Thread: Simple Sharpening Tips for a Newby?

In its simplest form which was standard for years, a decent oilstone and a bottle of oil (light sewing machine oil).
Cheers,
Jim

If you can only get one stone try a combination stone. I have a 1000/4000 water stone which will give you a very good edge. Keep it flat with sandpaper on glass or a diamond stone if the budget stretches that far.

Russell
I don't know how far you want to go to get some knowledge about sharpening. I went to my olddddd trade textbook to see how I was taught. Its a little involved ( definitely not Rocket Science) but If you were to look in a Library for Carpentry and Joinery Coarse, its layed out there easy to see and follow. The discuss the grinding angles needed then the sharpening angles and they tell you why. The other very handy gadget to get and use is a sharpening guide. They are not that dear, and once you attach it to your tool it holds the tool at a constant angle which in no time will give you a sharp tool. To hold the tool with out the gadget is a little hard to get good at.

If you're keen to start without reading too much first, I'd also recommend a combination oilstone. Masters or Bunnings sell them for not much. Also do yourself a favour and buy a cheap honing guide, also about $15 from a big hardware store. From there it's relatively straight-forward (provided your blades have flat backs). You just rub each side of the blade on the stones for a bit, going from course to fine.

The complicating factor is that you have to make the oilstones flat, occasionally, so you need a flat surface to put some sandpaper on, like a bit of thick glass.

I would also highly recommend Christopher Schwarz' book, The Anarchists Toolchest. It is directed towards the hand-tool beginner and is more or less a "buyer's guide". It is very easy to waste money on things you don't need woodworking, for which reason this book is pretty much guaranteed to pay for itself within a month or two. No personal affiliation etc, and yes I know his writing style is all American and annoying.

Of course this forum is an absolutely fantastic source of information, but takes a bit more digging (or askin') than a book does.

My simple sharpening tip, however, is this. Don't freak out. It's not that hard. Regardless of the method you use (sandpaper, oilstones, waterstones, diamond stones, stropping, machines, demonic magics) all you are doing is polishing two intersecting surfaces with progressively finer bits of abrasive.

My great gran used to sharpen her kitchen knives on the granite doorstep at the front door.

At the end of the day, it's not how scary your sharpening method, or the abrasive you're using, or the temperature of the water hand poured by nuns in the south American mountains. The key to sharpening is the consistent angle, not just each time you sharpen but from one end of the stroke to the other. That's what you want to practice, because whatever method you're using, the more consistent the angle, the sharper the blade.

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies.

From what I can gather, I would be OK if I use the following procedure:

1) Put the chisel in a honing guide at an angle of 30 degrees.

2) Push the blade across a 1000 grit whetstone, taking care to cover each part of the whetstone's surface evenly.

3) Exchange the 1000 grit whetstone for a 6000 grit one and perform #
the same process.

4) Rub the flat side against the 6000 whetstone to remove any burr.

5) Exchange the 6000 grit whetstone for an 8000 grit whetstone to finish.

6) Rub each whetstone over a flat piece of concrete to re-flatten them.

The same for a plane blade.

What do you reckon?

Originally Posted by Russell Cook

Hi all,

Thanks for all the replies.

From what I can gather, I would be OK if I use the following procedure:

1) Put the chisel in a honing guide at an angle of 30 degrees.

2) Push the blade across a 1000 grit whetstone, taking care to cover each part of the whetstone's surface evenly.

3) Exchange the 1000 grit whetstone for a 6000 grit one and perform #
the same process.

4) Rub the flat side against the 6000 whetstone to remove any burr.

5) Exchange the 6000 grit whetstone for an 8000 grit whetstone to finish.

6) Rub each whetstone over a flat piece of concrete to re-flatten them.

The same for a plane blade.

What do you reckon?

You're on the right track. However, it's not necessary to own both a 6000 grit stone and an 8000 grit stone; they do more or less the same thing. While the 8000 is obviously finer, the difference isn't noticeable for most woodworking tasks. On those occasions when 6000 grit won't cut it (very rarely) then you will want something a good deal finer than 8000, such as honing paste on a leather strop or a superfine 10,000 grit stone. But you don't need those yet (or ever, really). So in my opinion there's little point in getting the 8000 stone, which is in any case much more expensive.

Secondly, I would not flatten a waterstone on a piece of concrete. I tried that. They are not flat enough, and will tear up your finer stones. A piece of sandpaper (or much better, some silicon carbide grit) and a scrap piece of glass will not cost much more, and will do far better. Because flat stones are so essential to getting a good edge - most especially with wider plane irons - it will save you a lot of trouble to ensure that this step is done properly. Eventually you will buy a diamond plate and never look back.

Third, there is an important tip for knowing when to swap between the medium and fine stone. That is, you will be able to see uniform scratches across the face of the bevel, and you will be able to feel a very fine "wire edge" along the back of the blade with your thumbnail. You probably won't be able to see it. This sounds complicated but it isn't; you'll see what I mean when you try it.

Fourthly, you need to make sure that the back of your blades are flat and polished. Assuming that your blades are new and quite flat, that just involves rubbing them on the medium stone, and then on the fine stone, until they are done. If they are old or significantly not flat, well, that's a longer discussion.

Fifth, you need a grinder. Your waterstones should only really be used to polish the very edge. They are too soft and too slow to remove the bulk of the metal. This is why most people use some form of "microbevel". So for example, you might create a main bevel of 30 degrees with a grinder, and then a smaller bevel right at the edge with waterstones (of, say, 25 degrees). Many use "hollow grinding", but again, you can worry about that when you get to it (it's not terribly important). A very cheap 6" high speed grinder from Bunnings will do fine. You don't need a slow speed or wet grinder. After a while you should consider upgrading to a "white wheel", which is a very course grinding wheel designed especially for tool steel, but that's not necessary initially. Just go very slow and carefully with a regular grinder, and everything will be fine. My personal preference is for a vintage hand-cranked grinder with a white Norton wheel, as it doesn't need an especially stable stand, is portable, works quickly and is cheap, but you need not follow me on that.

So, to my mind, basic sharpening kit is:

Two waterstones (1000 and 6000 grit) or a combination waterstone with these grits.

A grinder.

Some thick glass and sandpaper (or better silicon carbide grit) for flattening the stones.

@Snafuspyramid:

Thanks a lot for the very detailed reply.

A couple more questions if you have time:

1) I am generally inclined towards hand tools rather than power tools, so a hand cranked grinder would be great. Is this example on eBay the kind of thing I'm looking for?

Hand Grinder, Vintage General Hand Crank Bench Grinder, Milwaukee, Wis., U.S.A. | eBay

2) I've done some web searches but am still not clear how I would use glass and sandpaper to flatten a whetstone. Could you tell me a bit about that?

Again, thanks a lot for the tips this far

Alrighty, here goes.

I elected not to demonstrate the process of using sandpaper, because I didn't have anything much suitable to hand. But the idea is that you get a piece of sandpaper, like so, and stick it to a flat surface (in this photograph, a granite plate, but glass is fine) with spray adhesive. You then just rub the stone back and forth, or to be precise in a figure-8 pattern, until it is flat.

IMG_0612.jpg

I did, however, take some photographs of the process for flattening using silicon carbide grit and glass. I think that this is an altogether better (and far cheaper) method compared to sandpaper, for a whole bunch of reasons I won't bore you with. You start out with a piece of glass (here is half of a smashed window pane I found under my house). Any "non-safety" glass will do. You also need some silicon carbide grit, available online from a lapidary supplier for a few dollars. Add a little bit of water for lubrication (or oil if you use oilstones).

IMG_0615.jpg


Rub the waterstone on the grit in a figure-8 pattern, without using much pressure at all. I started the process with an extremely course grade of silicon carbide grit, and an extremely course (120 grit) waterstone. You should use a finer grit, about 120#, if you are beginning with a 1000 grit waterstone.

You will see that the grit starts to break down into finer particles.

IMG_0617.jpg

Once you have flattened both sides of this waterstone, move on to the next finest, which in this example will be a 1000 grit King waterstone:

IMG_0618.jpg

Again, continue until you have built up a slurry of yet finer particles. Make sure that no large particles remain, as they will scratch your fine stones.

IMG_0619.jpg

Finally, you should move to your 6000 grit stone, following the same process. You might wonder how you can tell when the waterstone is flat. Some people suggest drawing on it in pencil, and to stop lapping when the pencil marks disappear. That works. Personally, I use a short ruler as a straightedge to check for flatness. If you can see any light under the edge, it's not flat enough.

IMG_0621.jpg

It needs to be flat from side to side - it's not really that important whether it is flat from back to front, so I don't bother checking that. Just to prove that this process can be used with good results on extremely fine stones without damage, I completed the process with a 10,000K Naniwa Superstone:

IMG_0622.jpg

Happily, you can see that the sky neither fell down nor exploded, and the stone is flat and free of scratches.

There are several main drawbacks to this method. The first is (as you can see) the mess. The second is that you will need to replace the glass every six months or so, as it will start to wear eventually. Finally, you need to be vigiliant to make sure that you don't contaminate your waterstones with large pieces of SiC grit or with grit from courser stones. To avoid this, make sure you wash the stones thoroughly in a bucket after flattening; and make sure you "use up" the SiC grit with every stone.

Finally, for good measure, I'll list a few other bits and pieces you can see in the picture that I think are important.

IMG_0613.jpg

Those things are the water spray bottle; the oil can; the baking tray (to hold the waterstones); the plastic container (for soaking stones); the piece of non-slip drawer runner for preventing the baking tray from sliding around; and (although you might not be able to see this) the small piece of cloth soaked in oil, which is used to give the tools a quick wipe once you're done. You will also need a small jar of water to prevent burning the tools while grinding, and some plastic eyeglasses for safety. None of these items are at all expensive, but help matters enormously.

Don't worry about all the other stones and gadgets I've collected. They're not necessary unless you're rehabbing old tools (and even then, probably not).

For good measure, here is a picture of the hand grinder:

IMG_0611.jpg

It has the white wheel I recommended, purchased from thesandpaperman.com. It is 36 grit, I think. The tool rest is Veritas, but like my other sharpening gadgets it's not that necessary. I got along fine without it, it just took me a few extra seconds on the stones to correct my grinding. You'll notice it's a lot more robust than the one you've linked to on eBay; the heavier the better.

They are not terribly difficult to find, either at flea markets or online. I purchased mine from a forum member and I'd suggest you do the same; put a request in the market place thread. When it arrives, pull it apart, give a liberal application of grease, clamp it on to something and off you go.

Hope that helps.

I had 2 8 inch grinders in the market place recently and withdrew both as there was no interest after 250 views.

This one is still available should you want it ( marked done as i withdrew it from sale).
Not sure about postage to you in Shanghai.


This is my set up for the hand crank grinder which is similar to snafus.
The reason that i use the hand grinder is that it has a sentimental value and well i prefer it.

Cheers for the replies.

Another quick question. The 1000 and 6000 grit whetstones are used to hone the blade. Would it be possible to use a <1000 grit stone to do the job of a bench grinder?

Yes. A 120 grit Sigma Power ceramic waterstone will do. There is a thread about it here somewhere, courtesy of yours truly. Not a great idea for rehabbing chisels but otherwise perfectly alright.

Russell will you be rehabbing or using "new" chisels and plane blades?



The common thread in the discussion is that you will need some sort of sharpening medium. I think that at the end of the day its going to be one of those things where you will experiment to find out what suits your needs. Its one of those woodworking journey things.

Originally Posted by Pac man

...... Its one of those woodworking journey things.

And an enjoyable one at that.