>Adam asks for it:
>
>> and give anybody and everybody a chance to tell me "all those things I
>wish
>> someone had told me when I was starting out"  :-)
>
>First and foremost - learn to sharpen. Your early efforts are often doomed
>to failure because the tools aren't sharp - can't function properly because
>they aren't sharp - and the new user doesn't know how they should function
>or how to sharpen them.
>

Yeah, I can relate. Yesterday, I tried out some of that "scary sharp" stuff
I've heard about on this list. I got a nice flat sheet of glass, a bunch of
various grades of paper, and some spray glue. I started by working on the
sole of my No6 user plane. I made some progress on the coarse emery paper,
but I prolly need some more of it since it stopped cutting and my arms got
tired. The plane is now reasonably flat. Then I started in on the iron. The
iron I think is 2 3/8" wide, which is wider than any stone that I have. This
is where this abrasive paper really is great, sharpening wide blades so you
don't have to go by a 40$ 3" wide stone. I started with coarse because the
edge was not only curved, but crooked. I ended up at 600 grit, and I wanted
to see what that level of grit would do for me. I assembled the plane and
wow, this thing really works! Smooth cutting, nice long tight curls of paper
thin wood, easy to push, etc. I have a question, what is the angle of the
bevel on the iron supposed to be: 30 or 25 degrees??

Be seeing you.

Dirk Wright