily.

I guess my only theories are that because its such a small blade that it doesn't make a sufficient swarf on the stone or that my synthetic waterstones are bad at cutting the A2.

I am sharpening free hand and have been very careful about maintaining the factory bevel while sharpening, so i am assuming its not an angle problem.

Thoughts?

[Tom M King]

For such small cutters, I sit the stones on edge, and use the sides of the stones. Not only does it not have the potential for getting one small section of a stone face out of flat, but it gives extra clearance for fingers, and hands, and makes the process easier overall.

[James Pallas]

I have several narrow blades. Edge of stone, as Tom said. I only pull back on the bottom edge and only push forward on the bevel. Light touch not much to remove. Push too heavy and that narrow blade will dig in. Count down to 3,2,1 on the final stokes on the fine stone. Strop very lightly on computer paper on a hard surface.

[Ben Ellenberger]

I use diamond stones to 1200 and finish with a hard black Arkansas stone. I set the stones on the edge of the bench with the long edge parallel to the edge of the bench. I use the regular face of the stones for sharpening, and having them at the edge of the bench allows me to hang the post on the router plane blade off the edge. I agree that it is a little tricky to control things and sharpen out to the edge without introducing skew.

[Jim Koepke]

For me this is easier to sharpen some small blades with a slip stone. The blade can be held steady and the slip stone is moved.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop...er-slip-stones

These are the basic slip stones they also have others > https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/sear...erOfResults=24

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

Victor Tesolin shows a method using a mounting block (Vee groove cut to hold blade sideways) and a slow speed spindle sander to make a hollow grind.

If you have wet/dry sandpaper a small "paddle" can be made to hone the blades, while they're held in the router body.

https://youtu.be/cuNu-GlgH88

[Tom Henderson2]

The narrow blades can be a challenge.

The usual way of sharpening a router plane blade is to hang the stem over the edge of the stone and drag the blade fore/aft along the long dimension of the stone.

That can be problematic for narrow blades since it is too easy for the blade to rock slightly each time you change direction, leading to a rounded-over edge.

This isn't unique to router plane blades; very narrow chisels have the same problem.

David Charlesworth recommends sharpening narrow chisels using an in-and-out motion on the stone, rather than a sideways slide. This avoids the slight rocking that you get with sideways motion.

Maybe that will work for router blades too?

Having a hollow grind like Vic Tesolin achieves with his jig would certainly help. But even then making short motions in-and-out will be needed.

I hope this makes some sense....

[Jim Koepke]

The narrow blades can be a challenge.

The usual way of sharpening a router plane blade is to hang the stem over the edge of the stone and drag the blade fore/aft along the long dimension of the stone.

That can be problematic for narrow blades since it is too easy for the blade to rock slightly each time you change direction, leading to a rounded-over edge.

This isn't unique to router plane blades; very narrow chisels have the same problem.

[edited]

This is addressed by holding the blade still and moving a smaller stone back and forth against the bevel. Or as mentioned in my post above using a slip stone.

The blade could even be held solid by a clamp or vise and worked with a stone or paddle.

jtk

[Derek Cohen]

Having a hollow grind like Vic Tesolin achieves with his jig would certainly help. But even then making short motions in-and-out will be needed.

Oy Tom ... Vic made the video, but that is a fixture I designed and showed to Vic when he visited my shop a few years ago.

The hollow grind jigs the blade. The is no other method offering the stability this one does.

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Woodwor...aneBlades.html



Regards from Perth

Derek

[James Pallas]

Derek’s jig works great. So many of these blades are a bit of a mess when found in the wild and the jig is a great time saver. You still need to go to the stones for a good working edge.