Thread: New plane arrived...now to sharpen it!

I've gone down the waterstone route. I have King 1200 & 6000 grits. It's said that 8000g is better, but at 3 times the cost of the 6000g I haven't taken that plunge (yet).
They're messy and I hate the idea of water near my blades, but I'm happy with the results, they're certainly better than my old oilstones. But then I'm no expert at woodworking.

Incidently, I've kept my oilstones for basic coarse work, as I've heard waterstones below 1000g wear too fast.

I use a Veritas MkII jig. I was taught to freehand hone, but I don't trust my rusty skills.

Cheers, Vann.

Hi John, Ern (rsser) has purchased the Woodpeckers honing gear, and as I recall he thinks it's pretty good. If you've got a shopping list then perhaps a Group Buy could be the way to go. Jeez, I'm proud o'meself, that was really subtle.

I've used a blade that Ern's sharpened - if he used that gear on it then it does a good job, as it's only needed a minor touch-up after 3 months of being given a good workout!

Could be Andrew, I think Ern bought the blocks more or less as soon as they came out, and I think that was earlier this year. What appeals about the Woodpeckers honing system is that you can buy bloody heaps of honing film for the cost of the fine wet stones, and you don't have to dress the stones.

I'm testing the WP Honing Plates for a review for Aust Wood Review and I'm afraid they get first dibs on the results.

Can say this: there are systemic problems with Scary Sharp that the WP design deals with. But we are talking about honing from 15 microns down.

A sharpening system needs to have coarser abrasives than this; to stick with the WP plates you 'only' need to get some 3M Imperial Lapping film in Alox that goes up to 80 micron or more. But it seems you need to be married to the daughter of the Chairman of 3M to do this

Well, my history has been Scary Sharp (W&D on glass), diamond plates and now Japanese ceramic stones.

Most folk who start on SS move onto something else and for good reasons.

Diamond plates wear out, at least my DMT ones have, but I do a lot of flattening.

The ceramic stones are a decent upfront investment but they'll prob. see you out.

Which grits you get depends on how much blade rehabbing you have to do and whether you're patient enough to first shape bevels on a bench grinder.

My current kit is Shapton #120 (for the really sick), Sigma Power Select IIs (good for hard steels) in #240, #1000 and #3000, and a Sigma Power #8000. Plus a sheet of plate glass and a Veritas lapping kit of assorted size loose SiC grains for flattening the coarse stones.

I prefer a diamond plate for flattening finer stones but the old Diasharp has lost its puff and I'm waiting for a #400 Atoma from Stu from toolsfromjapan

Stu knows more about whetstones than I ever will and I've repeatedly put my money where his mouth is and never regretted it.

HTH.

I've just been looking at the Woodpecker system online. Basically I don't know anything about it, and I've never heard of the Scary Sharp system (although anything with a name like "Scary Sharp" has to be good!). From what I understand it is a system that involves dead flat U shaped surface with a "stick-on" sharpening film...is that basically it? Then when the films wear out you just but more and stick them on?

Does it work...I mean obviously it does, but for someone starting out, it seems less complicated than waterstones. But I haven't used either, only an oilstone. From what I understand it seems great. Just need to pair it with a veritas mk2?

Hi Ern

So what did you do to the #5's blade before you sent it to me?. I've tried to get the #6's blade near as sharp on an oilstone without success. I was going to try scary sharp until your comments above!

Hi John

For a beginner I usually recommend one of two approaches:

1. Start with sandpaper first. This is a cheapish outlay - just a few sheets glued to glass. You will need 240/600/2000 grit. For this system you are using a honing guide, and need to understand how to hone a microbevel on a flat primary bevel.

The advantage of this system for a beginner is that they do not need to flatten waterstones (which needs to be done when they are used), and there is little to stuff up. It will let you get the feel of your honing guide first. I do recommend the Veritas Mk II.

2. You could dive in and get waterstones directly. The King stones (from Carba-tec) are OK but old fashioned and generally less effective than any of the modern waterstones. They also need flattening more often. I would go for Nortons as a good value-for-money. Get 1000/4000/8000. You will also need to learn how to flatten the stones, and for this you could use 240 grit sandpaper on glass (see, you get to use it again), or a extra course DMT diamond stone (10" is best, 8" will do at a pinch).

What about grinding the primary bevel? Starting out I recommend using 120 grit sandpaper and then onto the 240 grit, etc. Stay away from 220 grit waterstones - they are very soft, and dish very quickly. This will definitely stuff up your blades. Anyone in Perth want a 220 King? - just pop around and it is yours! But you are warned!!

Incidentally, should you go for the Kings, the 8000 is not double the price of the 6000 if you plan to use it up. It is effectively the same price since the 8000 stone is twice as thick as the 6000.

I use Professional Shapton waterstones - 1000/5000/12000. More costly still, but they use little water, do not need soaking, and stay flat a long time. If tempted to go down this path, do not get the glass Shaptons - they are not as good, and they are more expensive for what you receive.

There are lots of sharpening systems, and everyone believes that they have the answer. The true answer is "whatever works for you".

Regards from Perth

Derek

Ern & Derek

They were two absolutely excellent summary answers to what I have come to realise is a complete bloody minefield.

Originally Posted by derekcohen

Hi John

For a beginner I usually recommend one of two approaches:

1. Start with sandpaper first. This is a cheapish outlay - just a few sheets glued to glass. You will need 240/600/2000 grit. For this system you are using a honing guide, and need to understand how to hone a microbevel on a flat primary bevel.

The advantage of this system for a beginner is that they do not need to flatten waterstones (which needs to be done when they are used), and there is little to stuff up. It will let you get the feel of your honing guide first. I do recommend the Veritas Mk II.

2. You could dive in and get waterstones directly. The King stones (from Carba-tec) are OK but old fashioned and generally less effective than any of the modern waterstones. They also need flattening more often. I would go for Nortons as a good value-for-money. Get 1000/4000/8000. You will also need to learn how to flatten the stones, and for this you could use 240 grit sandpaper on glass (see, you get to use it again), or a extra course DMT diamond stone (10" is best, 8" will do at a pinch).

What about grinding the primary bevel? Starting out I recommend using 120 grit sandpaper and then onto the 240 grit, etc. Stay away from 220 grit waterstones - they are very soft, and dish very quickly. This will definitely stuff up your blades. Anyone in Perth want a 220 King? - just pop around and it is yours! But you are warned!!

Incidentally, should you go for the Kings, the 8000 is not double the price of the 6000 if you plan to use it up. It is effectively the same price since the 8000 stone is twice as thick as the 6000.

I use Professional Shapton waterstones - 1000/5000/12000. More costly still, but they use little water, do not need soaking, and stay flat a long time. If tempted to go down this path, do not get the glass Shaptons - they are not as good, and they are more expensive for what you receive.

There are lots of sharpening systems, and everyone believes that they have the answer. The true answer is "whatever works for you".

Regards from Perth

Derek

Thanks for putting it easy to understand Derek. As great as the other systems sound, I think I'll start with the W+D sandpaper, I found some on eBay for $1 a sheet for 2500 grit. Might pay a visit to a salvage shop and see if I can find a nice flat piece of old granite kitchen counter top to stick the W+D to. Spray adhesive I guess?

Then after I've worked out how to sharpen my old chisels and feel more confident, I might re-look at things like the woodpecker and ceramic whetstone systems.

Thanks, now I can concentrate on more important things...like finding a scrub, smoother, scraper plane!

Originally Posted by FenceFurniture

Ern & Derek

They were two absolutely excellent summary answers to what I have come to realise is a complete bloody minefield.

Not wrong! It's a bit like opening a can of worms! You guys are great for giving advice tho, I appreciate it, thanks

Happy to share what I've learned.

W&D on plate glass is OK for bevels; I do not recommend it for flattening plane blade and chisel backs. The corners get dubbed over in most cases.

You can get there with it if you use quality W&D and are prepared to work the finer grits for metal removal as well as polishing but even then the results can be inconsistent and it's a lot of work.

There's no get out of jail card here; the backs must be flattened and then polished to the same degree as the bevels.

And abrasive sheet on glass is not that cheap in the long run. Budget $40 for a strip of plate glass (I don't recommend granite unless it's a reference stone), $15 spray adhesive, $1.25 or so per sheet of abrasive (and they don't last long when lapping) and scrounge one or two thicknesses of 3/4" MDF.

For those interested in the performance of various waterstones, have a look at the tests at

Tools from Japan blog. (warning: long read, put the kettle on).

Andrew, the #5 would prob. have had the bevel done with ceramic waterstones. Don't recall doing the back on that as it was given to me and I was just passing it on.

Originally Posted by rsser

Andrew, the #5 would prob. have had the bevel done with ceramic waterstones. Don't recall doing the back on that as it was given to me and I was just passing it on.

No, the back wasn't done but only needed the tiniest amount of work so maybe the previous owner had done it.

Goodness...I'm really glad I posted this question instead of just walking into a shop! Thanks for the article on waterstones, I'll look at it over coffee

Ceramic fine grades are looking quite interesting, especially when they pretty much don't wear like other stones. More research and practice I think. What did we do 30 years ago without Google?!!