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End Grain? Pshaw, Nothing a Sharp Blade Can’t Handle!

4 comments
15 years ago
General Articles

rabbet block plane shavings

I mentioned on Twitter yesterday that I have been working in Ash for a year now as I slowly build my workbench. Rob Bois, @theboisshop, commented that I must be really good at sharpening after working with such a hard wood for so long. You know I hadn’t really thought about it, but I do seem to be taking a few extra trips to the sharpening bench lately and maybe this bench build has made me a better woodworker in the sharpening department as well.

The proof as they say is in the pudding…or the end grain. Last night I was squaring up the end of a board with my block plane. I wasn’t even thinking about it when I realized that the plane was gliding across the end grain and producing shavings.

“Hey, whaddaya know, maybe I have gotten good at this sharpening thing!”, I quietly congratulated myself. I then moved on to planing the 1 inch chamfer for clearance on the top of the vise chop I was working on. After sawing most of the bulk away, I turned to my low angle jack (with freshly sharpened blade) to refine the chamfer to my marking lines. Long beautiful end grain (ish) shavings peeled off the wood.

jack plane bevel

So let this post be my penance for yesterday’s power tool transgression. I do what I have to do to get the job done, but it sure is fun when you realize you may have actually done it right!

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Mariyn

Great information and great timing. This arrived yesterday -> http://mgprojects.blogspot.com/2011/04/kenewa-jackfore-plane.html

    Shannon

    That plane looks really sound. It should be a great user one you clean and sharpen the blade. Remember the Jack is a med to rough plane so don’t spend too much time on the sole. Grab your jointer and make passes til you have fresh wood exposed, or don’t even bother. I find the biggest tuning issue I have to make is once I have everything set up I will get some clogging of shavings in the throat. Sometimes you have to do a little filing to clear any sharp edges that can catch and hold a chip. It only takes one before the rest back up behind it.

Tico Vogt

Hi Shannon,

Where did you see so many old toothing planes available? Recently I went looking, didn’t find any, and bought an ECE plane from Adria Woodworking Tools. It’s teeth leave a finer pattern than the vintage ones I’ve used. The plane functions perfectly. The recommendation after honing is to smack the teeth into a hardwood block to de-burr the edge.

Best,

Tico

    Shannon

    Maybe I was lucky. I found 6 or 7 on ebay, a few at a local flea market and more than I can count while at the Brown Tool Auction. It could be my area too. Lots of vintage tools around here. Great tip on the burr of the blade!

matt

Instead of using the smoother to finish (running the risk of adding more tear out if your not careful) I use a scraper plane on hand held scraper. Makes quick work on remaining teething marks and no chance of further tear out.

    Shannon

    This works just as well Matt. You are right, a card scraper or scraping plane will knock down those ridges really quickly. I really like my smoothing planes which is probably why I gravitate towards them first.