We're going to talk very briefly about
sharpening and setting the bench plane
this is a Stanley number four it could
be a Record number four it could be any
make old or new, it could even be a
wooden plane it could be any type of
plane that's used as a bench plane and
then, this is a bevel down plane that's
what all the bench planes are and so
we're going to take out the iron when
would I sharpen? I sharpen virtually all
the time you take a plane you're using
it on oak you're using it on pine you
hit knots, you hit hard knots that you get
in say something like spruce it takes
the edge off very rapidly and that's
why we sharpen and so in a given day I
might sharpen my plane four or five
times depending on the wood that I'm
planing and depending on how I'm using
the plane so let's take a look at this
the plane the body of the plane we don't
need to look at, we just need to look at
the cutting iron and I'm going to take
this away from the cap iron and look at
this edge here can you see, this
plane has already been initialized I've
used it for several years it has a
massive camber on here it's very big
radius on here
and it's had the corners removed and
that's what we're going to maintain so
this is a maintenance mode sharpening
session that I might take, you can see
here I have my sharpening stones right
by the bench they're ready to go every
time and I've got my coarse, fine and
super fine here so this is 250 somewhere
around 600 and this one's around 1200
they do change as the stones get used
more and more to become finer and
smoother when I sharpen here I spread
this fluid and this is just glass
cleaner
over the surface and here I'm going to
put my plane iron on here and I feel for
this edge, I roll it just a little bit and
I want to start here at 30 degrees
somewhere around 30 the iron is actually
initially the angle on the bevel was 25
degrees but now I've established it with
a camber I've started here at 30 as I push
forward here, the water moves out of the
way like this, this edge actually is open
there's a lip there I can get my
fingernail under so as I pull back I'm
back at 30 I hit the actual cutting edge
push forward like this and I can even
exaggerate this as long as I don't go
higher than 30 degrees as long as I keep
at 30 so watch what happens now when I
rub the plane iron forward I'm starting
on the 30 the natural progression of the
arm opens up the edge so I'm actually
getting as much on the heel or more on
the heel as I am on the cutting edge so
here is my normal motion, I work across
the width of the plates, I overhang
slightly on the side to make sure I get
all the diamonds or all the abrasive if
you're using any other type of stone
sometimes I'll make a long oval circular
motion like this which I like that seems
to take the swarf out of the way don't
hesitate to come in with a little bit
more moisture just to take the swarf off
the surface and it keeps the cutting
edge clear of the the cutting surface of
the plate clear from swarf and stops the
buildup and clogging, once I've got that
let's take a look over on this side I've
got this first level of abrading done and
what I haven't done is I haven't dealt
with the corners here these corners need
to be slightly rounded or beveled I
prefer a round so what I do is I lift up
here when I'm at this level in the
sharpening, push at that
level and then drop, drop, drop with every
hand, with every motion and then I lift
up this side I'm pushing at that slight
angle and then I start drop, drop, drop,
drop dropping and now I have got the
outside corners done and that works
that's got my initial level sharpening
here I do exactly the same, no micro
bevels, I don't think micro bevels do
anything for my work I don't have to
think about it I want to get back to my
woodworking so I'm just on the bevel, the
main bevel again here and I'm polishing
out all the striations that were
impressed into the material into the
steel with that first level of abrading
now I've got that done I've got exactly
the same so this is looking a little bit
more polished it's got none of these
striations from this coarse level it's
at a medium level back on the stone, lift
up move it back and forth a few times
and then start drop drop dropping your
hand till you hit the main length of the
plain iron edge same on this side
dropping dropping dropping and I do I
had a burr all the way along this edge
from this one now I've got it from this
one I do exactly the same on this last
level here of this abrading so now I've
angled this can you see how this is
angled to my body a lot of people might
tell you to go this way very difficult
to get the kind of pressure you want to
abrade this steel this way this aligns
with my body it's not some magical
presentation of the angle to the work, to
the surface this is purely a comfort to
the body and it gives me the maximum
pressure, this triangular shoulder going
down to this edge here gives me
incredible strength and it gives me the
stamina I need so I am going all
the way through that second level
abrading now to the final level of
abrading on the stones, the whole bevel
again so I'm
getting my macro camber on here then I
lift up drop lift up and drop so the
whole of those outside bevels here are
all abraded to exactly the same way
there's a burr all the way along that
edge I want to get rid of that, watch
this now this face has already been
polished out I don't have to do that
again so I flip over and I simply pull
and that pushes the burr can you see it
right there I can see it it's got a wire
burr that came off straight away right
on the end of my finger so I just peel
that off out of the way, slide this out
of the way and then I go to a strop
strop is just a piece of leather glued to
a piece of plywood or MDF anything it
doesn't have to be flat it doesn't have
to be straight or anything because the
leather itself cushions this watch this
now I don't know can you see that
this level of polishing hasn't
really polished it, now this would cut
perfectly fine if you wanted to cut with
that it would work fine but watch what
happens now the heel of my hand goes on
here this hand is gripping this way so
the fingers come around the three
fingers underneath thumb on the opposite
side and then this finger equalizes the
pressure of these three fingers and I
push like this or better still put the
heel of the hand on here get a good firm
grip so it doesn't slip and pull this
about 30 times
and that will polish out the bevel so
you end up with this beautifully
polished mirror-like finish on the bevel
and then we're going to get the corner
so we're lifting up on the corners and
then I'm going to take this, I'm gonna
place it flat on this now I don't spend
too much time on this face because it's
already been polished but it does help
if there's any residue of a burr on
there it does help to take that off now
that's ready for work too so now I'm
going to load this into the cap iron here
left hand right hand flip over make a
cross with it flip this one around pull
it in here this is the safest pattern
I've ever used for establishing this
back together putting this is a cutting
iron assembly about two to three
millimeters from the end it works best
periodically you want to check yourself
that you are sharpening the edge of the
plane iron square loading this back in
here drop this in here
watch this, let it rest on to this
see this rectangle in the
middle this is your lateral adjustment
and you want to make sure that that lock
that settles down on there then just
rock this from side to side like this
and center that take your lever cap here,
it shouldn't need any adjusting on this
just press this and it should clunk down
like that and that's it and my initial
sight test is just to make sure that the
plane iron is not protruding past the
surface don't lay your plane on the side
it's not good practice it often readjusts
your plane
to set the plane is very simple you just
need a thin piece of wood just keep this
piece of wood around you'll use it all
the time when you start the plane it may
not be set right
for instance I'm getting a fairly even
shaving here let me just take it, see I'm
getting a lighter pass on this side here
my right if I take a shaving this is a
thin shaving if I go to the opposite
side I'm getting a thicker shaving this
is definitely thicker so I move this
lever the lateral adjustment lever
towards the side that's bringing the
thickest shaving but I only move it very,
I take up the slack and then I move it
maybe three or four millimeters that's
all see those sounds are the same to me
so I can hear the thickness so working
from one side to the other now I
withdraw the iron a little bit more and
the shavings get thinner so I go a
little bit more and I keep going thinner
just to check the thickness so now I'm
down to, this is a thousandth of an inch
there's another, so these are about
the same and I can keep going
till I get shavings like this fractions
of a thou' and I've got nothing on this
side which means I'm a fraction of a
thou' out, now I'm the same this is
identical you can't really, these are the
shavings that I'm getting now they're
the same size same thickness and now I
can plane with this as much as I need to
I can set the depth of the cut
here, work across the piece of wood and
I've got no step down this feels like
silk and that's what I do three or four
or five six times a day whatever it
takes
sometimes I'll hit a knot and then I'll
see a break in the surface so I have to
resharpen I do
just have to I can't carry on with the
plane that way unless I'm working on a
garden gate or something like that but
you sharpen to task so constantly you
need your plane in perfect pristine
condition you want it to do the work
that's how I do my plane.