The Woodshop Shed

Plane iron angle

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(from WoodNet.net)


This probably belongs in the hand tool forum, but I thought more people would see it if posted here. I recently bought a LV low angle jack plane from a fellow Woodnet member. It's in beautiful condition; everything I could have asked for, except it had an iron with a 30 degangle on it. New LV planes come with a 25 deg angle and that's better for end grain work which was my reason for buying the plane as I want it for use on my shooting board. As I thought about what to do it occurred to me that I have a #4-1/2 LV plane that has a 25 deg iron in it. It was given to me by a friend, but I never use it because the low angle makes it useless for anything except end grain work; the tear out is terrible with normal grain. It'snot made such that it can be used on a shooting board, so it just sat in a drawer unused. Turns out, the blades are interchangeable between the two planes, so I swapped them. The #4-1/2 instantly became a thing of joy to use as a typical bench plane. No more tear out on face grain work, and beautiful, thincurls. It's amazing how a 5 deg difference in angle made such a profound difference in performance. I bought a low angle jack plane, but it's like I got two planes.

The 30 deg blade in the low angle jack plane gives a cutting angle of 42 degrees. Add a 5 deg micro bevel andit's up to 47 degrees, which is actually worse than the 45 deg angle on the #6 Bailey plane I had been using on my shooting board. And the results showed it. It was nearly impossible to get a crisp trim cut on end grain with it. But when I put the 25 deg iron in it, the angle went down to 42 degrees and it was easier to use than the #6 Bailey. That 25 deg iron also had a 5 deg micro bevel on it, so I resharpened it to something around a 1 deg micro bevel, which brings the cutting angle down to 38 degrees. What a difference that made. Now it easily takes off thin shavingson the end of a board cut to 90 degrees without much force to do so. I'm not sure how much further I cango with this logic. For sure I could reduce the grind angle so that the micro bevel is 25 degrees, but I wonder if I could go even lower on the grind angle w/o risking the edge being too weak for the job. If anyone has some insight on this, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

So the takeaway from this is to consider having multiple irons for your low angle plane(s). You're stuck with a bevel down plane to whatever the frog angle is. Most are 45 degrees so that's the cutting angle no matter what angle you sharpen the blade to.But with a bevel up plane, you can swap out the iron for one that better matches the job at hand. The low angle jack plane I bought came with a second blade sharpened to what looks like 45 degrees. That will give a cutting angle of about 56 degrees with a 1 deg micro bevel, and should be excellent for use with really difficult, tear out prone, woods.

Another take away is to be aware that micro bevels make it easier to sharpen an iron but have consequences for how effective it is to use.

John

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Dado set recommendations

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I've been getting by for a long time using a Freuddado setand I'm long over due for one of better quality.
So ... recommendations based on experience hereare appreciated.

oh - I have a 20yo 3hp Delta unisaw for what that may matter.

thanks!

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Difficult Table 2 woods

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I've been asked to build this dining table using both cherry and red oak. 40 x 96. Customer has a similar table already, but it is veneer. He now wants one of solid wood. I'm guessing seasonal wood movement might be a problem.
Your advice is much appreciated. Peter

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Drill bits clogging in plywood?

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Has anyone had the problem of drill bits clogging, while drilling into plywood?Like maybe the glue in the plywood is melting and sticking to the spirals of the bits.It's very annoying, and not always easy to remove.

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Walnut Imperfections

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I delivered this Walnut table that I made yesterday. At the customer's house, I saw these imperfections on the top.
I didn't have any problems with glue-up and I sanded it thoroughly.
When you run your hand over the top, it's completely smooth even though it looks like it does in the pic.
Is this just a characteristic of walnut?
Eddie

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Got any use for garage door springs?

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Hi,

The other day one of the springs snapped (it had the wire going through it so there wasn't any damage to a car or anything else in the garage).


I thought about replacing just the one, but the lady @ Overhead Door recommended replacing both of them since they were the same age. We have 2 doors that were installed @ the same time so I replaced all 4. BTW, getting them @ Overhead Door was comparableto Lowe's price, so I got them from Overhead Door.


They're "green" ones so I think they're rated @ 120 lbs each. Once I figured out how to replace the 1st one, the remaining3 went pretty quickly. (and I did run the safety cable though them again).


Question: I hate to throw out/recyclethe 3 (I suppose I could also salvage the 4th since it snapped only at the very end) springs.

Got any ideas on what I could use them for?

They are about 9 years old and in the back of my mind I'm saying if 1 snapped the others are due to snap, but it seems a crime to chuck them.

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yes, I do build things

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  urn 2.jpg (Size: 116.25 KB / Downloads: 122)I hang out in the Off Topic more than up here, but I do build some stuff.

A friend recently lost his daughter to a strange cardiac event. I offered to build an urn. He sent me a photo of something she had signed. A guy I know did the computer work to isolate the script and did the laser work

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Help being knotty

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I was filling knot holes on our new $7000 knotty alder front door. In sanding down the knot hole I sanded though the veneer right next to the door knob (Didn't think a $7000 door would use veneer). I tried to cover it with sawdust & glue, but that made it worse! Anyone have any advice on how to fix it? I thought of making a knot over the top of it, but not very artistic.

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Tack Trunk

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My daughter and granddaughter are equestrians and I've owed them trunks for quite a while.
I finally delivered one of them.
This link goes to another forum.
Posting pics over there isn't an epic accomplishment.

The trunk is roughly 37 X 25 X 24 with two 3 locking casters and two feet to keep it level.

https://craftisian.com/projects/14863-eq...tack-trunk

The one for my granddaughter will be smaller and probably easier to build as I've got a different design in mind.

Thanks,
Gary

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Need help with wood ID

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Picked up a load of this from craigslist, neither the seller or I knew/know the species. This piece has been planed to 1/2 and was wiped with isopropyl alcohol maybe 30 mins or so perfore the picture was taken, so it was dry. Neutral smell when cut, nothing like red oak. Any ideas?

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Router lifts

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I am looking to upgrade my router table. For years I have using a plunge router in my router table and and would like to convert to a router lift. Now I have a bunch of routers so should be able to match up. But my question is I want to get a good quality one and the old saying pay once cry once will come into play. What is a good quality one and what are some do's and dont's ? What should I look for and what is actually needed. Name brand would help please. If you have experience with one please tell me about it. Thanks in advance.

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