# Do I need to sharpen a plane so soon?



## lutherbaker (Sep 7, 2011)

I am brand new to the world of hand planing but really want to get good at it - so I invested in a small set of planes from Veritas. I picked up a bevel up jointer plane, a smoothing plane and a block plane.

This past weekend I glued some maple boards (4/4) together. I ran them through a powered planer to "rough" plane them to approximately the same thickness. I then used biscuits and clamped pieces together to create a few boards about 17" deep and ranging from 19" to 36" wide.

I pulled out the jointer plane and tried a few passes over the glue to just generally smooth out the boards. I had a hard time keeping my little Black and Decker portable bench on the ground as I made my passes. Is that normal? Do I need to hunker the wood pieces down --- or was I just taking too much off?










I also experienced quite a bit of tearout ... was I pushing on the plane incorrectly or is that just how a larger jointer plane looks --- requiring a followup with the smoothing plane?

I constantly adjusted the planer blade quite a bit to get my shavings thinner and thinner ... what is a good measure for this? I tried to keep the bade square as best I could. It is a learning experience and while the wood doesn't look great yet - I feel like I've started. I watched a few you tube videos and noticed the users actually starting the stroke with the blade OFF the wood. I wasn't doing that.

So, I started on my second glue up. Unfortunately, I immediately noticed that I was putting a stripe into the wood with each pass. The blade doesn't look terrible - but on very close inspection, there may be a very small burr that I put on the blade previously.

Do I need to sharpen the blade already?

I have a Tormek sharpener that I used once to sharpen a lawn mower blade I tried to imagine how how I'd use the "SE-76 JIG to sharpen my plane blade ... but I just can't understand how I'm supposed to move that blade back and forth over the wheel, keeping constant pressure on the blade and also, not going past whatever angle I set it at.

Will I ruin the blade if I try to use that grinder and should I just go and purchase a plane sharpening kit ... or does it work better than I can somehow imagine? Also, won't the wheel put a slightly concave bevel on the plane blade? It is the 250 ... or bigger ginder model ....

Tormek makes a really fancy jig sells for $160 that has a 'stop' on it. It looks like it slides better and would hold the angle much more accurately? Is that what I want? Although expensive, it would be worth it if I were to add to my plan collection.

Or, should I just go find simple kit like that in this 



 video.

Of, do I need to sharpen the blade at all. I'm surprised that it was only after one board. I know I didn't hit anything metal. Maybe the rubber stoppers on the Black and Decker bench were up to high? They protrude a bit above the board.

Ah well, I'm very open to any suggestions you may have.


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## Brink (Nov 22, 2010)

Welcome to the forum!

Planning is a learned skill. Everyone has their technique. So is sharpening.

A few generalities: I find that I will sharpen, or at least touch up the blade every couple of hours, more so with maple.

A good workbench should weigh at least 1-1/2 times your body weight. 2x is better, or you end up pushing it around. Especially on maple with a dulling blade.

Sharpen it it up, and keep planing, you'll find it gets easier as you go.


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## Wrangler02 (Apr 15, 2011)

I'm lazy when it comes to sharpening, so I always use a scraper to remove excess glue before I touch a plane to the wood. I have no proof that I need to do this, it just seems right.


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

More to Wrangler on this....I hear ya on the scraper thing.Now,this suggestion isn't the end-all solution but have done it,and it works amazingly well.....but you sorta didn't hear it from me.The nose of a plane can be ground on a stationary sander(takes longer to write than,do)to serve as an ad-hoc scraper.For precisely doin quickey's on glue lines.


To OP,nothing short of scary sharp will do.How one approaches that is kinda best left to the individual.We use high $$,two speed Baldor benchgrinder...strategically located very near shop sink.With not much more than stock(albeit extremely nice)tool rest and a sm pr of vise grips that pop on iron for setting distance.......this produces perfect hollow grinds and then its off to other side of sink where theres a few different choices of stones.DMT brand diamonds,Arkansas's,regular oilstones.....depends on what mood I'm in.Some folks swear by glass and different grit papers.Its all good.BW


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## ChiknNutz (Apr 22, 2011)

The irons/blades as purchased are likely only kinda sharp and not as sharp as they need to be. The "scary sharp" is a method of using a flat surface (like a pc of glass) along with varying grits of sandpaper. You can google it and find a plethora of sites showing how to go about it. To get a really consistent edge, it's nice to have an angle guide too. I decided to go with the Veritas MKII which I've used with chisels and a cheap Harbor Freight plane I picked up. So far am pretty happy with the results, though I can get it almost as good by hand. Still, would recommend an angle guide if you go that route.


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## lutherbaker (Sep 7, 2011)

I guess I may try to pick up a wet stone sharpening kit - that seems to be the most popular method ....

But first, I'll try out the tormek and see how that goes. Is it ok to use the blade with the hollow grind the tormek will put on the blade or should I really try to flatten that out a bit.

Also, any suggestions on workbenches? I really like this one from Grizzly - although it sure doesn't look like a normal bench what with the metal base and all.


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## cellophane (Oct 6, 2009)

Hollow grind is fine, especially if you already have the Tormek. The other options don't leave a hollow and switching back and forth can be maddening when you keep trying to smooth out the hollow...

If you want to buy something - the WorkSharp is super easy to use and set up. Otherwise scarysharp is cheap and easy.


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