So I got a little motivated reading Schwarz – it sounds so easy, all this hand planing etc.
Got out the hand planes, and my DMT diamond whetstones, and sharpened my plane irons. I used the camber roller on the Veritas Mk II to produce a slightly rounded front edge (according to Chris, this is good for Jack Planes for heavy stock removal).
DMT Diamond Stones
From left to right, the plates are the Extra-extra coarse, the extra coarse/coarse (double sided), the fine/extra fine (double sided) and the Extra-extra fine DMT whetstones.
The extra-extra coarse is a ripper – the rate of metal removal is impressive, and it takes next to no time to get the blade to the shape you want, even when it has been used for other purposes (opening paintcans is a pretty typical activity for an abused chisel!)
The extra-extra fine gives that mirror finish. The other four grades allow you to work through each, as is good sharpening practice. As much as I don’t mind the double-sided concept, I would really prefer to have each grade the same physical size as the larger two I have, and ideally single sided. The cost is really in the diamonds, not the base material.
The larger size is ideal for something like the Veritas Honing Jig, especially with the larger plane blades I sharpen.
The other secret about diamond plates is they actually get better with use. Yeah, weird, but it is a fact never the less. DMT plates have very consistent diamond size – nothing like a rogue diamond to scratch the hell out of your otherwise finished blade edge, so a quality plate avoids that danger.
Camber Roller
You can’t see it in this photo (didn’t have the right lens with me) but there is now a very mild camber to this blade, stopping the corners from digging in while ripping off massive amounts of the surface of the timber.
I needed to clamp up the piece of Camphor Laurel I had chosen for the exercise, and needed some more dog holes. While marking these up, I discovered just how warped the surface of my workbench was. That might explain a few things I’d been experiencing. Not sure what I will do about it (if anything). Problem will be solved by making my own workbench (one day).
I chose the Camphor Laurel as it had been resawn with the chainsaw jig on the Torque Workcentre, and had quite significant ridging – a perfect candidate for a Jack Plane.
Ridging
Ignoring the step (this being the other side of the board fwiw), these were the ridges I wanted to see disappear.
Started off with the Jack Plane, and really couldn’t get anything happening. Just isn’t right – something not working. Then I remembered reading something in the Anarchist’s Tool Chest about Chris talking about using the Jack Plane across grain – the fibres being weaker in that direction. Sure enough, that worked a treat, and great swaths of timber came flying off.
Shavings
From there, I moved onto the trying plane to create a flat surface. With the long bed, it rides on top of the ridges so they get cut down until such time as you get full-length shavings. (These were performed with the grain, rather than across)
It was about this point that I was really discovering that hand tools are:
1. lubricated with perspiration (it is quite labour-intensive!)
2. more involved that you’d expect – a powered tool that takes 1000 cuts/minute (or more correctly 16000 – 40000 (2 flutes on a router bit running at 20000 RPM) is quite different to a blade skimming along the surface at a fixed attack angle. You can get away (easily) with a (comparatively) blunt blade on a powered tool, whereas a hand tool needs to be razor-sharp. Imagine how impressive a powered tool would be with the sharpness of a handtool. Required motor power would be so much less, finish significantly high.
3. slow, and take a lot of physical effort. And quiet. Power tools are noisy, and produce a lot of wood dust along with fine wood shavings (the result of thousands of tiny cuts, rather than one long cut).
Smoothing cuts
Then moved onto the smoothing plane. This is quite a bit shorter, and is designed to take fine shaving cuts, leaving a smooth finish. When properly tuned, the finish can be shiny, providing a mirror finish.
So I got a semblance of a result. A bit too scalloped out of the middle – must have concentrated a bit much effort there. Not sure whether it was harder than expected, but it does go to show that even if you are very proficient with powered tools, that knowledge does not readily transfer. Gives one a real respect for those who live with handtools (or had no choice through the ages).
Need another woodshow so I can pick Terry Gordon’s brain about the basics again! Using handtools to prepare a board – one of the new show demos for TWWWS 2013! I’d sit in for that 
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Filed under: Techniques, Tools | Tagged: Diamond, DMT, dmt diamond stones, Hand Planes, Hand Tool, Jack Plane, Plane, Sharpening, Sharpening stone, Smoothing Plane, Woodworking | Leave a Comment »
There is also a Melbourne Hand Tool Event at the Melbourne Guild of Fine Woodworking, which will have Chris in attendance. Unfortunately we don’t know when that is actually on – they forgot to put the dates in their newsletter, and their website hasn’t been updated since 2011! If I hear a current date, will let you know (check the comments).
