Miniature planes

Miniature planes · 09-27-2009, 11:58 PM

I was in Harbor Freight the other day and found a set of miniature planes. These would be perfect for my model building if I could get them to work. As factory set they didn't remove any wood. I set the blade out a hair to where I could just feel the blade with my thumb and it just tore and gouged the wood instead of shaving it and that was going with the grain. I need some advise on how to use these things and how to sharpen the blade if that is the case.

CarvedTones · 09-28-2009, 07:01 AM

Another photo with them on their sides with blades sticking out far enough to see the bevel angles would help. I suspect they will need sharpening/honing at the very least.

WoodWrangler · 09-28-2009, 10:15 AM

I'm sure those little suckers need a GOOD sharpening, then you'll have to keep the bite REALLY small I imagine. You can probably get away with a decent sharpening on some sandpaper slapped on your tablesaw/jointer top.

froglips · 09-28-2009, 10:21 AM

This is a big topic for some little planes!

I'm going to make that annoying post that suggests you search this forum for sharpening and plane setup. The Hand Tool forum is full of great info on this topic.

The short answer, yes, you need to sharpen and tune the plane. Only high end plane makers such as Lie-Nielsen or Lee Valley sell ready to use planes. Most other planes require varying amounts of tuning, and almost all require sharpening of the blade.

Hope this help you get started.

Jim

McRabbet · 09-28-2009, 07:52 PM

Mitch,

As Jeremy suggested, sandpaper on a dead flat surface is a valid method of sharpening these blades, but you need the correct type of paper and very fine grits -- You will find assorted sets of Wet/Dry sandpaper at your local Auto Parts store in multiple grits -- they stock them for auto body repair and they cut metal (and Bondo) very well. I'd start with no coarser than 150-180 grit and sharpen each blade against the paper while maintaining a constant angle. Work up to 1200 grit at least for best results (4000 would be better). The back side of each blade should also be ground flat to remove any burr edge. Don't expect too much from these plane irons as the steel is probably not real good in them.

AmishWarlord · 09-28-2009, 09:11 PM

OK I pulled the blades out more for the photos and found that they where knife sharp but not razor sharp. I got sharpening gear for my leather swivel knives that will fix up these little blades. I'll do some forums searching for tuning the planes. I'm not asking for much out of this steel just to be able to shave soft balsa wood.

nelsone · 09-28-2009, 09:37 PM

For balsa you will really need to make sure they are very, very sharp. Otherwise you will just crush the wood fibers.

James Davis · 09-28-2009, 09:39 PM

Just a word of thought, the scraper plane (The one with the verticle blade) should be sharpened differently than the other two. It should be sharpened with a bur just like a hand scraper. Might be tough to do on such a small blade, I don't know. Check the forums for the correct way to sharpen a scraper plane blade, I am sure there are those out there that know more than I ddo on that.

James

ps Let us know how well you get them to work.

AmishWarlord · 09-28-2009, 11:42 PM

This is a leather swivel knife next to one of the plane blades.

This is the sharpener for swivel knife blades. It keeps the edge at the right angle to the stone. I have one of the plane blades in it in the photo.

After some stonening and some blade strokeing on leather I got a nice razor edge on the blade and got some curly shavings from some balsa. I still need to learn about tuning the plane and more practice planing balsa.

Thanks for all the help guys!

Mitch

lottathought · 09-29-2009, 11:00 PM

I am really curious to see what your opinions are going to be on these once you have used them for a little while.