# Plane blade repair?



## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Hey folks,

I'm trying to clean up a plane I found in the tool shed of a friend's summer place: the body is in good shape, though there's lots of surface rust, but the blade is a different issue. It's badly enough nicked that I'm not willing to re-shape it with sandpaper, and I'm not sure how to go about it with my bench grinder, a 6" ryobi. On top of that, the edge isn't straight -- it's been sharpened badly in the past, and it curves a bit towards one corner.

What's the right way to deal with this? I've got plenty of files, a bench grinder with coarse, fine, and buffing wheels, and a couple of good oilstones. I was able to get a good edge on my old planes using sandpaper and the buffing wheel, but I'm not sure how to deal with the blade being the wrong shape.

Thanks in advance!

-Alex


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## jlhaslip (Jan 16, 2010)

The blade will need to be ground to remove the nicks and missing corner.
Check out Lee Valley or Rockler or another supply house to find a good sharpening system or ask a friend to assist you.

http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=45938&cat=1,43072


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Thanks! As it turns out, the guy at the local Woodcraft does training classes, and offered to do a sharpening class for me if I paid the usual rate ($75 for a three hour class -- not bad!), at either the store, his personal wood shop, or my shop. I'd wanted to take the plane sharpening course a month or two ago, but I already had somewhere I had to be that day. Sounds like this is the right way to go.

Even if he ends up telling me it's too badly damaged to grind down, I should be able to get the techniques down from him before I replace the blade.


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## buchhakj (Jul 7, 2010)

Remember to check the face for warping and bad damage also. nothing will screw your planes cutting up more then if the face isnt flat. This is more common then people think.

you can check easily by using a very high grit of sandpaper with some water on it placed on a piece of glass. rubb the plane (with out the blade in it) on the sand paper then look and see if it is shiney in like two corners or if it looks consistent then you know its flat.


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

The face is within a hair of being flat -- I've checked all the surfaces, and taken most of the rust off, so I can confirm that. It is lifted a bit in the center, but it's remarkably close. Really the only thing wrong with the whole thing is the edge: even the wood is in remarkably good shape, given the storage conditions. Hopefully I'll get some useful information from the folks at WoodCraft; I can't afford to pay for the class this pay period (all my money is already committed... ugh), but next I should be able to do it.


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

I woke up this morning with an inspiration... while I'm reasonably sure I'm not capable of using the bench grinder to reshape the blade, I was reasonably sure I WAS capable of using something that would run cooler. And somewhere in the shop I knew I had a box of inherited sanding/grinding disks intended for use with a hand-held drill. I also knew I finished putting together the new drill-press table yesterday, and that I was clever enough to build a jig. That was about six AM.

As is my usual policy on pre-nine-in-the-morning plans, I waited until I'd eaten and showered to see whether it still seemed like a good idea, and it did. And it was. With the drill press on low speed (around 600RPM, according to the labels), and never making contact for more than five or six seconds at a time, the blade never got more than warm to the touch, and it's now smooth enough and straight enough that I think I can clean it up with sandpaper and the jig I bought at WoodCraft this afternoon. It'll probably be another five or six hours of work, and I may end up going back to the sanding disk, but I should end up with a plane iron that's square and sharp. It's within about 1/32" off square now, as opposed to the almost 1/8 it was off before. As an added bonus, the chip in the middle of the blade is gone as well. Then another few hours cleaning up the body, a coat of wax for everything, and it's ready to go back to my friend. 

.... why do I volunteer for these jobs? :laughing:


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## Freddie 24 (Jul 11, 2010)

Hello,

I like the idea about the plane,thanks for your post.

Regards,

Freddie


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Freddie 24 said:


> Hello,
> 
> I like the idea about the plane,thanks for your post.
> 
> ...


You may want to wait until people who know what they're doing chime in before you try anything I did... I haven't got a clue what the "right" way to grind down a plane is, I just knew it was going to require something powered, or more time than I had.

Still, it did seem to work.


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

As an update: I spent a few hours over the weekend sharpening and starting the process of smoothing the sole of the plane. After six or seven hours I got impatient, grabbed a scrap of pine, and went to work...

The plane works beautifully. I'm not actually done sharpening yet (I only made it up to around 400 grit paper), but I was able to get a polished-looking surface on the wood, and shavings thin enough to read through (if the text is big and dark, anyway!).

It still needs work, but it's nearly flat, and it cuts like a dream. I'm going to call this one a success.


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## Gerry KIERNAN (Apr 20, 2007)

A bench belt sander is quite effective for reshaping a badly damaged plane blade.

Gerry


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## amckenzie4 (Apr 29, 2010)

Gerry KIERNAN said:


> A bench belt sander is quite effective for reshaping a badly damaged plane blade.
> 
> Gerry



It's on my list of tools to get, but I don't have one yet.  I've got another plane with a chipped blade, and I think probably I'll try to find someone who's got the right tools to reshape that one, but I'm pleased at how well this worked.


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