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I have a cute little woody scrub plane with about a 1" wide iron. The radius on the iron is a little too severe for even an eclipse style honing guide, Which leads me to the following questions for those of you who use scrubs. About what angle do you use for the bevel? I know a scrub does not have to be uber sharp but just how far do you take it?
Thanks, Curt
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"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
-- Soren Kierkegaard
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Fresh off the grinder, I hone a bit until the ragged edge from the grind is gone, then get rid of the wire edge. Good to go.
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Not an expert by any means, but I didn't realize how easy it was to make this tool work. It can be very handy!
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Curt, the Stanley scrub is generally typical of what is commonly used. The 1 1/2" wide blade has a 3" radius. This is is repeated on the LN and Veritas scrub planes.
My own preference these days, owing to increased use of machines compared to 15 years ago when I used a scrub, is to work with a jack plane. This has a 10-12" radius blade. It still hogs quickly, but is not so aggressive - I just do not need anything very aggressive these days. It would be different is the rough sawn boards I started with were very twisted. Mild twist is now what I have. A jack is fine for taking off the high spots. Perhaps use a 11-12" radius on your plane and see how that goes.
Begin by marking the radius on the blade, then grind this square (no bevel yet). Only add in the (30 degree) bevel once the outline is created.
I hollow grind and then take the edge yo the same level as a smoother - that makes for easier cutting.
Regards from Perth
Derek
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(07-13-2020, 07:30 PM)cputnam Wrote: I have a cute little woody scrub plane with about a 1" wide iron. The radius on the iron is a little too severe for even an eclipse style honing guide, Which leads me to the following questions for those of you who use scrubs. About what angle do you use for the bevel? I know a scrub does not have to be uber sharp but just how far do you take it?
I use a 16" wooden jack plane for rough work; the iron is rounded. I sharpen at 30 degrees.
Since the jack plane is usually followed by a more refined plane, it does not have to leave a fine surface. So there are two reasons for refining the edge: ease of use and longer edge life.
I use three bench stones and a strop for sharpening, no grindstone. Forty years ago I did a series of experiments to see if I could omit some steps in sharpening on the jack plane iron. I did touch up only, omit the stropping, omit the fine stone, omit the intermediate stone, and others. What I found was it paid to sharpen the same way I sharpen a jointer or a smooth plane. The extra time to refine the edge was very small compared to the overall time to remove the iron sharpen and replace. And that time was repaid with longer edge life, so less frequent sharpening.
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+1 on a Jack/Scrub plane with a rounded blade protrusion.
The first wooden plane I every fully made, is the only one I've kept for 10+ years. It was actually inspired by a Derek Cohen article back in the day. I'll pull this one out for hogging wood in a hurry
Chris
Chris
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Gentlemen: Thank you all for your help. It would appear as though more edge work is warranted. It will be a challenge for me - freehand honing has not been my thing as result of essential tremors. These tremors occur when trying to use fine motor control. The only way to proceed is to relax, ket the nerves calm down and then proceed.
As for the scrub plane, it was inexpensive and designed to continue my foray into the world of woodies. Since it actually works, I plan to use to remove enough twist from boards to allow for a trip through the planer. Cheap hardwood is cheap for a reason - and, of course, all construction lumber is cupped and generally twisted to some degree. I think I will enjoy using this little guy.
I have a cheap Stanley # 5 for which I purchased a Ron Hock iron with an 8" radius - which intended for use as a scrub. As with many of us, life got in the way and the combination has not yet been put to use - partly because the edge came with an extremely rough grind and needs the handwork - from which I have shied away.
Thanks, Curt
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"Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards."
-- Soren Kierkegaard
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Sharper is better, no matter what the application. I like the Jack size plane to use as well. The additional mass helps when flattening surfaces, and the larger radius like Derek mentioned ensures you're not trying to take massive cuts to do it. It's easier with a severe radius to induce massive tearout if you don't pay attention to the grain and the depth of cut.
Still Learning,
Allan Hill
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A lot of people here insist upon "freehand" sharpening. Some things I ignore and do what works for me. What works is a simple eclipse guide. It doesn't like doing an extreme radius grind, so a slot in a chunk of wood fills in. Just rock-n'-roll.
Heirlooms are self-important fiction so build what you like. Someone may find it useful.
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I found a video on Stumpy Nubs site on sharpening a scrub blade. He used a block of wood cut with the radius on the end that is then clamped to the blade and used as a guide on a WorkSharp jig bar. Seems like this method could also be applied to a regular grinder as well if you want to try machine sharpening.
My explanation is not very good. He explains it better.
