- Joined
- Feb 5, 2013
- Messages
- 194
I'm slowly collecting the tools for woodworking, making all I can. To date I've been buying blades and making the planes. Money being hard to find, I've been reading up here on making my own blades. I could get 4 feet of 10** than I'd spend on a single blade, but I'd still require all the setup to make the blade. I have at least as much fun making the tools as I have making stuff with the tools, so I'm not looking for an "easy" shortcut, just a cheaper and more fun way of acquiring some plane, chisel and carving blades than just buying them.
I've been reading through the stickies and other posts and would like a reality check at this point.
I'd love to work my way up to a proper setup, but does it sound silly to start by getting some 1080 or 1084 and treat just the cutting edge, using a torch or a hole-in-ground forge? I'd make a two brick forge or the like along the way, but am curious about the lower bound of simplicity and cost to start with. Many blades, especially those in antique planes, are laminated and just have high carbon steel along the cutting edge - seems to me this would accomplish something similar. Would the same approach work for chisels? (over time I'd grind and sharpen past the treated area, but would have a decent forge by then to redo it)
I'd love to make the shoulder and rebate planes I need, along with a number of chisels I don't have. I could get a lot of blades out of 3" by 48"
Most good aftermarket plane blades have a hardness of around 60-62. I see them made from all sorts of steels but most commonly O1 and A2. I haven't seen any made from 1084 but I suspect that is because anyone who sells them knows enough to get the most out of other steels, while I'm looking for making something myself that will work well ("well" defined here as "much better than the awful stock blade new stanleys come with" - I have one such blade and I swear I can still make out a hint of the label from the tuna can it was made from).
I'm stuck on 1084 simply because I keep reading here that it is the easiest steel to decently heat treat in a very simple manner, not because it would make the "best" steel for the blades. I guess it comes down to: would it be an appropriate steel (edge holding, ease of sharpening) and would the above approach suck too much to bother with?
Thank you!
I've been reading through the stickies and other posts and would like a reality check at this point.
I'd love to work my way up to a proper setup, but does it sound silly to start by getting some 1080 or 1084 and treat just the cutting edge, using a torch or a hole-in-ground forge? I'd make a two brick forge or the like along the way, but am curious about the lower bound of simplicity and cost to start with. Many blades, especially those in antique planes, are laminated and just have high carbon steel along the cutting edge - seems to me this would accomplish something similar. Would the same approach work for chisels? (over time I'd grind and sharpen past the treated area, but would have a decent forge by then to redo it)
I'd love to make the shoulder and rebate planes I need, along with a number of chisels I don't have. I could get a lot of blades out of 3" by 48"
Most good aftermarket plane blades have a hardness of around 60-62. I see them made from all sorts of steels but most commonly O1 and A2. I haven't seen any made from 1084 but I suspect that is because anyone who sells them knows enough to get the most out of other steels, while I'm looking for making something myself that will work well ("well" defined here as "much better than the awful stock blade new stanleys come with" - I have one such blade and I swear I can still make out a hint of the label from the tuna can it was made from).
I'm stuck on 1084 simply because I keep reading here that it is the easiest steel to decently heat treat in a very simple manner, not because it would make the "best" steel for the blades. I guess it comes down to: would it be an appropriate steel (edge holding, ease of sharpening) and would the above approach suck too much to bother with?
Thank you!
If I find I can do this I'll certainly build a small or tiny forge.