Making Plane Irons Video – Hardening, Annealing, Sharpening and Setting

ByPaul Sellers

Our latest video on making your own plane irons is up on woodworking masterclasses.
I was so glad to see this video up and running at last. Having finished the plane  making series two weeks ago we were waiting for  even slightly better weather to  make a video on hardening and annealing home made plane irons and we had a one suitable day a week ago to do it. DSC_0084 If you have been following how to make fully jointed workbench/bar stools with us you will also have built your first radius planes (round-both-ways) for scalloping and smoothing the shaped seat. We went on to making your own plane irons from O1 steel flat stock and showed how to harden and anneal the steel using a charcoal, a barbecue pit and a regular kitchen oven. DSC_0013 It’s as simple to make other irons and knives of different kinds so if you need a spokeshave iron or a plough plane cutter, this video shows the process and takes. You step by step through to a fully sharpened and finished plane iron.
As with all our technique videos, this video is free to members who sign in for a free subscription to woodworkingmasterclasses.com.

2 Comments

  1. Paul, Thank You for this I really enjoyed the video as it takes the mystrey out of tempering steel without having to invest in expensive forges etc. Now I can go ahead and buy O1 for makeing thes blades.

    Steve

  2. Hi Paul, I think you mean Hardening and Tempering NOT hardening and annealing. Annealing is the process of softening metal by heating it and leaving it in sand to cool down slowly. There are four tempering colours: straw; brown; purple; blue. Heating high carbon steel to straw then quenching in water or oil (oil is better as there is less chance of the material cracking) will produce a harder metal than heating to blue and quenching in oil. Tempering reduces hardness and increases toughness.

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