# Repair Chipped Plane Blade?



## Stevebo

I was given a Craftsman plane that appears to have been by millers falls. It's in generally good condition (barring a chip out of the handle that I'm not too concerned about) but the blade is chipped in two places.

What are my options to repair the blade? I have a sharpening block but I assume that grinding down the blade until I get to sound material across the entire with would take a very long time.

Is this a case of just get a new blade / plane? Or is there an economic way to get back to good steel without spending hours grinding away at the blade?

The plane:









Flatside of Blade:









Bevel Side of Blade


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## hwebb99

It wouldn't take hours, but a long time for sure. I would grind that blade for a scrub plane and buy another blade for smoothing work.


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## Hammer1

Shouldn't take 10 minutes if you have a grinder. Maybe 30 if by hand on sandpaper. You just need the correct sequence of grits. Flattening the back takes time and there isn't an easy way, but it only has to be done once. All blades will need a flat back if you intend to have them seriously sharp.


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## epicfail48

That's not too bad. Some time and a grinder will get rid of that without too much issue. As far as buy vs repair goes, that's really dependent on how much you value your time. Personally, I'd repair it. I don't value my time much, so I'd have no compunctions about taking the time to grind the blade down. I like spending time to maintain my tools, doubly so if I save some money, but not everybody thinks that way. 

A new, high quality blade only runs about $50, so if you put a higher price than that on the time you'd spend, buy the new blade. If you want to save some coin at the expense of an hour or two, grind it back


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## Stevebo

Thank you all.

I don't have any machine tools - any grinding will be with a honing guide on a sharpening stone / sandpaper, bit I have a good range of grits availavle.

I assume I grind it down at 25 degrees until the chip is gone (a little under 1mm removed)?

What grit should i start at? The most coarse I have available?


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## fareastern

Sandpaper will eventually do it but you will wear out a sheet or two.Emery would be better as it is intended for removing metal.Coarse grit is the best idea as you need a high rate of material removal and the scratches won't be seen once you have got a good edge from a stone.


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## Nick Sandmann

Not trying to be a jerk here, but if you can't grind out those knicks, you probably shouldn't be messing with hand planes in the first place.

Typically you're not going to sharpen the whole bevel. You just sharpen/polish a micro bevel which speeds sharpening as there's less metal to remove at the very tip of the blade. However, at some point that micro bevel will get too big and you'll need to re-grind the primary bevel, If you can't grind out those knicks, you won't be able to re-grind the primary bevel when the time comes, so it's a matter if you have problems now or in the future.

Either get a grinding wheel(power or hand cranked), or get some kind of coarse stone(diamond, water, oil, etc...) that can quickly grind a primary bevel. My preference is a diamond stone for this, but anything course enough will work.

As far as polishing the back is concerned, google the "ruler trick" and that will save you some time.


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## fareastern

You will be fine with a honing guide and some coarse paper.It will take a bit of time,but you won't damage the temper of the steel.You can use really coarse paper as the final honing will soon remove the scratches-just make sure you don't use it on the flat face of the iron.It will be ok if you switch to sharpening with just a hint of the nick still showing as the steeper sharpening angle and the very narrow contact strip will soon remove the final traces.

Its refreshing to find somebody with no machinery.For hundreds of years all woodwork was done this way and some outstanding work was done.Its good that somebody is following the tradition rather than following the trend of being a push-button woodworker.For those of us trying to make a living,the option doesn't exist and we have to deal with the noise and dust.


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## Oneal-Woodworking

Stevebo said:


> What are my options to repair the blade? I have a sharpening block but I assume that grinding down the blade until I get to sound material across the entire with would take a very long time.
> 
> Is this a case of just get a new blade / plane? Or is there an economic way to get back to good steel without spending hours grinding away at the blade?


Send it off to someone with the proper tools and have it done. Should be less than 5 bucks. :yes:

Yes, Fixing that correctly using sandpaper is going to take a little while. How much is your time worth to you?

A replacement or 'spare' blade is never a bad idea for any tool that you plan to use a lot. If you can find a spare for that you should consider it. :yes:


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## Brian T.

Buy another blade and get to work. Then in down times, you can mess with tuning up blade #1, whether you do it or whether you farm it out. Doing it yourself, you learn. You also have the sharpening set-up for when it happens again. Trust me, it will.

More than once, I have hit a sand grain with a $50+ wood carving gouge. Under a bright light, the folded edge spot reflects light like a spark.
With the gouge vertical to the oil stones, I grind back/joint/square off the entire edge to just barely past the damage. Then work up through the grits to re-establish the entire bevel at whatever nominated angle the gouge needs to have (20 degrees in most cases). After 4,000 waterstone, I hone on hard card stock with AlOx/CrOx. All freehand, as I was taught.


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## Stevebo

Thank you all, after the initial replies back in May I put on some music, got out the honing glide and sandpaper and just took the time to grind the blade down by hand. 

Turns out the original owner never flattened the back so I got to work on that too, polished it up and then added a 30 degree mini bevel to the blade and it's now working well (IMO) on my smoothing plane.

I've got the relative luxury of doing this as a recreational activity aimed at making myself some furniture, learning some new skills and because I enjoy it, so time wasn't of the essence and it was a good learning experience to spend the effort restoring the blade along with the rest of the plane.

That said - maybe next time I'll fork out 5 bucks.


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## Brian T.

No Steve. Develop your own reliability. It only gets sweaty the first few times.


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