Thread: sharpening guide for idiots

Originally Posted by mhewitt

g'day -
i have just taken delivery of a veritas stone pond, mk2 honing guide, 800 & 4000 grit water stones

but i've never used a water stone before, & realise i don't know much about it...

is there a "sharpening guide for idiots using water stones" out there?

............Now I am disappointed. I thought by the title you were posting a guide for me!
I will be interested to se the info that the people in the know give you.


Chipman

In case you don't have a copy of the pond's instructions have a look here http://www.leevalley.com/shopping/In...s.aspx?p=41680

the guide's instructions are here http://www.leevalley.com/shopping/In...s.aspx?p=51880

the most important thing is to keep the stones flat, the 800 will wear much faster than the 4000 and depending on what you're sharpening, you may find yourself flattening the stone every 20–30 minutes


ian

Originally Posted by ian

In case you don't have a copy of the pond's instructions have a look here http://www.leevalley.com/shopping/In...s.aspx?p=41680

the guide's instructions are here http://www.leevalley.com/shopping/In...s.aspx?p=51880

the most important thing is to keep the stones flat, the 800 will wear much faster than the 4000 and depending on what you're sharpening, you may find yourself flattening the stone every 20–30 minutes


ian

ian -
thanks for that

really? coarser wears faster than finer? kinda counter-intuitive...

so the advice out there to lap the finer stones on the coarser stones doesn't stand up...

Originally Posted by Chipman

............Now I am disappointed. I thought by the title you were posting a guide for me!
I will be interested to se the info that the people in the know give you.


Chipman

i can give you the beginning of that guide...

always put some anti-rust on your freshly water-stoned blades

guess who always used oilstones up to now & never had a rust problem... until last night?

Originally Posted by mhewitt

coarser wears faster than finer? kinda counter-intuitive...

so the advice out there to lap the finer stones on the coarser stones doesn't stand up...

It's what I've found

I think the reason is that the coarser stone cuts faster and to do so the matrix supporting the abrasive needs to be softer so that it wears faster

the fine stone, removes very little material so wears relatively slowly



ian

Originally Posted by mhewitt

is there a "sharpening guide for idiots using water stones" out there?

You can also find some very helpful information on sharpening at:
http://www.japanwoodworker.com/newswire.asp
There is information about the care of both synthetic and natural water stones as well as tips on sharpening Japanese chisels and other tools.

Originally Posted by Sharpdon

You can also find some very helpful information on sharpening at:
http://www.japanwoodworker.com/newswire.asp
There is information about the care of both synthetic and natural water stones as well as tips on sharpening Japanese chisels and other tools.

ah, cool, thanks... i'll have a look

hi,

after reading several posts, I'm alot the wiser. (I actually started by looking at info to help buying a 2nd hand jointer planer...)

I found this video link, which seems to describe the scary sharp method, and uses some sort of sharpening jig (anyone know what it is?).

So I reckon I'll start trying this on some old chisels.

http://www.woodsmith.com/issues/165/...er-sharpening/

now, back to planers

s

Originally Posted by mhewitt

g'day -
i have just taken delivery of a veritas stone pond, mk2 honing guide, 800 & 4000 grit water stones

but i've never used a water stone before, & realise i don't know much about it...

is there a "sharpening guide for idiots using water stones" out there?

I asked exactly the same questions early this year and got some truly excellent advice, especially from Derek Cohen. In my experience you quickly learn the basics and then continue to improve with practice.

I suggest that you search this forum under keywords - idiot, sharpening.

Cheers

Graeme

Brent Beach has an excellent web site on sharpening. Just google" Brent Beach" and spend some time there. I know that Derek Cohen has borrowed from the site with his ten cent sharpening thread. I have a veritas mk 1 guide but am in the process of making Brent's simple wooden ones.

Jerry