Man, what some people do to plane irons.

[Rick Barton]

So I've got this Millers Falls #14 jack. I've had it in storage for awhile but got it out during my recent clean/refurb session. Its a red frog vintage and in really nice over all condition. I knew that the iron needed some grinder attention as the cutting edge had a couple of chips in it. But on closer inspection it turned out to be worse than I knew. I'm not sure what the guy was doing when he did this to the blade, but it wasn't a very good idea.
I'm just glad the mouth didn't receive any damage.



As you can see the cutting edge has been chipped all the way across. Good grief.
At some point in the past it had been hollow ground and an attempt at cambering the blade was made. Almost all of the camber is on one side.


Anyway, I have close to a dozen jack planes for some reason and have two I use most often; a Sargent 414 with the blade sharpened straight across that I use as a short jointer, and a 605 I use for face work that has a slight camber to the blade. What I didn't have rigged up was a jack with a pronounced camber in it for cross grain aggressive work. Well after looking closely at this plane iron it was apparent that grinding a radius on it wouldn't leave it in any worse shape. So I free handed a radius using a gallon paint can as a template and ground it at 25 degrees with a 30 degree secondary bevel. Getting the 30 degree bevel decent and consistent required a bit more than I anticipated, but I did manage to do a good job on my Veritas power sharpener. I don't often free hand stuff on this machine, but it can be done.



It works well. I tried it out cross grain on a cherry scrap.

[Stwood_]

Good save. Yea maybe they were chip carving tombstones with it.
 

I also freehand my scrub plane irons on my Veritas power sharpener.

[Rick Barton]

Good save. Yea maybe they were chip carving tombstones with it.
 

I also freehand my scrub plane irons on my Veritas power sharpener.

You know when they tear up old asphalt paving, this was their go to tool.

[Timberwolf]

Good save. Yea maybe they were chip carving tombstones with it.
 

I also freehand my scrub plane irons on my Veritas power sharpener.

,,,,,,,,,,,
You need to consider getting one of the Uxcell 800grit diamond discs from amazon..I could not be more pleased with how well it cuts...Sharpening HSS is like butta to it...I bought the 3,000 grit last week but I am not as enthused with it as I am the 800...The speed of the Veritas MKII is perfect at 760RPM..Any faster would be too fast...

[Bill_Houghton]

Maybe s/he made rustic furniture and used this for detailing the surface.

[Rick Barton]

Maybe s/he made rustic furniture and used this for detailing the surface.

You know I never thought about trying to take a shaving with it in its "rustic" condition. I'm guessing both the cut and the surface would be rough.

[Stwood_]

May be tough to push though

[Rick Barton]

May be tough to push though

Hell they almost made a toothing plane out of it.

[Bibliophile 13]

It looked like somebody was planing a board with nails in it and just wouldn't stop! Good save, though. I don't always reach for my jack with a cambered iron, but when it's what I need, it is absolutely the best thing.

[hbmcc]

That looks like my last visit to the dentist. ... After I left.