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| (05P34.02) |
| (05P34.03) |
| (05P34.04) |
| (05P34.52) |
| (05P34.53) |
| (05P34.54) |
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Caution: Be aware that the blade is sharp; careless
handling can result in serious injury. |
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A selection of replacement and optional blades, in either A2 or O1 tool
steel, is available for our bevel-up planes. The A2 blades are hardened
to Rc60-62, have high wear resistance and, while they keep their edge
for a long time, they require a bit more work to hone them effectively.
The O1 blades are hardened to Rc58-60 and are readily honed to a fine
edge, but require more frequent sharpening, as the edge does not last
as long.
The bevel-up configuration of these planes enables the cutting angle
to be varied as desired by altering the blade bevel angle. Having an extra
blade of a given bevel angle simplifies this process and does away with
the time-consuming process of regrinding back to a lower bevel angle when
required. The blade bevels we offer are ideal starting points, but can
of course be changed to meet the particular task at hand. The cutting
angles stated describe the actual cutting angle where the blade meets
wood. This angle is determined by a fine microbevel at the edge; the blade’s
primary angle is typically a few degrees less.
The 25° blade is the best choice for all end-grain work,
including shooting. The resulting 37° cutting angle
effectively severs the end-grain fibers and minimizes
tearing. This blade is also capable of general smoothing,
but is susceptible to tear-out in all but the most wellbehaved grain.
The 38° blade yields an effective cutting angle of 50°
(commonly known as a York pitch) and is an excellent
blade for general smoothing. Higher cutting angles require greater force
to push the plane, making the 38° bevel the ideal starting point (a
balance of performance and effort) when working difficult wood.
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The 50° blade is for smoothing woods with widely varying
or reversing grain (e.g., bird’seye maple) where tear-out is difficult
to control. The resulting cutting angle of 62° produces what is known
as a Type II chip (or shaving), one created by wood failure right at the
cutting edge, eliminating tear-out on even the most difficult grain patterns.
Planing wood at this cutting angle will give you a bit of a workout –
but the results are well worth it.
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| Honing Bevel Angles |
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| You can sharpen these blades as you would any other blade;
however, a honing guide will greatly ease the task of accurately setting
primary and micro-bevel angles. |
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| If you have the Veritas® Mk.II Honing Guide (05M09.01),
you can use it to easily set and maintain bevel angles in several increments,
from 15° to 54° (to a maximum of 56° with micro-bevel) in one
simple set-up. |
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| If you have the Veritas® Sharpening System (05M02.10),
you can set and maintain bevel angles from 15° to 35° (with a 38°
micro-bevel) in 5° increments, though it can be used for higher bevel
angles, as described below. |
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| Honing Higher-Angle Micro-Bevels Using the Veritas®
Sharpening System (05M02.10) |
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| As you increase the cutting angle, you will quickly become
aware that it is noticeably more difficult to push the plane. We therefore
recommend beginning with the 38° micro-bevel and gradually increasing
it until the tear-out is eliminated or minimized. |
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Begin by setting the blade in the guide for a 35° bevel
with the guide-setting knob
at 12 o’clock (arrow pointing upward). To obtain the desired micro-bevel
angle,
use the appropriate spacer block (see chart) underneath the roller. The
spacer can
simply be a block of hardwood. It is important that the top surface of the
spacer
block be parallel to the top surface of the honing stone or plate. If not
parallel, the
micro-bevel will have a skew to it. Once set, mark and save the block for
future
use. The guide-setting knob, when moved to the 3 o’clock setting, will
increase the
micro-bevel angle by 2°. Therefore, simply adjusting the guide-setting
knob will
allow you to increase the micro-bevel angle by 2° using a given spacer.
The spacer
will limit the travel of the honing guide, allowing only short strokes;
however, this
is not an issue as a micro-bevel of 1/16" is sufficient. |
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Figure 1: Blade in honing guide with spacer.
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| Chip Formation |
| Type I |
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This is the type of chip (or shaving) that is formed when
the wood splits ahead of
the cutting edge, then rides up along the front of the cutting tool until
the bending
force breaks the chip. It is the type of chip that is typical of bench planes
with bed
angles of 50° or 55°. Such a chip gives a very smooth surface when
cutting with
the grain (or exactly parallel to the grain, as shown in Photo 1),
but it gives a very
rough surface when cutting against the grain (as shown in Photo 2),
because the
chip repeatedly breaks below the intended cutline. |
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Photo 1: A Type I chip produces a very smooth surface
when cutting parallel to the grain.
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Photo 2: When cutting against the grain, the same chip
produces a very
rough surface (as shown in Photo 3). |
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| Photo 3: |
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| Type II |
With this type of chip, the wood fails in a plane (extending
from the cutting edge
to the work surface) that roughly bisects the angle between the bevel (or
rake face)
and the direction of travel (as shown in Photo 4). This is the type
of shaving that
you could expect from a scraping plane or other tools with a high cutting
angle. |
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| Photo 4: |
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If you take very light cuts, such a high cutting angle allows you to
work very difficult grains with virtually no tear-out.
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Some of this material is extracted from The Complete Guide
to Sharpening by
Leonard Lee, reprinted here with permission of the publisher, Taunton Press
of
Newtown, CT. |
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| Blade Geometry |
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Figure 2: 25° blade
geometry, as supplied. |
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Figure 3: 38° blade
geometry, as supplied. |
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Figure 4: 50° blade
geometry, as supplied. |
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