Thread: Chisel puzzles

Ern,
I resharpen by hand on the oilstone and it only takes a few seconds. Not sure what grit it is but it will shave the hairs off my arm. I can do this many many times before I need to regrind the primary bevel. I do use the honeing guide to do this bit. I got a sheppach wet grinder but only use that for serious regrinds like restoration of old tools. Takes too long to set up for most things.
Regards
John

I was a bit confused by the puzzles (as I suppose I should be)
The scratches on the back of the chisels could be one of two reasons or maybe a combination thereof. There might be fine grit in the end grain either from dust or from silica in the wood. Then again the chisels may have had the temper drawn when being ground as I assume you got them secondhand.
The second puzzle is more well puzzling unless the following is true. The first chisels - were you honing them as you would a turning chisel, the toe and heel at the same time?
The idea of a secondary bevel - you make it sound as if it is something you grind on or do you mean you hone it using a jig to get it at the angle you want. The simplest way is just to grind the primary bevel and then get the angle of the secondary bevel by laying the bevel on the stone and raising it slightly. After that it's just a matter of maintaining that position as you hone it. You only regrind ( the primary bevel) when the secondary bevel has too much area to hone reasonably quickly. It's just the same as sharpening a plane blade.
God I've rambled on.
Cheers
Jim

Originally Posted by jimbur

I was a bit confused by the puzzles (as I suppose I should be)
The scratches on the back of the chisels could be one of two reasons or maybe a combination thereof. There might be fine grit in the end grain either from dust or from silica in the wood.

Yes. It was pine framing timber and the end would've been sitting on the shed floor at some stage in all likelihood.


Then again the chisels may have had the temper drawn when being ground as I assume you got them secondhand.

Yes, 2nd hand. There was no bluing though and one I'd ground the hollow bevel with the Tormek. Dunno about HCS but bluing on HSS is just on the surface and can be polished off; if the same is true about HCS ...

The second puzzle is more well puzzling unless the following is true. The first chisels - were you honing them as you would a turning chisel, the toe and heel at the same time?

Yep; so two flats on the same plane..

The idea of a secondary bevel - you make it sound as if it is something you grind on or do you mean you hone it using a jig to get it at the angle you want.

Used a jig with a stone; main bevel about 25*; honed 2ndary bevel at 30*

The simplest way is just to grind the primary bevel and then get the angle of the secondary bevel by laying the bevel on the stone and raising it slightly. After that it's just a matter of maintaining that position as you hone it. You only regrind ( the primary bevel) when the secondary bevel has too much area to hone reasonably quickly. It's just the same as sharpening a plane blade.
OK. Having set the angle with the jig once I was assuming it would be essential to use it every time.

God I've rambled on.
Cheers
Jim

Many thanks.

Yes you can polish the bluing off HCS.
It's worth trying without a jig on the honing stone. You'll probably be surprised how easy it is to maintain the angle you require. That way you're back working in no time at all.
Once upon a time I tried a honing gadget made by Eclipse I think. It had a steel roller and before I realised it had worn a groove in my oilstone. After that I threw it away.
Cheers,
Jim

Yeah, well I've been sold on the use of a jig but with a longish bevel on a firmer it was pretty easy to hand hone heel and toe at the same time. I was surprised. And it only took maybe 4 swipes on each of the 3 successively graded stones to get back to a polish.

Mind you I'm not ready to try a Stanley plane iron yet.

Next step then when too much metal has to come off will be to lift the heel and see how well I can control that.

Thanks for the advice Jim and John.

FWIW I had at the pine end grain with a couple of Titan firmers that'd had the same treatment as the Berg BE's and there was distinctly less crushing of the early growth end-grain. Wonder why. Anything to do with tool tip flexing?

Hand honeing is easier than it sounds. Get a good primary bevel (25* or thereabouts) i use a guide for this or do it on a wet grinder with a jig. To hone just feel the bevel flat on the stone then raise the blade a smidgen. A few lite strokes will do the rest. When you can feel a burr on the back of the edge that is all it takes. A few seconds to do a secondary bevel, Remove the burr by rubbing the back flat on the stone. You can feel and hear the steel on the stone when it is cutting right. I strop on the palm of the hand but a bit of leather stuck to a board is ok too. I guess if you have fancy water stones to 8000 grit then stropping is not really required. The secondary bevel angle is a guide but if it is 28 or even 32 it will still cut ok so dont be all that worried about the exact angle. Feeling the burr tells you the edge is ready. It's the way I was shown and has worked for me for over 40 years on an oilstone. The wet grinder gets a good edge too but I find the setup takes a bit of time for each blade so I have reverted back to the oilstone for my chisels and plane irons. A bit of practice say 3 or 4 chisels and you should have it. Saves so much time.
Regards
John

Thanks John. Quite right; it's a lot easier than I expected.