How to Sharpen a Router Plane?
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- Опубліковано 1 лип 2024
- Download the 'Simple Sharpening Station' drawing here:
www.theenglishwoodworker.com/...
If you’ve seen a fair bit of my work then you’ll probably know that despite my love of keeping the tool kit minimal I’m a huge fan of the router plane.
And this brings up a common question that I’ve decided to answer today -
How do you keep your router plane sharp?
This video explains my method for sharpening these pretty awkward little irons, and I must say it’s not anything revolutionary!
If you prefer to read then here’s the summary:
Sharpen with a Single Bevel
I always, always use a single bevel on these irons.
They’re generally small and fiddly to hold, but can also be really thick.
Much like sharpening a Japanese chisel that thickness lends itself well to a single bevel, because it gives us a chucky reference surface to sit on to the stone. You’re not going to be able to hold this in any kind of jig so you can make use of that large single bevel to help register the router plane iron at a consistent angle while you sharpen free hand.
An extra benefit is that we keep on top of this bevel every time we sharpen.
With something this fiddly, and especially if you’ve got modern irons made of thick A2 steel it could be a right pig of a job on those occasions when you need to fully reestablish a primary bevel!
So my approach is to keep it single and then you’re always on top of it.
Sharpen Little and Often
This follows on from the reasoning for the single bevel.
You can make this a really easy job by keeping on top of the edge frequently, meaning there’s only minimal strokes needed at any sharpen.
And with a router plane, that frequency is actually not very often at all. Once sharp you’ll get a lot of use out of it, just keep an eye on the edge and when you feel it getting blunt give it a touch up.
So How do I Sharpen Router Plane Irons?
The method itself is probably easier for you to watch than read.
For the most part it’s as you’d expect for free hand sharpening of a single bevel.
I only ever take it to the fine stone, which for me means my oil stone.
I’ll touch up the edge until I feel the slightest burr (it’ll be really small!) then flip it over to remove it on the stone, give it a wipe and you’re good to go!
Like I said, not revolutionary.
I won’t bother stropping these irons as I want to avoid any round over on that single bevel, but feel free to work up the grits on your water stones if you fancy.
If you’re using the none removable ‘allen key’ type irons then simply position your stone so it’s along the edge of your worktop allowing you to hang that awkward bit over the side.
And if you’d like to create your own stupidly simple yet compact and movable little sharpening setup then we’ve drawn out the exact dimensions and layout of mine.
You can download it here.
www.theenglishwoodworker.com/...
Visit the website:
www.theenglishwoodworker.com
Thanks, Richard. This was a very informative video. Those router irons aren’t the easiest. I appreciate your honest and straightforward approach to sharpening those buggers!
Thank you.
I made a sharpening board with my router plane. It really loved the OSB 😅 I have the diamond plates sitting with a pressure fit into shallow recesses in the surface. I have them (three plates) next to each other with a strop on the right. I've also made a recess in front of them (towards me), so I can move a plate down and either flatten the back or remove the burr. I'm probably not explaining this very well, but it works amazingly well. The design actually came from me not having the plates secured but just on some antiskid material. And I had them lined up and would move them to the front as mentioned above. This worked so well that I made something more permanent.
Great timing as I just bought one and used it on your side table project 👍
Beautiful.
Enjoy your educational videos. I hope to achieve your skill level one day. Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
thanks
My laugh out loud moment of the day comes at about 5m 55 sec! 😂❤
The Veritas router plane comes with a "jig" for sharpening straight cutters. My first thought taking it out of the box was that it would be the first thing to lose.
I assume you can touch up the wide V cutter the same way? i find holding the smaller angled faces onto the stone a bit of a bugger. Love the 'clean up the mortise trick' at the end....brilliant 😎. Thanks
It’s the little things that matter. In this case those little but very important router plane blades. Thanks
Question: do you polish the back of the router plane blade like you would a chisel or plane iron? I appreciate your easy style and succinct teaching methods.
Hope there's a new vid in the works.
"When you first get these, don't go and put a micro bevel on it"
Oops 🙄