Sharping Molding Planes

[brian c miller]

I got a an old army foot locker full of plane from my father's father. I am more or a router guy myself but thought that these deserved a go.... I have no idea how to go about putting a good edge on the irons?

Any one an expert here? Should I try it myself or shed these out for proper sharpening?

[Rob Young]

There are articles and videos at the Fine Woodworking magazine site about sharpening molding plane blades.

The key thing is to NOT modify the profile, it must match the sole of the plane.

Otherwise you can lap the back just as with a standard blade and depending on the profile you can use wet stones, sandpaper wrapped around dowels or slipstones for the leading edge.

[Matt Bickford]

I just spent my morning doing exactly this. The steps are the same as sharpening any edge tool, the stones and technique may be a little bit different.

The backs need to be flat. The bevel side is then sharpened using various slip stones that get progressively finer. (You only need a couple shapes and a couple grits, just like with a flat iron.) The burr needs to be removed. The iron needs to be honed.

Ultimately, for us hobbiests, once this shaping and sharpening is done the stones won't be necessary for a while unless significant work needs to be done. They can just be honed on a strip of leather most of the time, just like a flat iron.

Care is needed in making certain that the profile of the iron matches that of the sole. The closer it is the better the plane will perform. Without a good match, final passes with a light set won't be possible--a light set at area A will mean a rank cut at area B; if the iron is retracted and area B is then set to a light cut area A won't cut at all and you will have made yourself an undesired depth stop. Minor and moderate adjustments can be made with your stones, major adjustments will mean a 30 second trip to the grinder.

The skill in doing all of this is about the same as sharpening a carving gouge. If you've never done that I would recommend picking one up and building the skill of rotating your wrist while at your stones. It's not difficult but it may take a minor amount of time just to get it down. (if you don't sharpen a flat iron free hand you should start with that.)

Are there places that shape and sharpen these things to match them to the sole?

[Mark Koury]

Buy the DVD:

Sharpening Profiled Hand Tools
By Larry Williams

$25 at the Lie Nielsen site.

Covers what you need to know.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Brian and welcome to the creek.

All the suggestions above are good ones. There are many ways to do just about anything.

I think getting a book on the subject is a good idea. I have one on carving by Chris Pye that explains gouge sharpening. My way of blade sharpening varies from blade to blade. One of the easiest for a simple shape is to get the blade as sharp as possible with flat stones on the back and slip stones on the bevel. Then the blade is used to cut a piece and very fine sand paper is adhered to that to work the bevel.

If you get the problem that Matt mentions, then attention has to be given to the high spot on the blade.

It takes a little time to learn, but then you will be able to do it as if it was second nature.

You should shoot us some pictures of your family heirloom gloat. It would only make most of us jealous.

jim

[David Keller NC]

Originally Posted by brian c miller

I got a an old army foot locker full of plane from my father's father. I am more or a router guy myself but thought that these deserved a go.... I have no idea how to go about putting a good edge on the irons?

Any one an expert here? Should I try it myself or shed these out for proper sharpening?

Brian - Do not "send these out" for sharpening at a local service. As you may have surmised by the above responses, it's necessary to have the plane in your hands before you can sharpen the blade.

A couple of other tips - be very, very careful that you don't mix up the blades and wedges from these planes. Each wedge and blade was carefully fitted to the specific plane body, and they are not interchangeable.

To get out a stuck wedge - don't attempt to grip the wedge with a tool or a vise and pull it out - doing so will likely shear off the wedge finial. First, rap the back of the plane firmly with a dead-blow or plastic-faced hammer while you hold the body of the plane in the other hand - the inertia difference between the blade and the plane body will usually release the wedge and blade. This is, by the way, the correct way to release the blade for adjustment while the plane is in use.

If that doesn't work, look carefully at the side profile of the blade that sticking up from the body at the back of the wedge. Unless the plane was craftsman-made, the blade will be tapered in thickness. If it is, then gently drive the tang end of the blade down into the plane body - the tapered nature of the blade will result in taking the pressure off of the wedge - the blade can then be removed from the mouth of the plane, and the wedge removed from the top.

Don't place the wedge in a vise and try to drive off the body of the plane with a dead-blow hammer. This technique is written up in several books, and it's a very, very bad idea - many wedges have been hopelessly damaged by this technique.

Finally, realize that -some- wooden molding planes are very, very valuable to collectors. That's actually a rarity, but it does happen. For example, any wooden plane that is certifiably 18th century American (determined by both style and the maker's end-stamp on the toe) is worth many hundreds to sometimes many thousands of dollars. And some 19th century plow-type planes can run into the multi-thousands of dollars. For example, center-wheel plow planes by Sandusky or Ohio Tools were made in the late 1800's, but they still go for a minimum of $6,000 if complete and in good shape. Some patented wooden planes made around this time are also worth a large amount of money.

Most late 19th century planes, particularly by Sandusky, Auburn Tool, and Ohio Tools are worth in the $10-$50 range as workshop users, but unless you know what you're looking at, it's hard to distinguish a multi-thousand dollar plane from a $20 flea-market special.

With that in mind - do not attempt to clean, repair, or refinish any of these planes until you know what they are. Re-finishing an 18th century American plane, for example, will change its collector's value from over one thousand dollars to at most a couple of hundred.

[Jim Koepke]

Originally Posted by David Keller NC

Don't place the wedge in a vise and try to drive off the body of the plane with a dead-blow hammer. This technique is written up in several books, and it's a very, very bad idea - many wedges have been hopelessly damaged by this technique.

This makes me shudder just like another book on planes written by "a professional" with him showing readers how to use the lever cap to remove the cap iron screw.

jim

[Peter Evans]

A reliable way to loosen the wedge is to hold the plane upside down and whack the front top of the plane carefully on the bench. Make sure the top lands flat on the bench to avoid marking the body. Much more effective than belting the back of the plane, and no bruising of the plane wood. And quicker, and does not require another tool to effect the removal.

[David Keller NC]

Originally Posted by Peter Evans

A reliable way to loosen the wedge is to hold the plane upside down and whack the front top of the plane carefully on the bench. Make sure the top lands flat on the bench to avoid marking the body. Much more effective than belting the back of the plane, and no bruising of the plane wood. And quicker, and does not require another tool to effect the removal.

Brian - While what Peter describes will in some cases loosen the wedge and iron, please don't do it - it's very bad practice. The wood in these planes is quarter-sawn beech, which means that the face grain is on the top surface of the plane. The front and back of the plane, of course, is end-grain, which is far harder than face grain. So long as you use the correct tool to rap the heel of the plane (which is either a dead-blow hammer (rubber) or a dedicated plane hammer with a wooden face), you will do no damage. The hammer blow marks often seen on the back and the front of the planes were put there with metal hammers - they are very common on 19th century planes when metal hammers became cheap and accessible; earlier planes have far fewer of these marks.

Whacking the top surface of the plane, on the other hand, even with a wooden faced hammer, will dent the face grain and ugly up your plane in a hurry.

And a final note - in practice, one sets the iron more deeply on a wooden molding plane by tapping the back of the stock, then tightening up the wedge by tapping it tight. To retract the blade, one taps the front of the plane, again following up by tapping the wedge home.

[Larry Williams]

Originally Posted by David Keller NC

To get out a stuck wedge - don't attempt to grip the wedge with a tool or a vise and pull it out - doing so will likely shear off the wedge finial. First, rap the back of the plane firmly with a dead-blow or plastic-faced hammer while you hold the body of the plane in the other hand - the inertia difference between the blade and the plane body will usually release the wedge and blade. This is, by the way, the correct way to release the blade for adjustment while the plane is in use....

...And a final note - in practice, one sets the iron more deeply on a wooden molding plane by tapping the back of the stock, then tightening up the wedge by tapping it tight. To retract the blade, one taps the front of the plane, again following up by tapping the wedge home.

If a molding plane wedge isn't released by driving the iron down to where it protrudes from the mouth, my preferred method is to clamp the wedge finial in a vise with parallel padded jaws in good shape and gently tap the heel of the plane body until the wedge is free. I've done this to a lot of planes including some rare and valuable ones. I've never damaged a wedge in the process.

My experience, though, is that molding plane irons simply don't have enough weight/mass to adjust through tapping on the toe or heel of the plane. You'd have to hit a molding plane with a properly fitting wedge pretty hard to move an iron at all. Advance a molding plane iron for a deeper cut by tapping on the tang of the iron and I don't try to back the iron off by hitting the plane. If you get a molding plane iron set too rank, start over. If someone tried to adjusting one of my molding planes by whacking on the body, I'm sure I'd take it away from them.