Thanks guy I will try going with the 30 degree angle. I was using the 25 degree angle. The ridges run the length of the wood. I know that it is not the edges making them I have already went through that problem and I have to have that lateral adjustment turned to the left a little to keep it from digging in on the other side. It will not work without that lever turned (tried everyway under the sun to fix that).
I have not taken the blade to a grinder I have just used the bevel that came on the iron. Do you think that I need to get that hollow grind working? If so any tips on that process? I have never done that before and quite frankly it scares the crap out of me. I guess it is better to screw up a cheap iron that wait and try it on something more expensive.
I am pretty sure that it is getting sharp. I was getting it nice and mirror polished but when I actually looked at the edge it was not getting polished. Now I can't see the edge until I start planing then I see little chips out of the edge.
I really like working with hand tools but there is alot to find out like how far back the chip breaker goes from the edge, how tight to turn the cap screw, and the list goes on and on. It is nice to see those little wood curls and not dust now thought.
On another thought, do you use shooting boards much and if so which plane do you use on them?
Thanks again.
I'm thinking the ridges are likely caused by the chipping of the cutting edge. Once you eliminate that problem, those will likely go away. If not, then we can readdress that when the time comes. One of the things which happen when sharpening is that the bevel becomes slightly convex if you're not real careful to avoid it. Once that happens, then you can easily polish up most of the bevel while still not getting the cutting edge polished.
Hollow grinding the edge can help prevent that, but it also can initially create a more fragile edge since that concave shape leaves thinner metal behind the edge. What it does do is give you a two line contact between the blade and the sharpening stone which makes it easier to hold the blade properly against the stone freehand with the edge getting abraded by the stone. I've never really grown enamored to the grinding wheel for accurate grinding and mine is reserved to major metal removal for fabrication of other metal stuff.
What I do is use a sharpening guide to create an accurate edge using an old bench top belt sander with a 100 grit belt, then switch to my sharpening stones to refine the edge.
What you want to shoot for in sharpening is two surfaces that are each a single geometric plane at an angle to each other that come together forming an imaginary straight line. The two surfaces are the bevel and the back of the cutting iron. Some folks are quite anal about getting the entire back of the plane iron super flat, then polishing the whole thing. I don't much worry about that, and just flatten and polish the first 1/2" or so of the back nearest the cutting edge. As the iron is worn away, I just continue polishing a 1/2" from the edge as the edge moves back.
On the bevel side of the iron, you really only need a minimal "width" plane which polished as well; 1/16" or so is sufficient, just so the 1/16" is at the very edge of the iron.
The process is to remove metal at the cutting edge of the bevel so as to form a minuscule "wire edge" that can be felt by dragging you finger down the back of the blade. This wire edge should form across the entire width of the blade. The easiest and quickest way to do this is to snap the bevel of the blade onto the stone, then raise the back of the blade slightly, maybe a couple of degrees, and hold it at that angle as you sharpen, beginning with a courser stone. Once you can feel the wire edge across the entire width of the back of the blade, move to a finer stone and hold that newly formed micro bevel against the stone as you continue honing. You are not making the edge any sharper, really, at this point, only polishing it which will give you a cleaner surface on the wood and increase the longevity of the edge. As the scratches from the previous stone are removed, move to the next finer stone. Once you get to your finest stone, begin flipping the iron over, alternating between the micro bevel and the back. This will work away at that wire edge you initially created and eventually that will be gone and you are done sharpening. Be aware that when you flip the iron over and work the back, that wire edge will move over to the bevel side, so check the opposite side of the blade from the last honed to insure the wire edge is gone.
There are a couple ways to check for sharpness. Some folks lay the edge at a very low angle to a thumb or finger nail and push it light across the nail. A real sharp blade will dig in slightly and remove a thin shaving of finger/thumb nail. I prefer to test the edge similarly against the end grain of a soft wood such as pine. It it takes a thin, but intact, shaving from the end grain of a soft wood, it it sharp. I don't push it directly across the end grain but use a sort of slicing motion.
In my opinion, the "chip breaker" on hand planes was more a cost cutting measure of the early metallic and semi-metallic plane makers rather than as a chip breaking device. It enabled them to use a thinner high carbon steel cutting iron backed by a cheaper iron secondary blade to prevent chatter. Earlier wood bodied planes had no need of this secondary blade since they used thicker cutting irons. Placement of the chip breaker edge is more a function of mouth opening than anything else. If you are setting the plane up for smoothing, then you want a wispy thin shaving which will have much less tendency of tearing out the wood and doesn't really need to be broken. For a plane set up for flattening or more rough work, placing the chip breaker too close to the edge of the blade will cause the plane to clog. Depending on the mouth opening once the blade is set to the cutting depth you desire, placement of the chip breaker is determined so as not to cause the plane mouth to be too narrow and thus cause the plane to clog. Generally speaking, I set the chip breaker between 1/16 and 1/8 inches from the cutting edge of the blade.
A couple things to check concerning the need to slightly cock the lateral adjuster to one side or the other are the angle of the edge to to blade itself and the angle of the blade to the chip breaker. The cutting edge should be perpendicular to the side edge of the iron, and the sides of the cutting iron should be parallel to the sides of the chip breaker. Neither, IMO, is worth regrinding the cutting edge until it is time to do so because your micro-bevel is nearly the entire width of the original bevel. The lateral adjustment is there to correct for these miner inaccuracies as well as doing some edge planing to correct an out of square edge on a work piece.
The main function of the cap lever screw, other than holding the blade assembly into the plane, is to provide tension against the chip breaker to prevent chatter. It should only provide minimal force to assist the blade adjusting mechanism in keeping the blade from receding into the mouth of the plane as the force of planing is applied to the cutting edge.
For some more general info on hand planes and setting them up for specific uses,
this page on my website might be worth a read. As well, the two links titled "Plane Basics" and "Back on the Block" from
this page might also be helpful.
As far as shooting boards, I use one for squaring the ends of work pieces as well as another for accurizing 45 degree angles. Since this is end grain work I have a bevel up Veritas plane with a low angle blade I use on those shooting boards.
