Thread: Keeping Sharpening Simple?

To sharpen your tools , you will need more than 1 stone.

You will need a minimum of 1 oil stone, a bench grinder or Tomek machine (even better), and a number of fine water stones .

1 stone will not do it all, and the stone you are looking is for final honing of the edge, if the edge is damaged it will not remove the damage without hours of work.

Jeff
vk4

Oil stones are useful for the really rough work needed to reshape a damaged edge.
Water stones (1000 & 4000) do a very nice job of refining the new edge and removing
the scratches (if you care) left in the metal by some of the abrasive particles in the oil stone(s).
A leather strop with a honing compound such as chromium oxide (green)=
0.5 micron average particle size not only puts a shine on the bevel
but is essentail for wood carving gouges to render them "carving sharp."

You can see everything I have and how I do this in Star's Sharpening Journey
in the wood carving forum.

There are several sharpening systems. Key to all of it is to pick one and get good at it.

Russell, you may get some benefit from this thread.

Cheers
Brett

Originally Posted by vk4

To sharpen your tools , you will need more than 1 stone.

You will need a minimum of 1 oil stone, a bench grinder or Tomek machine (even better), and a number of fine water stones .

1 stone will not do it all, and the stone you are looking is for final honing of the edge, if the edge is damaged it will not remove the damage without hours of work.

Jeff
vk4

Really?

Wow, I got by without half of that list for a long time. I didn't realize I wasn't doing it right. I must be clueless...

But the '1 stone' idea, as you say, is not really workable.


To the OP,

Whatever you get, you will need something to repair a damaged edge, something to get the edge into the right 'shape' and something to refine the edge so that it's genuinely sharp and smooth. There are a multitude of ways to do this, and so long as whatever you use works, it's correct.

The sad fact is that as you're starting out you'll tend toward cheaper tools, and being a relative novice you'll likely have more trouble with damaged edges (chips, snapped edges, etc.), which is exacerbated by the cheaper tools. Add in the likelihood of cheaper, less capable sharpening gear and potentially you're in for a lot of trouble.

As skill cannot be bought, but good tools and good sharpening gear can be purchased, I'd very strongly suggest saving up your money and getting either good quality, reliable tools or effective, good quality sharpening gear. Preferably both. Neither need to be expensive or 'name brand', and due to where you are, I'd seek out a local furniture making shop or carpenter and see what they're using and recommend. It won't be the same stuff as what most folks here are used to seeing, but 'going local' will be less expensive and chances are you can dig up some good quality tools for not much money.

I'm lucky, good quality tools and sharpening gear are lurking everywhere around here and they're often dirt cheap. Not always, but I can get tools that will work and stuff to keep them sharp for not much money.

Look around, and see what you can find. I'm sure you'll be able to find something that will let you 'get to work' without looking too far from your own front door.

And cheap tools are expensive. Maybe not when you open your wallet, but you'll be paying for them in time and frustration for as long as you own them. Been there, done that, won't do it ever again. I'd rather go without than go with cheap...

Stu.

G'day Stu

Have you got any comments on Sintered Diamond plates verses Electro-bonded? Do you still have Sintered plates?

Cheers
Brett

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

G'day Stu

Have you got any comments on Sintered Diamond plates verses Electro-bonded? Do you still have Sintered plates?

Cheers
Brett

The sintered (actually ceramic, but it translates as 'sintered' so it's kind of ok) plates (actually stones) are not fast, not at all, but they will cut anything, stay very flat and cost a small fortune. I have but one, a #1000, and it's not something I use often, if at all. I do plan to get some of the finer ones at some point in the future, and I think they'll be ideal for touching up super hard/tough steels that don't need much work, but as a general purpose sharpening device, I think the positives are heavily outweighed by the negatives.

If I only used HSS and had a strong desire for something that stayed flat over speed and a little stone maintenance, maybe they'd be the ticket.

Compared to plates, the BIG advantage to the sintered diamond stones is their durability. They're quite tough and aren't harmed by extra pressure. A plate will cut faster though, at least until it 'settles in' as they are wont to do, and I think that for the amount of work possible against the initial cost, the sintered plates will work out cheaper in the long run, simply because you can't goof with them and there's a lot of abrasive material that wears exceptionally slowly.

As for the sintered diamonds, I just need to switch them back on again. I had a small issue with sourcing them, but have sorted that out now.

They're no magic bullet, but they work and are ideal for folks who desire something chronically hard, but want what a 'stone' does over what a 'plate' does, and outright speed isn't important. For normal steels, normal 'waterstones' are infinitely faster, as likely are oil stones, scary sharp will be faster too. But the sintered diamond stones, maintenance amounts to keeping them clean and not much else, and virtually zero risk of damaging them in 'normal' use. That's not a bad thing, if that's the kind of sharpening solution you're after.

Which reminds me, I have some knives I need to fix. Better get to that right now...

Stu.

Of course it depends on what you have to sharpen. However, if you are sticking to chisels and plane irons made from carbon steel a double sided oilstone will do a workmanlike job as they have done for centuries. Coarse on one side will dress down any chip or nicks (even though slower than a grinder) and the fine side for sharpening. Strop on the hand or a bit of leather and you're on a par with Chippendale - though without the apprentices to do the heavy work.
Cheers,
Jim
ps and a bottle of oil

Thanks for that Stu, pretty much as I expected. A couple of more Qs if you would, and I'll briefly outline my situation:

I'm not a fan of waterstones at all, for a few reasons - the mess, the buggerising around & maintenance of the stones themselves (which in theory start to dish after just a few strokes - which means that before you've finished the job they are probably not flat).

For dishing reasons the diamond plates are very attractive. I started with two DMT plates (Electro-bonded for those who are not aware). Completely bloody useless after a week (Coarse) to the point where I was getting more swarf from the 600 than the 220. 220 now only good for flattening waterstones Didn't use huge pressure at all, but neither did I use a gossamer touch, which is apparently what is required.

Shapton Pro stones will still dish but not as fast if I understand correctly. Sintered plates not available coarser then 1000, as far as I know.

This is a conundrum that I need to solve. I'd like something around 220 for shaping the bevel, flattening backs, 600 for the next step. From there I get pretty good results with Diamond paste on MDF, although Sintered plates would be more durable and probably cheaper in the longer term. This is not about getting out of it for cheap entry cost Rather, it's about an efficient, reasonably low mess system that can be accessed fairly quickly without the mucking around of soaking, capturing water run-off and cleanup (no sink in the Barn).

NOTE: most of my plane blades and chisels are HSS M2 (H&S) so the system must be HSS compatible primarily.

One of the great benefits of plates (inc. Shaptons) over stones is the much smaller amount of water required, and no bleed-out of water all over the place - this drives me crackers.

@Jimbur

For the oilstone you described in your post, what grit would the 2 stones be? Where are they available? And lastly, what kind of oil can they be lubricated with?

Russell, I have no idea of the grit sizes. The one I still occasionally use is a Norton Combination stone, coarse on one side, fine on the other. They are lubricated with light oil, sewing machine oil is ideal. Not expensive and so can get you up and running quickly. I wouldn’t want to shave with a razor sharpened with one but I’ve never heard the wood complain. Give one a try and it should get you going and perhaps in the future you might prefer something more exotic and more expensive. At least you'll have something to compare it with.
Cheers,
Jim