07-01-2016, 01:11 PM
I've replaced some stock blades with the Veritas PM-V11 blades, and I've been using them all summer. Thus far I'm nothing short of impressed with how well they work. They do, however, have some different characteristics, some of which I wasn't exactly prepared for.
1. As advertised, they don't hone well on my Arkansas stones. The diamond stone works very well on them, and I do still use an Arkansas stone just before the strop, but it doesn't do a whole lot. The charged strop works just fine.
2. They grind cool. It's not as easy to blue an edge on these as it is on some of my regular carbon steel blades, and I'm very grateful for that. I'm still learning how to use a grinder correctly, and the PM-V11 has been pretty forgiving.
3. When sharpening it on my diamond stone, I never raise much of a burr. On softer steels, I often get a massive burr that tells me I've gotten all the way to the edge, but with the PM-V11 I can barely feel a burr at all, especially if my hands are at all dirty. So I'm still learning to feel when I've honed all the way to the cutting edge. When I first got one of these blades and was resharpening it, I kept going and going on the stone, expecting to raise a burr, and eventually I realized that I had been at the edge for quite some time. This was the biggest surprise with these blades, and I'm still not quite used to it.
I've especially appreciated the longevity of the cutting edges in my planes and spokeshave. With the O-1 spokeshave blade, I was having to resharpen a lot when making wooden spoons, and that was cutting into my production time. I can work almost twice as long without having to resharpen the PM-V11 spokeshave blade. I'm so glad I upgraded.
1. As advertised, they don't hone well on my Arkansas stones. The diamond stone works very well on them, and I do still use an Arkansas stone just before the strop, but it doesn't do a whole lot. The charged strop works just fine.
2. They grind cool. It's not as easy to blue an edge on these as it is on some of my regular carbon steel blades, and I'm very grateful for that. I'm still learning how to use a grinder correctly, and the PM-V11 has been pretty forgiving.
3. When sharpening it on my diamond stone, I never raise much of a burr. On softer steels, I often get a massive burr that tells me I've gotten all the way to the edge, but with the PM-V11 I can barely feel a burr at all, especially if my hands are at all dirty. So I'm still learning to feel when I've honed all the way to the cutting edge. When I first got one of these blades and was resharpening it, I kept going and going on the stone, expecting to raise a burr, and eventually I realized that I had been at the edge for quite some time. This was the biggest surprise with these blades, and I'm still not quite used to it.
I've especially appreciated the longevity of the cutting edges in my planes and spokeshave. With the O-1 spokeshave blade, I was having to resharpen a lot when making wooden spoons, and that was cutting into my production time. I can work almost twice as long without having to resharpen the PM-V11 spokeshave blade. I'm so glad I upgraded.
Steve S.
------------------------------------------------------
Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot
Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
------------------------------------------------------
Tradition cannot be inherited, and if you want it you must obtain it by great labour.
- T. S. Eliot
Tutorials and Build-Alongs at The Literary Workshop
