How do you hone ??

[rkeith]

I am studying Design and Innovation with the Open University in the UK. As part of a design project I am looking at honing guides for plane/chisel blades for Honing with oilstones etc. I would be most grateful to know whether you use such gizmos, if you think they are effective, what is wrong with them, etc, etc. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated

Richard Keith

[arose62]

I use two methods - for thinner chisels, and a few others that I want really sharp, I use a cheap copy ($AU 16) of the roller-style honing guide, and a series of wet-&-dry paper dampened to stick to a piece of glass.

I also try to hone by hand, and am improving gradually with practice - the key for me was to sway the whole body, keeping the arms & hands fixed.

Cheers,
Andrew

[Zsteve]

Rkieth,

If you have access to it, I may suggest that you look at the latest edition of the Australian Wood Review as there is an article on the beasts in question.

Regards
Stephen.

[kenmil]

I use the Veritas honing jig on Arkansas oil stones and it delivers a perfect result every time.

[Paul O'H. Ingersoll Canad]

I use te lee valley honing guide with japanese water stones. Leonard Lee has a book on sharpening published by Taunton PressHoning Guide (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=33001&category=1,43072,43078&abspage=1&ccurrency=1&SID=)
Paul

[derekcohen]

In my experience, the best is the Veritas guide used in conjuction with the Veritas angle jig. This is stable as it has a wide roller (unlike the Eclipse) and makes it very easy to add a secondary bezel. The weakness lies in its use of a screw down which does not prevent the blade from turning in the holder if only regular strength is used. It becomes quite secure when you use vise grips for the extra tension.

I use waterstones (King 800, 1200, 4000, 6000) and Veritas green "crayon" on MDF (for final hone.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Eastie]

I use a veritas jig on arkansas stone finished with 2000 wet and dry (dry not wet). Now and then I use diamond paste for plane blades but not often as the previous steps get all the sharpness I need. In fact two weeks ago I tested the sharpness of a chisel I had only just sharpened – three stitches in the index finger, 2 inside one outside. The surgeon commented he could not have made any cleaner incision with surgical instruments and inquired as to the method of achieving such results.

[soundman]

I thaught I could sharpen chisels prety well untill I bought a honing guide.

I use the eclipse type generic product.
It has drawbacks like
wont handle realy wide stuff or realy narrow stuff.
or very thick blades with straight sides.

Works OK for me now.

have tried oil stones, water stones

recently tried sand paper(see various stuff here & in the mags)

verry impressed. very fast. forget microbevels, flatening stones .....

much cheaper then the 3 diamond stones I was considering.

It sounds stupid but sand paper sharpening is the go for me.
I'll buy a new guide some time.

Here is a hard one
A reasonable guide for sharpening a spoke shave iron.
Havn't seena commercial one.



cheers

If you use realy sharp tools it makes the neuro surgens job easier???