Is oak very hard?

Yes oak is hard, but every half hour sounds excessive. WHat kind of plane are you using and how have you sharpened it?

-- ...it's rennovation time!!!

No. 4 , 5, and 7; 4 and 5 are Footprint. 7 is an old Stanley. Cutters are original. I raise my primary bevel from 30 to 35 degree with 2-4 degree of the second bevel. How often do you sharpen cutter when you work with oak. Thanks.

Yes, oak is very hard.
-JJ

-- JJ...... I guess you could say I'm a 54 year old "juniorjock". — Make things with wood.

I used oak on my vise chock and mounting blocks on the bench I just made. It is hard, but I didn’t have to stop to sharpen my blades. 39 degrees is quite a wedge to be cutting with. I can’t say I have any experience with that big of an included angle on a blade. That is getting into mortise chisel territory.

I would recommend going back to 27-28 degrees and 2 degree secondary bevel but add more camber to the blade. That will provide a smoother cut and also reduce the amount of blade in contact with the wood.

-- Doug, woodworking in Alabama

Along with reducing the angle, how sharp are you getting the cutter?

Also, I find that waxing the plane sole makes life a lot easier, when jointing a large piece I stop to do that every 1/2 hour or so.

I agree with previous posts – I have the bevel on my planes at 25 with a 2 degree secondary bevel.

also as marcb mentioned – it also depends on how sharp/honed your blades are! If not sure- I suggest searching on honing/sharpening techniques (here, google, fww, pww) if you are not honing your blades to hair splitting sharpness – the blades will have to ‘work’ extra hard when planing, and that in turn will shorten the life of their edge – forcing you to sharpen more often (and also getting not as smooth surface as possible – just a bonus).

I’ve personally wrote a blog around the Scary-Sharpening method to hone your chisels/planes, and know that others have wrote similar blogs/tips here in LJ.

-- ㊍ When in doubt - There is no doubt - Go the safer route.

I think I know why, well here is an additional theory… and the others have great ideas, but this is another thing just to think about… Oak is a large pore wood that very easily can store minerals and such things out of the earth when it is growning. That may be the problem

-- Nicholas, Journeyman Cabinetmaker, Partenkirchen, Germany

White oak is very hard, while red oak is not as bad. When I built my work bench, I used kiln-dried white oak and every 1/2 hour seems about right. I had several irons, and was changing them about at that interval. (Of course, that could have been partially due to me being old and it was a good excuse to take a break!!)

Go

-- Go http://ncwoodworker.net/pp/showgallery.php?cat=500&ppuser=730

Thanks for all of your posts. I only used 1000 and 4000 grit. I just ordered a 8000 grit waterstone last week and will receive it soon. Hope this help.

Your 8000 grit stone will help and should help your edges last a bit longer as they will work better right off the 8000. Heat is the enemy of honed edges. Oak being a hardwood will cause that fine edge to break down rather quickly. That’s the advantage of aftermarket blades such as Hock or Clifton or L-N. They usually have a higher RC number which translates into a longer lasting edge. Harder to sharpen but darn well worth it.

The key to it is to get comfortable whetting your edge often. As soon as you notice the plane becoming a bit more difficult to push, you should pop that puppy out and whet the edge. You’ll get more mileage out of the sharpened blade and it will also build your confidence in doing so. I always keep my fake leather hone nearby charged with compound. I also use Clifton Stay-Set cap irons which allow me to get right back to work without having to reset the cap iron. Great stuff.

always,
J.C.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein

8000g is good, stropping after is better IMO. I recently acquired a strop and am still kicking myself for waiting so long to do so. You can strop right from 4000-6000g waterstone. I think green rouge is about 15,000g IIRC.

Gofor, good point on the white vs. red. There is a difference. Red is hard, white is just for those glutton for punishment.

-- Doug, woodworking in Alabama