Thread: Basic Sharpening - The Next Step

Soo, I am suspecting my "rub the chisel on a house brick or concrete floor, and back to work" ethos, won't pass muster in the sharpening section huh?
I do take the wire edge off afterwards tho - on my pants of course.

Hi Graeme,

My point about shaggy dog tools that need rehabbing referred to doing a lot of them. Once a coarse diamond plate has bedded in and has some miles on it you can expect to do 1000 to 2000 strokes to eg. flatten a hard carbon steel chisel back that's 25mm wide to up to around 30mm from the edge. A lot depends on how shaggy it is of course. Could be deep surface grinding marks or pitting. Then you're looking at medium and fine plates to take out the scratches left by the coarse.

Alternatives, there are several. Quality ceramic whetstones starting at #120 or Norton 3X sheets on flat substrate, as coarse as you can find to work up from. Stones you should speak to Stu about. He stocks a wicked #120 Sigma acc. to other users; I use a #120 Shapton. Otherwise, I have a range of his Sigma PS IIs - designed for harder/abrasion resistant steels (A2 and upwards) but can also work with softer Titans and Bergs and the like.

Another option is SiC grains on float glass, with or without an OHP transparency film.

Re rec #3 a speed read of previous posts didn't help. Pls point it out to me.

I hear you when you say you don't want to go mechanical. I started manual but went mechanical given the amount of back lapping and polishing I'd committed to by buying old or new but poorly made stuff. Have posted about that elsewhere.

Just to add:

I've just put a quality straight edge across my 2 DMT duo diamond plates (= 4 grits). They're not really flat. Might be a thou and a half in it.

Doesn't matter with bevel work; does with lapping.

I can get better with flattening ceramic whetstones.

Peeps think diamond stones are the silver bullet. They're not.

Another point: ceramic whetstones will see you into the grave. They're maintainable.

Interesting discussion/debate on sharpening by some who should know on Tom Fidgens blog. Go down to the comments section
.The Ruler Trick – The Unplugged Woodshop

Originally Posted by rsser

Re rec #3 a speed read of previous posts didn't help. Pls point it out to me.

I hear you when you say you don't want to go mechanical. I started manual but went mechanical given the amount of back lapping and polishing I'd committed to by buying old or new but poorly made stuff. Have posted about that elsewhere.

Thanks Ern - you have given me a lot to think about.

Post #3 refers to the third post in this thread - the one where I laid out what I thought might be my best available options.

I am the reverse. I started mechanical and am increasingly moving to hand tools. Not a purist luddite, but noisy tools increasingly irritate me. I keep saying repeatedly "I will never buy crap tools again", but obviously I am not the sort of chap I am lecturing to!




Fair Winds

Graeme

Originally Posted by stuffy

Interesting discussion/debate on sharpening by some who should know on Tom Fidgens blog. Go down to the comments section
.The Ruler Trick – The Unplugged Woodshop

Thanks

More good information also here, Stuffy, on the same site.
On Water Stones – The Unplugged Woodshop



Fair Winds

Graeme

At the end of the day, we each need to select some sort of sharpening system of stones and/or papers and use them for however long it takes to become adept at sustaining the quality of edge that we need.
I'm convinced that there's absolutely no sense in jumping from one guru's system to another guru's system,
week after week, hoping that you won't ever have to learn a dang thing about getting the job done.
Tuning up edges is not self evident (it's about 75% of wood carving.) I have my ways of getting what I need.
Pick one, mess with it and learn how that method works as well as it does.

Today, I attacked a $100+ Stubai Wood Carver's Adze with a bunch of coarse 30cm files. It is a piece of crap, exhausting to swing and forever sticks in the wood. Gimme a week and it might be useful. After all, it's just a piece of steel and as such, useless. I will report results. Gregg Blomberg/Kestrel Tool described enough of the important geometry for adzes that it became the tipping point this week.

Plus, I've bought a Sitka straight adze blade. the handle is roughed out. Need to build one.
One carver refers to them as a "bandsaw on a stick." We shall see.