Hock Plane Blade Sharpening

Sharpening a Hock blade is really no different than most other plane blades, but I wanted to walk through the process, especially since this is a new blade. I created another plane blade sharpening video when I was teaching, but it started with a blade that had been previously sharpened and the back (sometimes called the face) was already flat.

In this week’s video, I start with a brand new blade. As I mention in the video, Hock blades have varied over the years in the flatness of the back. In the past, I have spent over an hour flattening that surface. It took about 20 minutes this time.

I can’t stress enough that you need to keep your stones flat. I flatten mine every few minutes. It pains me to think how many of my students thought they were working with flat stones, only to realize too late that their stone was hollow. Some would swear to me that they were flattening often, but when I held a straightedge on their stone, there was a visible gap. The hollow creates a surface on the blade that has a slight belly that is most apparent when moving to the next stone. It can be a huge amount of work to fix. Maybe I’ll do a video at some point showing this issue, how to avoid it, and how to fix it.

It helps immensely to have a lapping plate. It makes flattening your stones quick and easy, which means you will do it more often. The downside, of course, is that they are expensive. Last I checked, the cheapest was around $200, but if your time is worth anything it is money well spent.

In the video, I also discuss fettling the chipbreaker. Since the metal in the chipbreaker is relatively soft, this is usually quick and easy.

Watch the video here.

Note that I will be out of town the next two weeks and probably won’t post again until June 4.