Thread: Beginner chisel set

Originally Posted by truckjohn

I would also really appreciate the blade to take sharpening from the stones I have.. You can easily drop $1,000+ on sharpening paraphernalia when you count diamond plates, water stones, jigs, and all the rest... And so if the chisel requires you to buy $400 more worth of stones to make it sharpen right - you have to consider that.

Orrite then, subject raised, and very relevant to the OP I would think. I'm going to jump on my usual hobby horse (that you may not have read truckjohn). The rest of yez can grin and bear it! (again)

Just starting out - DO NOT buy any waterstones whatsoever. They are expensive for decent ones, and too many people find them a messy PITA. As truckjohn quite rightly points out, you may need different ones for different steels, meaning if you upgrade your blades, you may find you need to spend another frightload of $$. Down the track, if you are still not satisfied (with the below), then buy some stones.

The most cost effective way to enter the sharpening slippery slope (and, IMO, the most effective way full stop) is to buy or acquire two cast iron or mild steel plates, and use 4 grits of diamond paste for honing (say 1200, 3000, 8000, 14000, or drop back to 600, 1200, 3000 and finish at 8000). Each plate can be used for two grits. Mount it on a small piece of non slip matt which is twice the required width. zip zip zip on 1200, flip the block to 3000, move to the next block.

Mild steel plate are $44 each from Carbatec, and diamond paste is $16 per 5ml syringe from Gemcuts. Price of entry for a system that will sharpen ANY steel is around $152 + deliveries. A 5ml syringe of paste will last you half a lifetime, or a quarter if you really get busy. The diamonds get embedded in the blocks and you get to a point where you only have to squirt a little oil (I use Camellia) if the plate is a little dry. Every now and then you need to add some more paste.

Unbelievably fast and easy, bugger all mess. Blunt to sharp, in and out of the drawer, inside a couple of minutes if you are freehanding (I don't).

The plates stay flat for ages and ages (months or years), where a waterstone is technically out of flat from the very first stroke.

I've converted many people to this - ozhunter was the most recent a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't believe what he'd witnessed, and the speed. Blunt to shaving in a few minutes, with no mess at all.

Forget diamond plates - CBN plates are excellent for much less dough, and man they are aggressive (again, I had to pick up Adam's jaw for him - fine beard 'n all ). There may be some Alibaba/express options these days.

Originally Posted by saladonion

McJing 6 PC Bevel Edge Chisels look the same as Luban set I have from

https://www.finetools.com.au/product...-bench-chisels

I am quite happy with these too.

How fine are the lands on these chisels ? Suitable for dovetails ?

+1 for diamond paste and eBay is a cheap source of paste. I haven't found flipping the plates to be practical as you lose the paste/lubrication each time and if you flip it on the same spot risk contamination plus it creates a black oily mess on your work surface. I use baby oil.....

Originally Posted by Sam

I haven't found flipping the plates to be practical as you lose the paste/lubrication each time and if you flip it on the same spot risk contamination plus it creates a black oily mess on your work surface. I use baby oil.....

That's why I use the non-slip mat (it wraps around the block when I put it away)

I get little squares of black under those mats !

Is there much of a difference between Narex and Stubai? The price difference doesn't seem much.

I'm currently using a set of Maples from Bunnings but I'm thinking of upgrading soon.


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Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Orrite then, subject raised, and very relevant to the OP I would think. I'm going to jump on my usual hobby horse (that you may not have read truckjohn). The rest of yez can grin and bear it! (again)

Just starting out - DO NOT buy any waterstones whatsoever. They are expensive for decent ones, and too many people find them a messy PITA. As truckjohn quite rightly points out, you may need different ones for different steels, meaning if you upgrade your blades, you may find you need to spend another frightload of $$. Down the track, if you are still not satisfied (with the below), then buy some stones.

The most cost effective way to enter the sharpening slippery slope (and, IMO, the most effective way full stop) is to buy or acquire two cast iron or mild steel plates, and use 4 grits of diamond paste for honing (say 1200, 3000, 8000, 14000, or drop back to 600, 1200, 3000 and finish at 8000). Each plate can be used for two grits. Mount it on a small piece of non slip matt which is twice the required width. zip zip zip on 1200, flip the block to 3000, move to the next block.

Mild steel plate are $44 each from Carbatec, and diamond paste is $16 per 5ml syringe from Gemcuts. Price of entry for a system that will sharpen ANY steel is around $152 + deliveries. A 5ml syringe of paste will last you half a lifetime, or a quarter if you really get busy. The diamonds get embedded in the blocks and you get to a point where you only have to squirt a little oil (I use Camellia) if the plate is a little dry. Every now and then you need to add some more paste.

Unbelievably fast and easy, bugger all mess. Blunt to sharp, in and out of the drawer, inside a couple of minutes if you are freehanding (I don't).

The plates stay flat for ages and ages (months or years), where a waterstone is technically out of flat from the very first stroke.

I've converted many people to this - ozhunter was the most recent a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't believe what he'd witnessed, and the speed. Blunt to shaving in a few minutes, with no mess at all.

Forget diamond plates - CBN plates are excellent for much less dough, and man they are aggressive (again, I had to pick up Adam's jaw for him - fine beard 'n all ). There may be some Alibaba/express options these days.

I persevered with water stones for quite a while (I have some Norton water stones that will be going in the Marketplace soon), and got reasonable results, but the mess drove me to insanity and the constant flattening gets old.

I tried the CI plates and diamond paste once and was sold. A few days after my visit with Brett, I charged up a piece of CI with some diamond paste and in around a minute I had a shaving sharp block plane iron. A full 15 seconds to wipe the iron and put the cover back on the CI plate and I was away.

No mess or flattening of stones or dealing with water, or should I say the results of water and steel being together too long. And because I can make the plates as wide as I want, I can use my Kell honing guide with a No7 plane iron with plenty of runway either side of the wheels.

When Brett had to pick up my jaw for me we were playing about with a Berg chisel that was a LONG LONG way from having a flat back. I believe it would have taken me many hours to flatten. 5 minutes on a coarse CBN plate had it very nearly done (with two witnesses). I reckon another 10 or 15 minutes going through the grits and that chisel would have been as flat as I would ever need.

I have diamond plates that I have worn out with very little effort. A coarse one now feels like an Extra Fine one and it hasn't done enough work for the money to wear out so quickly.

Originally Posted by Sam

I get little squares of black under those mats !

Ditch the baby oil Andrew (or use it for summink else ). It's too thin - Camellia is more viscous, but it can be any oil that is not too thin.

but I enjoy the disturbed look visitors give me when they see it next to the paper towel on my bench ! 'Yep, spend hours out here on my own.....'

Originally Posted by Sam

but I enjoy the disturbed look visitors give me when they see it next to the paper towel on my bench ! 'Yep, spend hours out here on my own.....'

Yeah well, justify their disturbance.

A set of Blue Spruce, or Tasai chisels if you prefer Japanese, IMO

Paul, thanks for the suggestion... I have started experimenting with diamond pastes for some of my knives..... So may as well try them out on chisels as well...

To our OP....
You can get into sharpening chisels with a Norton Coarse/Fine India... Then buy a stick of Veritas green or Flexcut yellow strop compound crayon and use that on some scrap plywood or a flat piece of pine to polish up the edge. This will set you back about $30.

If you want something a bit finer - add a pack of SiC or AlOx automotive sandpaper in P1000, P1500, and P2500 then go to the polishing compound. You can lay a strip of the sand paper right on your sharpening stone and go. As you progress woodworking - you can experiment with other stuff and settle on whatever you like best.

Is this as good/efficient as Paul's solution, a set of water stones, diamond plates, 1 micron lapping films, or a Tormek? Maybe not - but sharp is sharp and you can get going with cutting wood.. Full disclosue - I sharpen on a Worksharp 3000; diamond plates, and a leather strop charged with green chrome oxide....

In terms of the Veritas PM-V11 chisels - I would not start there as a beginner. They don't sharpen as easily as the ones I listed without diamond kit and they run close to $100 each.

Thanks guys.

Will be using honing guide so I suppose difficulty in sharpening doesnt really matter?

I think I will use larger sizes more - I dont really have any intention of learning dovetails for now - just want to use them to clean up saw marks for example when cutting half lap joints or large finger joints. (or should I be looking at a shoulder plane first? I do plan on getting some planes but figured chisels are little more versatile)

Therefore, do you think if I start with a 12 and 20mm chisel it would be a good bet? Its hard to know which to buy if I've never really used them before

Originally Posted by qwertyu

Will be using honing guide so I suppose difficulty in sharpening doesn't really matter?

all a honing guide does is help you keep a consistent angle on the bevel. Which is not that hard to learn to do by hand -- it just takes practice and perseverance.

ease of sharpening refers to how easily the sharpening medium -- oil stone, ceramic stone, diamond stone/plate, water stone, CBN plate, diamond paste, etc -- removes metal to create the desired flat back and consistent bevel.

Difficulty in sharpening can be a huge issue for a beginner. Have the wrong mix of steel and stone and sharpening will take forever meaning you won't want to do it and you won't become proficient.

What I typically recommend for beginners is Norton's combination coarse/fine India stone similar to this https://www.globalgear.com.au/super-...g-stone-1.html
It's an oil stone, but if you later upgrade it is still useful for sharpening card scrapers

I think I will use larger sizes more - I dont really have any intention of learning dovetails for now - just want to use them to clean up saw marks for example when cutting half lap joints or large finger joints. (or should I be looking at a shoulder plane first? I do plan on getting some planes but figured chisels are little more versatile)

Therefore, do you think if I start with a 12 and 20mm chisel it would be a good bet? Its hard to know which to buy if I've never really used them before

the best tool for cleaning up a half lap joint is a router plane

chisel sizes.
If it's for cleaning up a joint cut on a table saw, what size joint do you typically cut?

Brett - just curious, do those grit sizes they quote on the Gemcut page for diamond pastes line up with what we use for ceramic stones? Would you go to a 14000 grit diamond paste on steel after an 8000 grit Shapton, for instance? My 13000 grit Shapton M5 is on its last legs, so looking for a new path to go just beyond 8000 grit sharposity.....

Thanks for the informative post re. sharpening methods.