One of my more recent habits is checking the SMC Classifieds often. Many times desired treasures have been seen at decent prices only to see someone else has already arranged to purchase the item. Many times items sell within an hour or less of being listed.
Recently my luck changed on one item, though a couple of books later got by me by a few minutes.
The treasured item was a Millers Falls Cigar Shave. It arrived Saturday. The seller mentioned they were never able to get it to work. From having read a previous post on these my suspicion was there was an insufficient relief angle on the blade. This turned out to be part of the cause of not working:
No Relief.jpg
This indicates the back of the bevel was preventing the cutting edge from contacting the surface of the work.
The blade is almost impossible to hold by hand to regrind the bevel. Making a holder seemed like the thing to do:
Half of Blade Holdeer.jpg
This was done with a couple hollow molding planes. This worked well for preliminary grinding:
Grinding Cigar Shave Blade.jpg
Notice the blade is being held at a slight angle. The bevel was in line with the face of the holder.
Learning from mistakes has made me among the most learned of men.
For anyone who finds themselves in this situation, it would have been helpful for me to make a mark on the blade for where the bevel should stop. Mine got to the point of almost being over ground.
The holder worked well on the grinder. It wasn’t too good for final honing on a stone. The other side of the piece of scrap used to make a blade holder was shaped with a round molding plane:
Other Side of Blade Holder.jpg
Note: this was a different size than the hollows used for the inside curve.
This worked well for working the relief bevel:
Honing Outside Bevel.jpg
It also worked for honing the inside bevel:
Honing Inside Bevel.jpg
It was necessary to prop the stone up on the side of the box for the inside bevel.
It was a bit fidgety getting this shave to work.
No matter how the blade was set, it was still below the very short sole of the shave. A fine toothed file was used to realign the sole a few thousandths of an inch.
Making Shavings.jpg
This will likely take a few more uses to get used to, just like my other curved shaves.
jtk