Handplane Restoration #5: Plane Blades

This morning I got up, threw my tool hunting pack and my son in the car and headed out to see what would come our way. We made our way across town to the local Woodcraft store, stopping at a few yard sales along the way. We did not find much of interest other than a trashed yankee drill that happend to have all of its original drill bits in its storage area. A buck later and we were on our way.

At Woodcraft, I purchased a Hock blade and chip breaker for use the Record T5 hand plane described in my last post. This got me thinking about blades.

I view my blades and planes independently. I have a set of hock blades that I keep in the planes I am using. I retain and lable the original blade that comes with the plane and if I upgrade or change planes, I return the original blade to the plane. The Hock blade is then transferred to the new plane. For example, the Record T5 plane’s blade has never been sharpened. When I am ready to upgrade to a new shooting plane, I can move the blade to another plane and reinstall the unused record blade.

I belive in using high quality blades. They hold an edge longer and they are one of the key components of the plane. I belive this justifys the cost. However, used plane blades are easy to find and to put into service and this approach can be used without having to make a significant investment in blades. If you sharpen the blades correctly and tune up the chip breaker. You should be able to get good results. There are many videos and books that describe how to do this. Many of the sources listed in my earlier posts in this series have this information if you need it.

After leaving Woodcraft, we stopped at a local antique store. No planes, but I did find a nice set of drill bits for use in a brace. I’m sure there are a few Galoots out there who would be interested.

Here are the pictures of the drill bits…

And a couple of my braces for grins

I hope everyone is having a good and productive evening. Take care.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov