I'm a trial and error kind of learner. Sure, I could "READ" or "ASK", but I prefer to touch the stove to see if its hot...... then touch it to see if its still hot...... wash, rise, repeat......
As part of the Hillsborough Orange Woodworkers Meetup, we have been tuning up metal bodied hand planes using various sandpapers on glass.
The float glass is 16x28 and 3/8 thick. In hind sight, I'd have preferred 7"x 25" 1/2"
Lessons Learned: The Quick Version:
1. Tape does not work too well
We tried using painters tape, duct tape and sheathing tape to hold down the paper. It worked poorly and lead to more lifting of the paper than was worth the trouble.
We taped both long edges of the papers, which also meant they couldn't be used to flatten the backs of the irons....
Also, the duct and sheathing tape were a really big pain to remove and clean up afterward.
Don't recommend this.
2. 3M Spray Adhesive 77
Round three, we switched to this. Night and day better. Spray the back of the paper and the glass, lay it down starting in the middle of the paper. Then use a J-Roller to smooth out the paper and remove any bubbles.
This adhesive cleans up like a dream with paint thinner/mineral spirits. When we added oil, I use a three part cleanup process. First heat/mineral spirits to remove the paper, dish soap to remove the oil, mineral spirits to remove the glue and lastly ammonia to clean the glass.
3. Lubricate the paper
Dry, worked ok, but the paper clogged quickly.
Water, ok, but led to rust on many of the planes. Also, giving a group of MATURE ADULTS spray bottles of water leads to just what you'd expect
Mineral Oil, by far the best of the bunch. But, we used a lot of oil. It soaked through the paper and under the edges causing the glue bond to fail.
May try WD-40 and some other lightweight oils. The oil breaking the glue bond is a problem that I hope to sort out.
If you use oil, use it sparingly. Just enough to coat the paper.
4. Types of paper
We are still playing with this. Silicon Carbide papers, while great and sharp, fracture quickly and become dull and clogged. Not a good choice.
Aluminum Oxide was ok, still cloggy and slow cutting.
We didn't have any Zirconia-alumina (sp) paper.
One of our members turned us onto Ceramic grit papers, wow. Night and day. This paper cut fast and did not fracture or clog like the other papers. Draw back is its expensive. But, we may be able to reuse it much longer.
Ceramic paper doesn't like high heat, which we'd not have an issue with.
5. Clean the paper
Attempts to clean the paper met with limited success. Daubbing with paper towels and brushing off were ok.
I've recently (this morning) tested using pencil erasers and wow. The paper I was planning to throw out is now cutting great. I'm going to experiment with the bigger erasers they sell for this purpose. Plus, you can brush off the eraser stuff easily.
6. Water to hold paper down
No luck with this. Probably has to do with the paper we chose. These are cut up sanding belts (thanks Mr. PChristy). A few attempts with wet-dry sheets on the glass didn't work well. Not sure what we are doing wrong here, but it seems to work on TV.....
More to come!
Also, happy to hear from anyone who has thoughts or suggestions.
Thanks,
Jim
As part of the Hillsborough Orange Woodworkers Meetup, we have been tuning up metal bodied hand planes using various sandpapers on glass.
The float glass is 16x28 and 3/8 thick. In hind sight, I'd have preferred 7"x 25" 1/2"
Lessons Learned: The Quick Version:
- use 80 then 120 grit Ceramic papers (for plane sole)
- 3M 77 Spray adhesive to attach paper
- clean paper with rubber erasers
1. Tape does not work too well
We tried using painters tape, duct tape and sheathing tape to hold down the paper. It worked poorly and lead to more lifting of the paper than was worth the trouble.
We taped both long edges of the papers, which also meant they couldn't be used to flatten the backs of the irons....
Also, the duct and sheathing tape were a really big pain to remove and clean up afterward.
Don't recommend this.
2. 3M Spray Adhesive 77
Round three, we switched to this. Night and day better. Spray the back of the paper and the glass, lay it down starting in the middle of the paper. Then use a J-Roller to smooth out the paper and remove any bubbles.
This adhesive cleans up like a dream with paint thinner/mineral spirits. When we added oil, I use a three part cleanup process. First heat/mineral spirits to remove the paper, dish soap to remove the oil, mineral spirits to remove the glue and lastly ammonia to clean the glass.
3. Lubricate the paper
Dry, worked ok, but the paper clogged quickly.
Water, ok, but led to rust on many of the planes. Also, giving a group of MATURE ADULTS spray bottles of water leads to just what you'd expect
Mineral Oil, by far the best of the bunch. But, we used a lot of oil. It soaked through the paper and under the edges causing the glue bond to fail.
May try WD-40 and some other lightweight oils. The oil breaking the glue bond is a problem that I hope to sort out.
If you use oil, use it sparingly. Just enough to coat the paper.
4. Types of paper
We are still playing with this. Silicon Carbide papers, while great and sharp, fracture quickly and become dull and clogged. Not a good choice.
Aluminum Oxide was ok, still cloggy and slow cutting.
We didn't have any Zirconia-alumina (sp) paper.
One of our members turned us onto Ceramic grit papers, wow. Night and day. This paper cut fast and did not fracture or clog like the other papers. Draw back is its expensive. But, we may be able to reuse it much longer.
Ceramic paper doesn't like high heat, which we'd not have an issue with.
5. Clean the paper
Attempts to clean the paper met with limited success. Daubbing with paper towels and brushing off were ok.
I've recently (this morning) tested using pencil erasers and wow. The paper I was planning to throw out is now cutting great. I'm going to experiment with the bigger erasers they sell for this purpose. Plus, you can brush off the eraser stuff easily.
6. Water to hold paper down
No luck with this. Probably has to do with the paper we chose. These are cut up sanding belts (thanks Mr. PChristy). A few attempts with wet-dry sheets on the glass didn't work well. Not sure what we are doing wrong here, but it seems to work on TV.....
More to come!
Also, happy to hear from anyone who has thoughts or suggestions.
Thanks,
Jim