When Mark Martinez posted Gravity is bad. Poor Chisel… it got me to thinking…
What do you folks use and how do you go about your sharpening???..
I ran across an article in the past in Fine Woodworking that I use.
I took my old bench grinder and unbolted the base,turned it around and replaced the base. This causes the grinder to reverse rotation.
then I bought 2 mandrels to mount on the each end of the shafts.
Then I purchased a Lapidary kit from an outfit on Widby Island WA that had an 8"dia. lapidary polishing wheel, and 2 carborundum 120 gt. belts. On the opposite side I mounted 3 cloth buffing wheels for 3 diamond polishing compound bars, red green and white.
If I have a chisel that has a larger nick out of it, I gently take the nick out on my bench grinder and then go to the lapidary wheel. First to the carborundum belt then the diamond polish. It takes less than 2 minute to make a sharp edge you can see your face in.
Herb
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I also have a Worksharp 3000 that does a good job sharpening chisels and plane blades:
https://www.amazon.com/Work-Sharp-WS3000-Wood-Sharpener/dp/B000PVHIMW/ref=sr_1_9?keywords=work+sharp&qid=1658004520&sr=8-9
Boy have they gone up,double in price since I got mine.
I bought some diamond discs to go on them, and they really work good.
https://ukam.com/diamond_lapping_discs.htm
They really put a sharp edge on the tools
Herb
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after years of chasing the elusive perfect sharp edge… spending a ton of money on a lot stuff that didn’t work out for a host of reasons…
then Veritas happened…
Veritas makes a gizmo called the Mk.II… https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/search#q=veritas%20honing%20guide&t=product-search-tab&sort=relevancy&layout=card&numberOfResults=25
there is nothing else on the planet that even comes close to it in quality, versatility, and functionality…
you can jump in whole hog or start basic and option out as your needs dictate…
all the stuff I have bought now resides on the shelf collecting dust… OH the money I spent on all that stuff is many many times over the the cost of a complete Mk.II… or even several of them…
achieving several levels above next level phenomenally sharp is cake and pie… produces edges so sharp that if you cut yourself you don’t even know it till you see blood…
and there’s something that’s soul soothing about doing hand sharpening… kinda like a level of Zen all it’s own…
I use wet dry paper that gets fastened to a granite slab… (water or temporary glue stick)… the slab I got from a granite counter top company… they just gave it to me from their scrap pile…
the paper I get in narrow rolls from an auto body supply house… any grit your heart desires…
Plan “B”…
Sharpening machines for your edge tools | Tormek USA
Tormek offers four sharpening machine models; the powerful T-8, the compact T-4, the specially packaged T-4 Bushcraft and the knife sharpener T-2 Pro Kitchen. Use our comparison chart to find out which model suits you best! | Tormek USA
the nice thing about this sharpener is you can reprofile blades and irons w/o fear of altering/damaging the steel of the tool or cutter…
hollow grinds are a natural…
Between these two sharpeners, there’s nothing in your shop that can’t be handled…
NOTES and TIPS…
ease up on much sharpening you do w/ your coarser grits… once you get the profile or have removed the chip outs … STOP!!!.. time to start w/ the progressive finer grits… less in this case is actually more… do only enough to remove the preceding scratches… severe chip outs need to be edge blunted w/ a coarse stone or a diamond file…
as you sharpen w/ progressive finer grits the mission is to remove the scratches from the bevels… extended time spent w/ the coarser grits puts scratches on the bevel that could be considered fissures…
color the bevel w/ a felt tip… this makes for easy visuals to check on flatness and uniformity…
STAY AWAY FROM BELT SANDERS AND GRINDERS for any reason (unless you really know what you are doing)… You WILL destroy the annealing and tempering… maybe even the class of metal it’s self… many have ruined their tools and cutters following the myth of using grinders and belt sanders… there is no fast and easy way…
grinding and such is done in coolant baths… quenching just furthers the negative metamorphoses of the metal…
cheap rollered guides w/ those small wheels have tendency to rock and not do you any favors…
take your time, learn your system well… think you’re making a mistake or run into an issue… ask for help… there’s no point in trying to push a rope up a hill…
15 Tips for Sharpening.pdf (1.1 MB)
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Here’s some information on diamond sharpening stones and applications for those that would like to use them…
I like the DMT series… they are pretty good stones that won’t break the bank - they’re a good bang for the buck… there is better, but they can cost an arm and a leg…
Diamond Grit Size - Color Coding.pdf (60.5 KB)
DMT_Diamond_Grit_Info_2016.pdf (191.7 KB)
SHARPENING STONES.pdf (35.3 KB)
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It is one of those jobs I tend to only do as needed. not because I like to. It ranks down with weeding the garden by hand in the hot sun…
Just saying…
Herb
I like the job… a lot…
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an umbrella and a cold beverage will fix that…
have patience my son…
WAIT!!! Son!!! I meant dad…
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We all use Forstner bits and they do need sharpening…,
FORSTNER SPEED&SHARPENING.pdf (107.0 KB)
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Router bits… here you maybe able to breathe a little more life into your bits…
Care and Sharpening of Router Bits.pdf (93.4 KB)
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visit a granite counter top shop and ask if you can raid their waste pile and pick yourself up a Granite Base…
best thing since sliced bread if you use WD paper…
and a host of other uses…
my last visit there I found some long lengths that became a series of shelves in the den…
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your chisels and irons are too soft and won’t hold an edge for very long???
let’s fix that…
Annealing and Tempering.pdf (48.1 KB)
Anodizing Steel.pdf (30.5 KB)
Hardening 4140 Steel.pdf (30.2 KB)
Heat Treating D2 Steel.pdf (31.8 KB)
Hardening Steel in a Kitchen Oven 1.pdf (38.4 KB)
Tempering Mild Cold Rolled Steel.pdf (32.1 KB)
on the other side of the coin your steel is brittle and very hard to sharpen… good chance it’s too hard for it’s purpose…
this may be the fix…
How to Soften Steel.pdf (30.3 KB)
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Plane-Blade Geometry…
this is something that should have been introduced at the beginning of this thread…
Back Bevels and Plane Geometry.pdf (78.0 KB)
Plane-Blade Geometry.pdf (104.4 KB)
THE CUTTING ACTION OF PLANE BLADES.pdf (47.2 KB)
Theory on Sharpening Angles for Knives.pdf (52.6 KB)
TIP…
for those of us that use Wheeled Marking Gauges…
Marking Gauge Wheel Sharpening.pdf (207.9 KB)
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handsaws… they are indispensable… keep them top notch…
Glossary of Saw Terminology.pdf (140.4 KB)
HANDSAW SHARPENING.pdf (243.5 KB)
saw sharpening.pdf (221.0 KB)
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card scrapers… indispensable in the shop…
here’s a little on their care and feeding…
Card Scrapers_Sharpening & Use.pdf (1.3 MB)
Foolproof Scraper Sharpening.pdf (362.1 KB)
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