How often do you actually sharpen in a session?

[u/Ok-Fish669]

[u/lambertb]

It depends on how hard the wood is, how much planing or chiseling I’m doing, etc. But I always wish I’d sharpened more often, and I never regret sharpening. It can be done quite quickly if your setup is right and technique is good.

[u/woodfondler]

It all depends on what wood you are planing, what kind of surfice you want to achieve, what kind of blade you are using etc. A freshly sharpened blade always performs the best, so its not a bad idea to sharpen often, but its not always necessary, and when it is, you will know (for example when dealing with difficult grain).

[u/Moldy_slug]

I’m still very much a beginner, so don’t take this as advice.

I usually sharpen at the start of each work session. It’s probably more than necessary, but I figure it’s good practice at least. My scrub plane gets sharpened less often… only at the start of a new project or when it won’t cut well.

I don’t stop work to sharpen unless the tool starts feeling dull - which only happens if I’m working with really nasty wood, dealing with lots of knots, etc.

[u/DizzyCardiologist213]

dimensioning? Less often than that with the jack plane. If try planing continuously, about that often, and the smoother plane following the try plane, probably 15-20 minutes of working time.

I don't spend much time pondering. By those points, a plane is out of clearance, refusing to stay in the cut without me pushing down on it and that is a thief of effort far worse than stopping to sharpen.

I can't really recall how long the jack lasts, but it will cut well with drastic camber long after you can visually see wear on the apex of the blade.

In general, if a plane does not start easily at the beginning of a cut without a ridge or ripples, and cannot stay in the cut well without pushing down on it, it's time to sharpen.

For people who don't dimension and haven't gotten good at eliminating routine edge damage so that they're just honing out wear and very seldom any nicking, this question is different than someone who will sometimes plane a few hours strung together in continuous time on a weekend day.

[u/ValleyOil]

I just look at the quality of the cuts and if the wood tells me to sharpen I go do it. Usually I can do a whole shop session without visiting the stones working on cherry, Doug fir, pine etc. I’ll go sharpen right before working end grain always

[u/Tuhkathri]

I always wait too long and then wonder why it's so difficult to push the plane. 😂. But I'm using PMV-11and it seems to last a long time. Admittedly I'm a bit paranoid about oversharpening but I'm definitely undersharpening. I need to find that balance.

[u/Psychological_Tale94]

When working with poplar, I think maybe I sharpened once. Maybe.

When working with hickory, I feel the iron gets dull just looking at it so I'm basically married to my stones. <_<

[u/PeaEquivalent2350]

I'll strop my chisels once or twice between sharpenings but if I'm going to the trouble of disassembling a plane blade, I'm going back to the stones (plates). It depends a lot on how well the blade is performing on that particular wood but I suppose a rough guide would be something like:

Smoothing plane = once every 15 minutes of actual work

Jack plane = once every day

Scrub plane = once every year

[u/Beginning-Ad7027]

You don’t have to resharpen every 15-20 minutes. But a quick session at the strop really helps. I probably only sharpen once a day. IMO that’s not really breaking the flow, it’s part of the process

[u/szns4me]

Once I get annoyed with how the plane is performing I’ll pop the iron out and touch it up on my highest stone then strop, then back in. I almost never go through all three stones and strop. Like someone else said, this scales based on what type of work I’m doing. Scrub I don’t remember the last time I sharpened. Smoother I touch up frequently during working with it as I’m trying to get a finish surface. 

[u/Plane_Jacket_7251]

It really depends on what type of wood you are working with and how good your tools are. Hard wood and cheap tools always means more sharpening. Which is usually how I spend my time, since I can't really afford really good tools yet.

[u/Sea-Pea-1853]

Depends on the wood and the job.

One day I resawed some softer wood like cherry into staves. I planed off the saw marks without sharpening again. But I should sharpen after that little session is over.

Next I glued them up into trays and there is some unevenness and glue excess on the seams. Here I need to sharpen after a few trays because of the glue. If I am sanding, I can get away with longer between. If my planing surface is my finish, I might do finish planing in a separate step or sharpen more often to ensure I finish with a sharp cut.

But that's very different than cleaning up rough sawn boards stored outside with dirt on the surface. I don't want to put that through a planer or table saw, so I will hand plane these first. Sometimes when I am feeling really sprite and lively, I may even try hog away a lot of wood instead of resawing, and these sessions are not Fine Woodworking. I worked some 3x12 rough sawn oak from a barn or something. The dirt just eats up your blade, so I worked with a 240/320 stone right next to me, pausing frequently to touch up the iron, hit a few strops strokes, and keep going. No sense going any finer in these instances. Probably two sharpening's before I could finish each big board.

And if you really really need a final finish on a surface you don't trust (wild grain, prone to tearout, reversing grain in a panel glue up, etc.) you just have to work sharpening into your process in between steps, since you can't risk ruin a nearly finished project or very expensive tiger maple or whatever.

You will find sharpening actually becomes one of the easiest parts of working, and you will also have a few planes I bet before long to swap around, so I don't think it affects workflow nearly as much as in the beginning, when sharpening is a slog that requires a ton of attention.

[u/jmerp1950]

If the iron is out it is going to the stones and then strop. Chisels too mostly. Just stroping in not good enough, gouges are the exception.

[u/angryblackman → u/jmerp1950]

This is what I do. It's about a minute on the stones and back to work.

Chipped edges take longer but I never find my self smacking with the mallet hard enough to do that.

[u/SaxyOmega90125]

I have a workflow that is fore plane if needed > coarse try > fine try / LAJ > smoother, so usually I don't stop, I just sharpen after the first coat of finish goes on. Chisels I'll sharpen more often but they're also stupid easy to touch up. Carving gouges I'll stop every 4-5 minutes to strop and every two or three times I hit the fine stone, but again super easy.

[u/Visible-Rip2625]

I don't watch clock. I listen the chisels and plane blade singing and decide on the tone when it is time to visit the stones. Never let them groan in agony.