More Casa de Cowboy stories, and a question about planes

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mdf

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# 2236943 14-May-2019 20:30

Nice work. Did you use a stone, diamond plate or sandpaper?

neb

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# 2236946 14-May-2019 20:42

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mdf:
Nice work. Did you use a stone, diamond plate or sandpaper?

Yes :-).

Started with a flat file (!!), since even going to 60 grit wasn't removing enough material, then 60 grit on a random orbit sander (see earlier note about how much material needed to be removed), then 120, 240, and 400 grit on a flat block, then 1000 and finally 3000 grit diamond polishing block. That's the Chinese-made foam block than you hold in your hand and run over the surface to polish it, see my response in the knife-sharpening thread for where to get these.

It's not terribly critical, I just experimented with whatever was needed, I only resorted to the flat file when I realised that no sandpaper was going to do the job unless I was prepared to spend days at it, and the sander was for the same reason. They got things close enough that the final finishing wasn't so tedious any more.

kiwigander

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# 2236951 14-May-2019 20:57

Just to be pedantic, Lie-Nielsen are an American firm.

If you're looking for some superb planes (with, regrettably, prices to match), look at the Veritas series from Lee Valley in Canada. Many of them should be available also through Carbatec in Auckland.

mdf

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# 2237004 14-May-2019 21:34

neb: <snip> then 1000 and finally 3000 grit diamond polishing block. That's the Chinese-made foam block than you hold in your hand and run over the surface to polish it <snip>

Interesting, I hadn't seen these before. On the recommendation of Stumpy Nubs and Paul Sellers, I bought this style of diamond back sharpener: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Diamond-Coated-Plate-Sharpener-Whetstone-Sharpening-Stone-400-1000-Grits-/302701741329?hash=item467a6e0511

Naturally, Stumpy was most interested in the premium stuff including some super expensive lapping fluid. However, I've found even this cheap stone + window cleaner (thanks Paul Sellers) incredible on chisels and won't ever go back to old style stones or sandpaper. Might be a bit small for planes though.

Bung

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# 2237036 14-May-2019 22:40

neb: If only the Stanleys weren't so expensive... I've also heard their quality has been slipping in the last few decades as well, so there's no guarantee you won't need to do additional work on a Stanley either.

A lot more than just the last few decades. I called in at Foxton Traders to audit their current SH lineup. For a second I thought I'd found you a 4 in new condition for $45 but it turned out to be a Stanley "Handyman" plane as were 2 others. These can date back as far as the 1960s and aren't well regarded.There was a 4 in very used condition for $40.

neb

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# 2238589 15-May-2019 19:20

mdf:
Interesting, I hadn't seen these before. On the recommendation of Stumpy Nubs and Paul Sellers, I bought this style of diamond back sharpener: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Diamond-Coated-Plate-Sharpener-Whetstone-Sharpening-Stone-400-1000-Grits-/302701741329?hash=item467a6e0511

Got one of those two a while back from a generic Chinese vendor, mostly as a convenient way to sharpen the machete I use to keep the brambles/gorse/whatever in trim. It's OK, although I'm not sure I'd use it for a chisel or plane blade for anything but a very coarse grind. I'll use it as the first stage of dressing the blade on the Indian Stanley and see how it goes, but follow it up with a proper whetstone. The diamond-dust ones don't seem to go beyond about (claimed) 3000-4000, which probably won't give it a fine edge.

neb

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# 2238592 15-May-2019 19:29

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So the latest update, I've acquired an older Stanley #4 on perma-loan, not sure about the vintage but it still has wooden furniture rather than the plastic stuff on the newer ones. The Bombay Special (I have to call it something shorter than "the Craftright-branded Stanley clone from Bunnings, made in India", so I'll use that label) is almost identical to it. In fact in terms of smoothing the sole the Bombay Special went better than the Stanley, the machining was a bit rough but once it was smoothed out it was perfectly flat. The Stanley on the other hand had two indentations from casting that I couldn't get rid of without removing a large amount of surrounding material. So the Bombay Special started out rougher but ended up a lot nicer. In terms of other components, here's the chip breaker, see if you can guess which is from which plane:

The edge on the Stanley is better than on the Bombay Special, but it also looks like it was never sharpened by the owner so it's just the generic from-the-factory finish, I'll do that in the next day or two and report back.

Overall, I'm pretty impressed with the $30 Bombay Special, apart from the plastic furniture which the newer Stanleys have too it gives the $150 Stanley a run for its money.

neb

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# 2238593 15-May-2019 19:38

mdf:
However, I've found even this cheap stone + window cleaner (thanks Paul Sellers) incredible on chisels and won't ever go back to old style stones or sandpaper. Might be a bit small for planes though.

Just out of interest, how do they deal with loading? With a whetstone you're wearing it away as you hone, with the Chinese foam-backed pads you toss them once they're clogged, but with these its unclear how long they can remain usable...

mdf

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# 2238604 15-May-2019 19:58

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neb:
mdf:

However, I've found even this cheap stone + window cleaner (thanks Paul Sellers) incredible on chisels and won't ever go back to old style stones or sandpaper. Might be a bit small for planes though.

Just out of interest, how do they deal with loading? With a whetstone you're wearing it away as you hone, with the Chinese foam-backed pads you toss them once they're clogged, but with these its unclear how long they can remain usable...

Using lapping fluid (which for me is a $4 bottle of windex) seems to make a positive difference; the steel dust (tailings?) basically floats itself away. I sharpened a new 4 pack of Irwin chisels from cold and it seemed to get better by the end (or perhaps I got more practised on the way through). I've since used it to touch up the chisels as I go. Haven't noticed any degradation, though I am careful about using all bits of it sort of equally.

I used Paul Sellers method:

400 diamond

1000 diamond

Green honing compound on wood (for the back) and a leather strop (for the bevel)

Seems to get it sharp enough for my needs. Certainly was taking the hair of the back of my arms with no effort. And without drawing blood.

The 400 diamond is also aggressive enough that I should probably invest in a bevel guide. I got a bit sloppy on one and rounded over a corner, fortunately at the back of the bevel.

neb

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# 2239967 17-May-2019 14:51

Here's the Stanley after cleaning up the sole. In the background Mrs.Neb's cleaned-up sink bench, "if you can spend that long on a plane you can spend a bit of time on the sink bench surround as well".

Next is sharpening the blades, accompanied by wishful thinking about owning a Veritas honing guide.

neb

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# 2240012 17-May-2019 17:05

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Blades are sharpened, using Pam's dishwashing liquid in lieu of Windex, thanks for the tip @mdf. It works really well, the equivalent of using oil but without the mess and gunk. Went with 400 followed by 1000 diamond plates, and finally some exotic Japanese waterstone I'd inherited. That was less than perfect, it had seen decades of use and was rather dished out, eventually I'll get some chromate buffing compound and finish it with that.

neb

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# 2240891 19-May-2019 17:55

Sub-thread on sharpening transferred to its own thread which is a bit more on-topic.

neb

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# 2249685 1-Jun-2019 19:17

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So the original point of the thread before it got sidetracked into blade sharpening was fixing up a bit of the Casa de Cowboy that previous owners had messed up. Here's the end result:

which AFAICT is what it would have looked like originally. Only bit still to go, and the motivation for the digression into planing, is the nonstandard trim not visible at the top of the photo.

neb

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# 2261494 20-Jun-2019 14:17

Nonstandard trim is done, with the Bombay Special just to give it a go:

It did a pretty nice job, and felt just like using the Stanley. Or at least one of the newer ones with plastic furniture. Just need to patch it into place, since they did the cuts with a multi-tool the edges are nowhere near square.

neb

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# 2261498 20-Jun-2019 14:20

Just looking at the dates on the posts, that only took 1 1/2 months! Of which 1 1/4 was playing with planes, admittedly, a variation of the saying that electronic test equipment only breeds more electronic test equipment.

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