Boxing Oil Stones, Avoiding Dishing them

[C. in Indy]

Maybe this came up before on this forum, but I don't think so ?

Bill Carter of planemaking fame has a few video sections on putting oilstones into dedicated wood boxes.  The use of endgrain "stone extensions" to help avoid dishing the stone is a very interesting idea:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-62acG8vpqY


Chris

[Bill_Houghton]

Indeed yes, on the endgrain extensions.  Not a new idea, not unique to him.  "Planecraft," from 1934, suggests the same thing, and I've seen it elsewhere in the older literature.

I never tire of touting* "Planecraft."  It was originally written by two men involved with Record tool company, and a certain amount of it is informercial** for the Record products.  And you have to be, or become, comfortable with Brit-speak.  But the books cover topics I've never seen anywhere else; not just planing practice, but also good construction technique for things like doors.  Woodcraft reprinted the book for years, and they can still be found used for about $8.  If I could have just one book on planing and planes, it would be this one.

There's a newer revision by John Sainsbury. It's OK, and offers some new information about products not around when the original was written, while dropping some chapters no longer much relevant. I kind of like the original, but I wouldn't kick the Sainsbury revision out of my bookcase if it crept in.
------
*No affiliation with anyone selling this book; just someone who likes it.
**What, you thought infomercials didn't start until TV?

[CStan]

Do your backing off and polishing of the flat face at each end of the stone. Problem solved. Run-off blocks don't hurt either.

[Ray Newman]

Bill Houghton: I purchased a copy of "Planecraft" back in 1982 and read it several times. Still surprises me that many people have not heard of it. AbeBooks has several offerings starting at US $5.00.

Always chuckle when I read the section about the shoulder plane: "The argument crops up in workshops as a hardy annual as to whether shoulders should be shot or not, but space forbids that the constantly recurring arguments should be repeated here." (p 122)

[Bill_Houghton]

"The argument crops up in workshops as a hardy annual as to whether shoulders should be shot or not, but space forbids that the constantly recurring arguments should be repeated here." (p 122)

See: another advantage of the interweb.  Space is functionally infinite here, so we can rehash old arguments all the time, to the confusion of the new kids.

[AHill]

Some argue that the dishing of the stones is a desirable feature, in that it naturally puts a crown on your edges when sharpening. I say that might be fine for plane blades, but not necessarily for chisels or joinery planes like shoulder and rabbet planes. I use waterstones, though, so I am constantly working to keep my stones flat.

[wmickley]

Some argue that the dishing of the stones is a desirable feature, in that it naturally puts a crown on your edges when sharpening.  I say that might be fine for plane blades, but not necessarily for chisels or joinery planes like shoulder and rabbet planes.  I use waterstones, though, so I am constantly working to keep my stones flat.

I checked some of my stones this morning. My soft Arkansas shows no light under a straightedge in either the lengthwise or the crosswise directions. It has been maybe 150,000 sharpenings since I flattened it.

My 800 King water stone is dished .001 across the width and .045 along its length. It has lost about an inch of thickness due to wear. It works fine for chisels and rabbet planes. I have never used a shoulder plane. 

I don't think a block at the end of a water stone would work. The stone wears too quickly to keep a block of wood adjusted to the same height of the stone. For an Arkansas stone the wear is awfully slow and efforts to even out the wear are fruitful. Here a block is not necessary.

[adamcherubini]

I checked some of my stones this morning. My soft Arkansas shows no light under a straightedge in either the lengthwise or the crosswise directions. It has been maybe 150,000 sharpenings since I flattened it.

My 800 King water stone is dished .001 across the width and .045 along its length. It has lost about an inch of thickness due to wear. It works fine for chisels and rabbet planes. I have never used a shoulder plane. 

I don't think a block at the end of a water stone would work. The stone wears too quickly to keep a block of wood adjusted to the same height of the stone. For an Arkansas stone the wear is awfully slow and efforts to even out the wear are fruitful. Here a block is not necessary.

Warren, we need to get together and make YouTube videos. You are the real deal.

All, I asked Underhill once if he ever flattened his stones. He gave me one of those looks like I was insane. I have never flattened my Arkansas stone.

[C. in Indy]

You guys can do a YouTube spot --  as long as it's a daguerreotype format!

Thanks

[CStan]

Warren, we need to get together and make YouTube videos.  You are the real deal.

All, I asked Underhill once if he ever flattened his stones. He gave me one of those looks like I was insane. I have never flattened my Arkansas stone.

I bought a surgical black (trad. 8x2x1) off EBay once and it was dished ~3/16" in the middle 2/3rds of the stone on the side that ended up not in the photos as my luck would have it.  THAT GUY was the real deal, or it was a communal stone in a very busy shop.  The other side was dead flat. A jack plane iron fit nicely in the dished side. Raking light showed the flat side had been used. Even if totally ignored, not 'managed,' it took a lot of honing to dish the thing out that much.

I dropped it some years later and it shattered.