No. 62 Blade angles.

[deserter]

As some may have read I have just purchased a new Lie Nielsen no. 62 with a spare iron.
After a little research I have discovered that the normal 3 angles for these irons is either 25, 38 and 50 degrees, so at the risk of opening a can of worms again, what can anyone recommend and more importantly why?

I use mainly hardwoods and want to get maximum versatility out of this tool, hopefully be able to use it for everything from smoothing to stock removal although I doubt I will be brave enough to work from sawn boards as yet.

Eventually I will be getting another iron for this plane and, when I decide which other models I require, (and also funds) more planes.

Cheers for the help in advance Chris.

 

[bugbear]

As some may have read I have just purchased a new Lie Nielsen no. 62 with a spare iron.
After a little research I have discovered that the normal 3 angles for these irons is either 25, 38 and 50 degrees, so at the risk of opening a can of worms again, what can anyone recommend and more importantly why?

I use mainly hardwoods and want to get maximum versatility out of this tool, hopefully be able to use it for everything from smoothing to stock removal although I doubt I will be brave enough to work from sawn boards as yet.

Eventually I will be getting another iron for this plane and, when I decide which other models I require, (and also funds) more planes.

Cheers for the help in advance Chris.

Lower angles give easier cutting, higher angles reduce tearout. It's a pay-off.

BugBear

 

[Mike Wingate]

I us the 50 degree blade in my QS62 for scraping troublesome hardwoods. The 25 gives a really smooth and easy cutting action. I am debating when to get a low angle QS blockplane with 3 blades.

 

[David C]

I would grind both blades at 25 degrees and only vary the honing angle.

best wishes,
David

 

[Jacob]

.... I doubt I will be brave enough to work from sawn boards as yet. ....

That's what a jack plane is mainly for. Requires no courage, you just do it!
If you aren't sure about planing then just stick to one plane, one blade, one honing angle (30º), until you feel you are in control. This may take some time. I'd avoid all the tool fiddling temptations, these are just a distraction from the main task and are unlikely to be helpful at all. Speed up your progress by practicing on any old bits of wood which come your way. Pallets are good.
PS the single most effective way of improving your planing is the squiggle of candle wax on the sole. Just a squiggle, like a hasty signature, every now and then.

 

[woodbloke]

Pallets are good.

Poor advice IMO. Pallets are usually made from the cheapest and nastiest of timbers and may be sometimes be full of embedded nails and staples. In my view they make poor plane fodder and are liable to put someone 'off', better to go for something from one of the 'sheds' and even better if a bit can be picked that's knot free - Rob

 

[Jacob]

Pallets are good.

Poor advice IMO. Pallets are usually made from the cheapest and nastiest of timbers and may be sometimes be full of embedded nails and staples. In my view they make poor plane fodder and are liable to put someone 'off', better to go for something from one of the 'sheds' and even better if a bit can be picked that's knot free - Rob

What you do Rob is pull the nails out first!
Waste wood is good for practice.

 

[János]

Hello,

So you have two blades. Sharpen one to 20~25 deg, and use it for softwoods (fir, paulownia etc.) and endgrain, the other to 35~40 deg, and use it for general purpose planing and for harder woods (maple, walnut etc.)

Swapping blades as you work is not too practical, though... Two (or more) planes for different tasks would be better.

Have a nice day,

János

 

[deserter]

I would grind both blades at 25 degrees and only vary the honing angle.

best wishes,
David

What angles would you advise honing at please? I normally hone at 30 degrees on a 25 degree bevel if I wanted to achieve the effect of the 38 degree angle for example would I hone at 43 degrees (the 38 plus my normal 5 degree micro bevel)?

To answer the switching of blades statement the beauty of the low angled planes is the ease with which you can switch irons.

 

[Jacob]

Just stick to 30º. You'll know soon enough when it's time to think again. Two planes, two blades, makes life twice as difficult when you are learning. Er, 4 times actually.

 

[David C]

Chris,

I don't know what your sharpening procedure is, but I would raise a wire edge on something like an 800 grit stone, at 33 degrees and polish at 35 degrees, for normal planing. (assuming the blades are A2).

For more difficult grain where this blade causes tearout, I would polish at 48 degrees and raise wire edge at 46 degrees. You can experiment with steeper angles. For interlocked exotics I polish at 58 degrees, coarse stone 56 degrees.

My sharpening method relies on an Eclipse type side clamping honing guide. Shortening the projection by a couple of millimetres, when moving from coarse to polishing stone, is something which does not need measurement.

Best wishes,
David Charlesworth The second set of angles were b--lo--s. I forgot the bedding angle of the plane....so have changed them.

 

[Jacob]

...... Shortening the projection by a couple of millimetres, when moving from coarse to polishing stone, is something which does not need measurement.

....

Steady on! :roll:

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi Chris

On my BU planes I generally only use two cutting (included) angles: 37 degrees for end grain and 62 degrees for face grain.

On a 12 degree plane bed, these require a 25 degree and 50 degree bevel, respectively.

For all BU blades I grind a primary bevel at 25 degrees. Since this is done on a wet Tormek, creating a hollow grind, the lower cutting angle does not require a secondary bevel. The higher angle does require a 50 degree secondary, whiich I generally do on a LV MkII honing guide (which has a setting for 50 degrees, the angle of the secondary).

I do not need more than a single secondary angle (unlike David) because I grind the hollow to the edge of the blade, and the resulting microbevel has so little steel to abrade that there is no gain in changing angles. I might do as David recommends if the steel at the edge was thick.

Some years ago I wrote an article on this. It was stimulated by the need to create a camber for a jack plane, but this was extended into smoothers as well. The main thrust is about choosing the primary angle for BU blades: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/WoodworkTe ... lades.html

Regards from Perth

Derek