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New tools what to do before using?

1K views 14 replies 8 participants last post by  OSU55 
#1 · (Edited by Moderator)
New to woodworking and very new to hand tools, I have a few new tools including 3 new veritas saws(carcass,dovetail,tenening) 2 new planes(#5 LA jackplane, and LA Block plane), and a set of Veritas bench chisels. I went with PM-v11 on planes and chisels. Is there anything That I should be doing before putting these tools to work such as sharpening my steal or setting the saw? All I have found on the subject is how to do these things but is it recommended before starting or once they are dull?
 
#2 ·
The plane blades and chisels are normally honed first, but they should be already sharpened decently from the factory. Should only need a higher grit stone to start with.
 
#3 ·
Saws will be ready to go out of the box, planes and chisels should be honed before use. As jmartel said, a high grit stone and/or strop is probably all that's needed to get started. If you keep them sharp with periodic touch-ups and don't get nicks, then that will be enough for quite a bit of use.

My planes and chisels rarely hit anything other than my finest stone (a Super-Fine EZ Lap Diamond Plate) and a strop.
 
#6 ·
The Duosharp extra-fine is very similar in grit to my EZ Lap, so will be fine. I'd just do a few passes on that, check to make sure that everything is looking good and then proceed up to a higher grit to finish. I don't consider the 1200 grit diamond plates to be quite fine enough for a truly sharp edge. I like to follow up with a strop, others use diamond film or a very high grit waterstone. All work just fine.
 
#15 ·
I use duosharps up to 25um, then use mylar film in 30, 12, 3, and 0.3um using microbevels to reduce time. Here's a description. The film on glass is flatter than the stones and doesn't need dressed/flattened. I go this fine for a smoothing plane blade. Blades for other uses don't need quite the polish. A jack plane blade could probable stop at 25um (used for rough jack plane work).
 
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