Hand Tools

Re: Conclusions of abrasive size experiment

david weaver
It may be that I need to do a single run with V11 and 5 microns to see what the effect would be on it. I suspect that it's not just 200 feet, but that the shape of the wear starts differently and would guess that a percentage of edge life is a better application.

Beyond that, though, it is far more physical work to plane 75-80% of the edge life with the 5 micron edge, the shavings don't pick up at the beginning of the board as cleanly (which will lead to inaccuracy) and it's just generally a miserable experience.

I think that a 5 micron abrasives sets up the geometry well and the edge looks even, but some kind of cheat needs to be used at the edge if you don't want to do the full process. I think even for a shaving lifter, the accuracy gained by the sharpness, the duration and the ease of planing all point toward it being useful.

It'll be dependent on how much board thickness I have in this board. If I run through the heart and into the sap, the results won't be meaningful. If I switch boards, same. I didn't run multiple V11 tests in this wood, but we have a set of shavings with the house iron at the same setup as test 2 (the first beech test) and can guess that the results are reasonable to compare to the duration from that test (don't remember what it was - 1700 feet or something).

I think if you cut your bevel with 5 micron and then have some way just to even kiss the edge at a slightly higher angle on 1 micron, you'll gain most of the benefit.

I hope anyone reading the study once it's posted will be willing to try two things to compare them - I think in this case, even though it would take an hour or two, you might find interest in trying 1 micron against 5 to compare how they feel. 5 just comes up short. I culled the 2.5/3 results, they were not different enough from 5 and they're too fine, I think, to be considered as any option to remove wear.

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