How to sharpen iron on a bevel up jointer?

[overland]

I mean, what angle do you use, and do you camber the blade at all?

[Rob Young]

overland said:

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I mean, what angle do you use, and do you camber the blade at all?

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For my block planes, I grind the blade at 25° and then freehand to anything between 30° and 50° depending on the application. As all of them are bedding at 12-1/2° that gives me an effective cutting angle of 42-1/2° (essentially standard pitch) to 62° (essentially half-pitch). I don't get wound around the axle about having a 37° blade available as so far, getting it SHARP had handled all of my endgrain situations.

I do add some camber on my LN164 blade. How much? Can't give you a measurement. Enough that the corners don't dig. There is probably just a touch on the block plane too but nothing I'm doing intentionally. The LA-Jack gets some too but again, mostly to prevent digging and I'm using it more as a short jointer than as a jack plane (except for occasionally using a toothed blade when all else has failed me).

[AHill]

The angle depends on how you're using your plane, the type of steel, and whether you are planing figured woods or not. If you are using your plane as a pure jointer, then 25 deg bevel for O1 steel and 30 deg for A2 steel. If you plan on planing difficult grains, you may want to put a secondary bevel on the blade like 40 deg (12+40 = 52 deg) or 50 deg (12+50 = 62) if the wood is really, really difficult. There's no need to put a camber on a jointer, unless you plan to use it as a smoother. Then, the camber is ever so slight to ensure you don't get track marks while smoothing (we're talking putting more pressure on either side of the blade while honing for just a few strokes). If you only have one blade, you won't suffer too much going to the highest bevel angle, since jointing doesn't require superhuman strength to push the plane while jointing an edge. The higher the angle, the more effort it takes to push the plane through a cut. A bit of paraffin or wax on the sole helps the plane glide easier though the cut.

[Derek Cohen]

overland said:

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I mean, what angle do you use, and do you camber the blade at all?

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I recommend two blades - one is a straight blade that is hollow ground at 40 degrees. This is used when match planing two boards together. The second blade has a 25 degree primary bevel and 40 degree secondary bevel, and this blade is mildly cambered so that you can chase any high spots when jointing individual boards.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[overland]

With a"mildly cambered" blade and an effective cutting angle of 52 degrees (12 + 40) the plane could also be used as a try plane to flatten boards, right?

[Derek Cohen]

overland said:

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With a"mildly cambered" blade and an effective cutting angle of 52 degrees (12 + 40) the plane could also be used as a try plane to flatten boards, right?

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Right.

Regards from Perth

Derek