Never tear foam again. Cut below the foam and fine tune to the wood. I cut the front off and shape it down with my grinder and a file get I put the blade in vice grips and grind it to shape. Thumb nail plane. Try it you’ll like the best little block plane
That's my favorite plane and the only one other than a Skil or a Surform that I keep in my travel bag these days. I've heard about grindin' the corners, but have yet to do one. The picture is good. The bench grinder is handy so I may try it. This is sort of like Ghetto's advive about drillin' a Skil. A little scary at first, but the advantages are obvious.
Hey Mcding make sure ya don’t grind to much on the blade. Grind to the middle from each corner. If ya grind to much you won’t be able to adjust it enough to cut. I have grinded them to much. Done right it will last about 4 to 6 more filing and stone sharping. It fits the flippy noses better. Much better control. Give it a try and let me know what ya think
Hey Mcding make sure ya don’t grind to much on the blade. Grind to the middle from each corner. If ya grind to much you won’t be able to adjust it enough to cut. I have grinded them to much. Done right it will last about 4 to 6 more filing and stone sharping. It fits the flippy noses better. Much better control. Give it a try and let me know what ya think
Your picture clears up alot of what I have heard in the past about this. Thank You. I'll grind one before I make my next trip to Westminster.
Looks good SanO.
I’ve got a couple of these, I think I’ll try it on one.
this is about the last time i post this kept razor sharp and will not only clean the stringer but will shave the foam just as well so you see sano thats what i was refering to in that other thread[img_assist|nid=1051277|title=right tools|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=640|height=480] the spoke shave i never use on poly sometimes on balsa
i built it in the mid 50 s
cheers huie
Been doing it to all my block planes since 1969, it doesn’t take but a few mils off the corners to get the advantage, those look like nearly an 1/8" have been removed, by taking less, the blade can be cocked as it dulls and access fresh edge
jim is correct,
in that you only need to knock off the ends a bit.
and(jim would agree) huie put it right....................
.............if it's not sharp.................you're wasting your time !!!!!!!!
herb
A number of years ago I had ventured to Fla. to see my daughters, while there I was asked to do some shaping for another lable, I had my tools with me, but had not brought a saw, as it was too long to fit in my tool box. Every tool I put my hand on in my “borrowed” shaping room was like using stone tools, but they would have been sharper.
I have 2 vices in my shaping room, one verticle, one horizontal, as soon as my planes do not make a whistling sound as I run them across wood, it’s into the vice for a tune up with the diamond hone.
It only takes a couple of strokes to keep them tuned up, but this is when I am most likely to cut myself when the hone slips off the blade in mid pass, ouch !!!
Shrosbee brought me his Stanley blades all the time to tune them, I would oil hone them and shave my arm for him to see how sharp they were, I handed him a blade one day, freshly honed, holding it by the edge, it spun between my fingers with the oil residue on it, it cut a friggin “J” in my finger tip.
One tip about the radiused blade is, if you cut on the skew, they will slice through so damn cleanly, even on the crappiest piece of switch back bass.
One year at Surf expo, I took T-Band shaving curls and glued a piece inside of each of my business cards, people were pretty amazed by them, paper thin, you could see through them
ya jim,
we had this discussion here, some 12 years ago.
and it's still the same.
for those of you that don't know how to sharpen tools...........whatever it is..........learn.
herb
Hey Jim, since I don't do stringers anymore I'm going to find that spokeshave you gave me 30 years ago and return it home. I remember you mentioning to me one time that you sorta missed it.
When Clark had the ''blade exchange'' program going, now that was the good ol' days. I used the curved base japanese plane for deckside noses, and all I had to do was take out the old blade and they'd hand me a new one. And I could do that when I went to the warehouse or when they delivered to my door.
Good morning gentlemen thanks. To have a few hundred years of Master shapers post and share is what I like seeing. This is what Swaylocks should be.
Huie that is a nice one love to get my fingers on it.
Jim your right and hitting the corners is all ya really need to do. I just took it a bit more round to trim EPS. Which chips and tears more easily. I would say we need to have a safety meeting and discuss these issues. Make sure to stop by longer next time.
Herb. Shapers with dull blades need to be schooled. On the art of keeping your tools tuned.
It was one year ago today when my shaping room burnt down to the ground losing every tool ,template EVERYTHING up in smoke. When ya have to deal with the loss of your tools is as devastating as to loosing a family member.
You can find new tools but ya never replace what ya had. So take care of what ya have ya never know what could happen.
Wow.Losing everything in a fire is a nightmare. Everytime we have a bad hurricane situation I have to decide what's really important to me; the only things I take out of my shaping room are templates. I figure I can replace most everything else, but I'd hate to lose all those curves. Even in this day when I've got some of them in digital versions, I'm still attached to those pieces of sheet plastic with notes scribbled all over them.
If you grind the tail to the tabs it fits better in the noses. Al Dove taught me this trick a long time ago.
Before and after 3 minutes.
I lost and my friends lost. If you think it would never happen think twice.
I have learned a few things over the past year is you can work with less. You can get the job done and make use with what ya have.
I could have saved a few things but I was busy pissing on the fire.
The profile pic was my room the pic I posted is it seconds later.
Like rolls on. Next day Tommy Moss gave me a planer and I began finding some of my boards from friends and pulling new spin templates. I would say the templates hurt the most. I only have a hand full of what I had.
No pun intended Sanolocal but Holy Smokes! That's no joke! If I had a fire in my shop, it would be the end of it. Thirty years of amassing a tool collection is impossible to replace. Even if half my stuff was burned or stolen I'd never be able to get it back. A buddy of mine used to store all his most important stuff (templates, planer etc.) in a fireproof gun safe. When the fire dept. would come by for routine inspections, they'd get nervous seeing the safe standing there thinking it was an arsenal.
What a terrible loss!! Hope you can spring back. Best Of LUCK!!!
I try to remember to shut down as many power/potential ignition sources as I can every time I walk away from work. Turn OFF compressor, kill power to vacuum/planer system, unplug sanders, etc. I wish I had a main panel by the door I could just shut down, but I'm on a circuit with some other units.
Did you find out where your fire originated? Maybe we can help someone else avoid that kind of loss.
It was in the new light switches the landlords electrician installed to code. The neighbor plugged in a band saw that cause the power arc in the switch box. The fire report made by the marshal was ( electrical / human error ) no one was held responsible. The local marshal was a local surfer and was surfing T-street at the time and saw the fire. He called me and gave me the low down. I had done it all right and much better then most. Shit happens
My room was always clean. I’m kind of neat freak
It was my dream room 10 x 10 x 20.
Something to remember Foam burns very hot. The other thing make sure you have a hose long enough to reach. Nothing worse then coming up a few feet short. It would have helped! One more thing mount the fire extinguisher at the door not under the light switch in the middle of the room. Of all places to mount it wrong.
I just bought a double fire extinguisher pack at Costco and didn’t know what to do with the second one. Now I know!!!