@boo thanks for that, looks the same as the one that just arrived, interestingly the bottom looks far from flat ground too, presuming that’s not actually been a problem for you?
…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.
@rocknroller912 thanks for the link, couldn’t actually find one from on the site though. That said I’ll be looking at a cheap option right now given the expense of guitar build parts and tools so far.
…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.
@tej there are quite a few plane restoration videos on youtube, basically you want the flattest surface possible and some sandpaper.
I think vintagetoolshop probably flatten any planes that need it before selling them
A fairly common approach seems to be the bed of a tablesaw, BUT these are people who tend to have big cast iron saws.
Ideal is probably a granite surface plate (that's what ben is using in the video), but they are an expensive way if you don't want the plate for other things. (I do, so I'm on the lookout for a good deal on one).
Have you decided on a sharpening approach? I ask because if you happened to be going for scary sharpening then the float glass would probably be big enough for a block plane.
I'll have to check the size, might even work on a diamond plate if you were taking that approach.
@jonhodgson thanks for that, I’ve not settled on a sharpening method as yet, definitely need to sort it out though as all my chisels are a mess too and in need of TLC.
Granite is over the top for me right now so that will dictate a few things. Table saw bed isn’t smooth enough sadly either. I’ll add the video to my list, have quite a lot to find time for at the moment.
…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.
looks the same as the one that just arrived, interestingly the bottom looks far from flat ground too, presuming that’s not actually been a problem for you?
@tej It’s been fine for me. I’ve never checked the flatness of it and I’ve only sharpened the blade a couple of times all the time I’ve had it (about 15 years).
Make guitars, not war 🌍✌️🎸
I found these diamond stones in my local diy shop a few years ago. They are ok for the price and I use them for all my chisel and plane sharpening, held in a vice, to set the micro bevel. Instead of a grinder for the main bevel I use a rougher grade of diamond. There’s no chance of spoiling the metal hardness as you described with your pliers by over heating the metal. They also work for restoring rusty metal on chisels.
Planes are hardly ever flat on the bottom unless you pay lots of money. Scrapers and a straight edge work for flattening, it’s how quality Japanese tools are made.
Some people call me a tool, others are less complimentary. Tools being useful things.
@tej
Workshop heaven sell 10mm float glass for the scary sharp method. I'm happy to recommend them, everything they sell seems to be quality (they've taken quite a bit of my money).
But saying that, I recently discovered a local glass supplier (I'm in West London) when I needed a piece of glass for an internal panel in my flat, and they could provide all sorts of stuff and were pretty cheap. So if I'm looking to buy again I'll probably ask them if they have 10mm (or more) float glass first. I just googled something like "glass suppliers near me" or somesuch, so you might want to see if you have anyone local to you.
As you've noted there are a number of different options for sharpening, and really which one is best for you depends on various factors. For example, scary sharp is cheaper up front for the results you get, and if you're an amateur might remain so, but if you're a professional who is using and sharpening their tools daily, then it might be cheaper to buy quality japanese waterstones. Also there are practical issues, if you're someone who does most of their work on site and want to do your sharpening in the back of the van, a piece of float glass probably isn't a good idea, water stones (especially those that need to be kept soaked) might also not be great, diamond plates might do you best.
According to Matthew Platt from Workshop Heaven, who seems to be a man who knows different sharpening systems, when people say to him that one of the options is a bad one (as opposed to just unsuitable in a given context) it generally turns out that they are just using the wrong technique for that system.
Two of the guys I've seen who have pretty much the sharpest planes you'll see (with the possible exception of the Japanese guys who produce sub 2 micron shavings in competition) David Charlesworth and Rob Cosman both use a trend 300/1000 diamond plate and a shapton 16000 water stone. They only use the 1000 side of the plate for sharpening, the 300 they use to flatten the stone. They will also sharpen multiple times through the day, so keeping it as a two stage process is good. I asked David about the 16000 (because it's bloomin expensive) and he said he used 10,000 for years and was quite happy. He just decided to try the 16000 when his old stone wore out and it was marginally better.
On the basis that without training and practice if we leave a waterstone out it'll just get messed up, for general use at the hackspace I think I've settled on the diamond stone and just a strop with stropping compound. This should produce a more than adequate result for most general woodworking (we keep the fine woodworking tools separate) and be easy enough to introduce people to and maintain the equipment. Yes it won't be the best possible edge, but we have to accept the realities of a hackspace (things get abused through ignorance or negligence sadly). At least it'll be sharper than Boo's plane for sure (3 times in 15 years?)
@jonhodgson thanks, I’ll have a look around the local glass suppliers and see what’s available. Scary sharp or similar is looking like the sensible way forward right now for what I need. Workshop Heaven is a dangerous shop 😧
…on an elaborate journey to turn trees into music.
🗝️ "Life's what you make it"🗝️
No personal experience, but having watched this I won't be buying one.
Hi Jonathan, I notice in the video that the guy said that the Rider and Quangsheng were both midrange prices but when I checked the Quangsheng are double the price of the Rider planes. You'd expect the Quangsheng to be much better for the difference in price. I'll try and check out some other reviews. Thanks for the heads up though.
🙏🎸🙂🎶
🗝️ "Life's what you make it"🗝️
@russ, I suspect that for the money you may not find better new planes than the River, to lower the cost they have to make savings somewhere, and it seems one area is in the flattening of the plane.
So you probably either have to spend more or buy used.
Or just remortgage your house and buy a Holtey, you'll never need to sharpen it because you'll be too scared to use it, but you'll probably be too busy admiring it to care.
@russ, I noticed the relative price thing too. He said the Rider No 4 was about 100 quid, it's now 75. I think Axminster may have dropped their prices because they couldn't compete on quality.
Personally, I'd either for out the extra for a Qiangsheng which will be better out of the box, or buy vintage which might need a similar amount of work to the Rider to get it up to scratch, but will cost less and probably be a better plane at the end of it.
But of course, it all depends on what you're doing and/or how much you care. If all you're going to do is trim the tops off truss rod fillet, you can probably get away with anything that isn't totally blunt, if you want to plane the radius on a fretboard, you'll want something that's accurate, sharp, and well set up.