This is Max from Colorado with a first time post.
My background is mostly rustic/freeform furniture (no right angles), but I have recently made the jump to the other end of the woodworking spectrum and signed on with a production cabinet maker. Much to my delight, he has decided that after nearly 20 years of building boxes, he is ready for a change–after 10 months, so am I.
We are now re-directing the business, scaling down and focusing on more challenging, and aesthetically pleasing, furniture projects. Now begins the fun process of rearranging the shop, building a solid workbench, and digging out and dusting off all of our old hand tools.
My question is about cleaning and tuning neglected hand tools. I came across a nice set of 10 old japanese chisels in need of much tlc. They have a fair amount of rust, dried glue, and are all skewed pretty far out of square. We do not have a good bench grinder at the moment, so I am looking for any advice on what I should use to consistently produce good square bevels while removing a fair amount of metal. Should I use a wire wheel to clean up the rust?…naval jelly? Also, the old handplanes we have are all in need of tuning, which neither of us have much experience in. Can anyone reccomend a good handplane rescource with basic tuning and maintenance procedures? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Thanks, Max
Replies
Others here will have good advice. I recommend immediately soaking your tools in kerosene for as long as you can stand it before doing anything else (like weeks). Sometimes the stuff you think is rust isn't. So the kerosene can get rid of that. I've heard that rust can actually turn back into metal if you soak it long enough. I'd skip the wire wheel, but then I prefer the dark look of steel. Make sure the tools sit above the bottom of the jar as water sometimes collects there.
Adam
Hi Max,
Begin with Cian Perez' website:
http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To.htm
The right-hand column is the Know-How section. Cian's site is a wonderful resource.
Take care, Mike
If your tools are really rust coated there is a technique using washing soda in solution and a 12v car battery charger make a solution of about 10% using a plastic container that will accomadate your tools connect the positive side of the charger to a steel anode ,can be any piece of scrap steel the negative side to the tool the rust wii float off. Do not get this backwards it will create rust.The clean up should be easy
Regards from OZ
You can make it fool proof but not idiot proof
I tend to avoid procedures like electrolosis since these change the composition of the steel. Some complain it makes it brittle. It certainly can give is a "dead" grey look. Instead try soaking the metal in a solution of citric acid. You can buy the citric powder at most supermarkets in the baking section. This is quite gentle but effective.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Good to see u at this site after reading all about your sharpening jigs on wwforums in aust. Ever tried hydrofluoric acid? Very potent, just don't get it on body. Greetings from northern nsw australia.
HF is one of the most corrosive agents known. It will etch glass. In the lab we would take all sorts of precautions including a very good hood when using it and then only if it was the only thing available.
As for the lack of a grinder, why not use Tage Frid's technique of an inverted belt sander with a well-used 150 grit belt or a 250? I found it works well to get the primary bevel followed by whatever technique you like for the secondary honing. Just don't allow it to over heat. I touch it to the belt and then off several times to prevent heating.
Edited 8/28/2006 12:20 pm ET by dherzig
Max,
Along with the information others have already provided you, these books will give you most of the information and techniques you're looking for:
Garret Hack's Handplane Book is probably the best general book on hand planes; his Classic Hand Tools is also very good. Mike Dunbar's book on Restoring, Tuning, and Using Classic Hand Tools is very useful for tuning up and prepping planes, chisels, and saws (and other tools); the plane and chisel sections are very thorough. Andy Rae's Choosing and Using Hand Tools also has a lot of good information on planes, chisels, and other hand tools. Peter Korn's The Woodworker's Guide to Hand Tools is also good. Aldren Watson's Hand Tools: Their Ways and Workings, is also very worthwhile. There are several others worth taking a look at, as well.
Hope that this of some help to you.
I wish you the best of luck!!
Tschüß!
Mit freundlichen holzbearbeitungischen Grüßen!
James
Thanks to all for responding.
This is my first time on any forum, and it is great to see the enthusiasm with which the people in this community share their hard earned wisdom with newcomers. I have learned a ton just reading through other threads. Thanks for the generosity.
dherzig: when grinding an initial bevel with a belt sander, have you devised any sort of tool rest, or do you just freehand it?
Thanks again!
Max
I've done it several different ways depending on my mood and the phase of the moon. I happen to have a foot switch that I hooked to the sander. I would lay the blade carefully on the paper and tap the switch several times.
I also recently got a combo belt and disc sander. Using the adjustable bed and adjusting the angle of the belt, I was able to approximate the angle that the blade attacked the belt when held on the table (which also helps as a heat sink). I could slide the blade up the table slowly until it made contact with the belt and then slide it back. This kept it from over heating and was very fast. I reground the primary bevel on my LN scrub plane to the smoothest curve I've ever had. You might look at Derek Cohen's review of the LV scrub plan where he shows a simple jig for doing this. (http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/dCohen/theLeeValleyScrubPlane/index.asp). Also the Tige Frid DVD from Taunton (if you can borrow it) shows him doing the same.
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