Walter Barry posted his experiences to the Porch on using a new type of abrasive paper known by more than one common name but referred to here as alumina-zirconia (AlZ). Alumina-zirconia is a ceramic abrasive with improved cutting ability on cast iron in comparison to the previous standard, silicon carbide. In the same spirit as ScarySharp(TM), Walter coined the 'trade name' of QuickLap(TM) for the use of AlZ coated paper in lapping blades and plane soles. After reading Walter's post I went out and got some AlZ sanding belts and went to town on several of my planes.
Date: Fri, 20 Sep 96 From: Walter Barry To: OldTools Subject: QuickLap(tm) ...faster, cheaper & better than Scary-Sharp(tm) Wow! I echoed Don Berry on Wednesday re: all the new kid's on the block who were spreading forth the gospel of sandpaper sharpening, as "old news" and then even cited a Fine Homebuilding article from 1983 on using Silicon Carbide paper, and still nobody flamed. Well I hope the that stuff I had written on Silicon Carbide (SiC) & Aluminum Oxide (AlO) was informative to someone. I had mentioned this stuff to a few dudes at the CRAFTS picnic last Sunday, and had wanted to post it in here for quite awhile. I've been using SiC paper & drywall sheets for the past few years to do the initial lapping on the back of old plane irons & chisels, and for those rare, occasional times when I felt the need to "flatten" the sole of a handplane. It's harder & lasts longer then Emery and AlO, but it's still a laborious process, especially if trying to remove any deep "PITS" around an edge, on the backside of an old iron. Of course a Diamond stone is a good alternative, but these are not only expensive, but many before have complained about their relative flatness. Besides, I've already piled up a lot (MANY) of oilstones, which are no doubt best (in my not-so humble opinion) for the finer honing & polishing. Anyway, since SiC was given a trademark <big-grin> so I'm going to assign one to this stuff. Hence forth Alumina-Zirconia (AlZ) can be referred to as QuickLap(tm). A VERY effective alternative to SiC. A L U M I N A - Z I R C O N I A <----attention getter KLINGSPOR calls it "two steps away from Diamonds in hardness" and sells it as "planer belts" for "VERY aggressive planing" in 24, 36, 40, 50, 60 and 80 grit, in sizes up to 6"x48". Ironically they call it Alumina-Zirconia, while NORTON calls the same stuff Zirconia-Alumina, and use it for their "Select" belts, widely available at places like Home Depot, etc., for a little more $$ than the common brown AlO belts. Both KLINGSPOR and NORTON both manufacture the stuff in a light blue color, as opposed to the common Sic (black) AlO (brown) & Garnet (tan) identification scheme. 3M also makes something that they are calling "FILE SHEET DRY" sole in a heavy "D" weight paper, 2-3/4"x18" sheets, light green in color, that's also the same stuff. So far, Klingspor & Norton are not selling this stuff in sheets, obviously they are not aware of the lapper market <grin>. But a razor knife can slice the inside of a belt & problem solved. Price?? Home Depot has Norton's belts in 50 grit coarse, 80 grit medium, and 120 grit fine, 3"x21" belts in packages of two, for around $5 each. Compared in my findings, to how much longer it lasts compared to SiC paper, I think that it's definitely much cheaper. However, it doesn't come in fine grits. But for FAST removal of metal, start with an 80 grit (unless the iron is severely pitted), quickly switch to 120, then go back to your SiC paper. Personally, I'll only go 300-600 grit and then switch over to an India, then move up the Arkansas'. For the past few months I've been experimenting with this stuff. Alternating between SiC and AlZ to give a fair comparison. Without a doubt, this stuff "cuts" into hard metal quickly, much faster than SiC, and it lasts much longer too, than anything else. For blades, I've done a dozen Stanley SW-tm and prior bench plane irons, half from never used dirty planes. If it's pitted, start with 80 grit then 120. I also lapped about 20 chisels, again, half had been previously sharpening, and more new old finds that were laying around. For chisels, I recommend starting with the 120 grit immediately, unless severely pitted. Why waste good old steel, right? The results were obvious, as you'll see too. AlZ cuts fasts & lasts longer than SiC. In absolutely no time, I was switching to finer Sic, hone, polish & enjoy. And with much less effort than lapping w/SiC. For sole flattening, I'd personally rather NOT, since I strongly feel that you should first check the sole with a quality straight edge, then second, verify through actual use that there is really a problem at all. It WILL show up during use. If there's no problem why waste your time, right?? I fully understand the critical areas of a sole (more it seems than most sole lappers) and realize the "relative" flatness is just as good as "100%" That said, I will admit to have "lap'd" few soles over the past few years. After a problem has been identified. Funny, one specific problem has never appeared in any of the many "modern" articles if read re: sole flatness. But that's another topic...... so for my testing using Alumina-zirconia belts to flatten the cast-iron sole of a plane, I used a extra Stanley SW-tm #5 jack that been sitting around for a long while doing nothing. Everyone knows, this is dirty work. I started with the 50 grit, and quickly moved up. The belt quickly fills with the gray dust from the cast-iron sole almost immediately. The AlZ belts are open-coat, so sweep them clean and start again. This is where AlZ blows SiC away. After you clean away the dust, the belt still looks & works like new. It takes a long time for them a wear out. SiC seems to start clogging & loosing its effectiveness much quicker. So if you are really that into lapping cast-iron plane soles (even when it's not required) use AlZ instead of Sic, Emery or AlO and save yourself a lot of time & effort. So I hope that all of this was useful, and I save everyone a few hours of lapping, while putting an old plane back into use, so that you can spend it on actual woodworking instead. And you can even use it, better than Sic, to clean out old clogged sharpening stones too.
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Date: Sat, 21 Sep 1996 From: Tom Price To: OldTools Subject: QuickLap(TM) and IronEater(TM) do the job! Walter Barry wrote: (snip) > I had mentioned this stuff to a few dudes at the CRAFTS picnic last > Sunday, and had wanted to post it in here for quite awhile. I've been > using SiC paper & drywall sheets for the past few years to do the > initial lapping on the back of old plane irons & chisels, and for those > rare, occasional times when I felt the need to "flatten" the sole of a > handplane. It's harder & lasts longer then Emery and AlO, but it's > still a laborious process, especially if trying to remove any deep "PITS" > around an edge, on the backside of an old iron. > (snip) > Anyway, since SiC was given a trademark <big-grin> so I'm going to > assign one to this stuff. Hence forth Alumina-Zirconia (AlZ) can be > referred to as QuickLap(tm). A VERY effective alternative to SiC. > (snip) > Price?? Home Depot has Norton's belts in 50 grit coarse, 80 grit medium, > and 120 grit fine, 3"x21" belts in packages of two, for around $5 each. > Compared in my findings, to how much longer it lasts compared to SiC > paper, I think that it's definitely much cheaper. However, it doesn't > come in fine grits. But for FAST removal of metal, start with an 80 grit > (unless the iron is severely pitted), quickly switch to 120, then go > back to your SiC paper. Personally, I'll only go 300-600 grit and then > switch over to an India, then move up the Arkansas'. > I picked this post up from the Hyperarchive just before I left work yesterday. We don't have a Home Depot near us so I visited the nearest Lowes on the way home and got a couple of packs of the 3"x21" Norton 'Select' belts in 80 and 120 grit. After supper I went down into the shop and cut up two of the belts, one of each grit, and used spray glue to stick them onto my plate glass lapping surface. I grabbed a Type 6 Stanley #5 that badly needed lapping and which had been sitting unused on the shelf since I cleaned it up. The sole was convex and the area around the mouth was hollowed as well. I had been dreading this. I started on the 80 grit and was amazed at how quickly the abrasive cut the cast iron. Shortly thereafter, I had a flat sole. I moved to the 120 grit to clean up the scratches left by the 80 grit and checked it with my straightedge. Yep, flat. I stopped on that plane and gazed thoughtfully at the shelf of planes over the end of my bench.... Well, this led to a marathon lapping session that went on until the wee hours of the morning. I was having so much fun that I lost track of time. The score was one #3, three #4's (four if we include a Millers Falls #9C), three #5's, 8 chisels and three plane blades. I had to stop periodically and vacuum the iron dust off of the belts but the stuff never came close to clogging. It is _very_ effective at removing cast iron. One additional innovation I would like to mention is the use of a Sandvik scraper to spot remove metal. These scrapers are sold through some of the larger home stores but I got mine at Woodworkers Warehouse. They come in at least two sizes and use replaceable carbide blades. They have sturdy aluminum alloy handles with orange plastic grips. The blades are quite sharp and will aggressively remove cast iron. I have the version with the smallest blade which is triangular. The edges on these triangular blades have a slight radius to them. This works well as a poor man's metal scraper. What the heck, since we are distinguishing the various techniques with trademarks, I'll christen the use of a Sandvik carbide blade scraper on cast iron plane soles as IronEater(TM). I use the scraper with a light hand and do a crosshatch pattern on the shiny areas (i.e. high spots) produced when lapping if there is a lot of metal to be removed (in the relative sense, of course). For the really hard cases I alternated between QuickLap(TM) and IronEater(TM) with the QuickLap(TM) as the final step in order to remove the scraping marks. I always clamp the plane upside down in a vise, otherwise it is easy to get chatter while scraping. The scrapers are not as effective on cast steel and I use just the abrasive for the chisels and plane blades. One has to be _careful_ with IronEater(TM); it is easy to get carried away and carve out too much metal. The combination of QuickLap(TM) and IronEater(TM) substantially reduce the time to achieve a flat plane sole. **************************** Tom Price Just say I got religion and joined the Flat Sole Society last night, etc.
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Copyright 1997 Thomas Price - All rights reserved
Portions Copyright 1997 Walter Barry - Used with permission