Thread: How Do You Sharpen Your Tools?

ive had a go at every method but now use the Tormek. very easy and quick and with honing as needed on spyderco ceramic stone keeps the chisels sharp and shiney.
beejay1

I don't know about this sharpening business. Theres a lot written about precise geometries, argon microsopes and flat surfaces within a .00001mm tolerance.

Wheny ou first start out you're ignorant to what sharp really means. Then you sart to really get into and lust after that arm shaving super edge with your $150 diamond stone and/or $200 piece of float glass. Then, you might start to realise that 'sharp' means 'sharp enough to do the job at a level at which extra sharpening effort produces negligible difference'.

Perhaps - just perhaps, I've still not experienced atom splitting sharpness and my ignorance is showing through. But I think I've got my technique down to a level where I get my blades sharp enough to cut nicely and leave a good finish. I then get on with working with wood, not metal.

In summary I think that marginal benefit decreases for each extra 'step' of sharpening profficiency? Any thoughts?

I you disagree, please send me your 'truly' sharp Norris/LN/Clifton and I'll evaluate it.

I'm not criticising anyone who posted here, Its just a commentary on a few of the ridiculously detailed sharpening websites out there.

Originally Posted by LineLefty

Perhaps - just perhaps, I've still not experienced atom splitting sharpness and my ignorance is showing through. But I think I've got my technique down to a level where I get my blades sharp enough to cut nicely and leave a good finish. I then get on with working with wood, not metal.

In summary I think that marginal benefit decreases for each extra 'step' of sharpening profficiency? Any thoughts?

I'm not criticising anyone who posted here, I'm just a commentary on a few of the ridiculously detailed sharpening websites out there.

Im happy with the results I am getting with my oilstone (ie shave hair), a small waterstone (bought for $1) and leather. When I come across a really damaged chisel I grind the edge very carefully on my belt sander with a medium grit sandpaper and then go through the normal process. I have been using scary sharp for my plane blades recently and I find it useful especially on used blades (that have been ruined by others!)

I tend to agree with you and I see little purpose in spending several hundred dollars on waterstones and wet grinders if I can get the same result with a couple of dollars.

Originally Posted by GregLee

When doing heavy sharpening I start off with a white wheel on the 6" grinder to create a hollow ground, then I hone the main bevel on an oilstone with a Stanley Jig and finish the main bevel and micro bevel on 1200 Wet n' dry.

Sometimes I also polish on rag wheel on grinder. However, this is normally only for asthetics. Wet n' dry seems to finish like a razor.

I use a white wheel on a 8" grinder (I have made a pretty poor excuse for a jig for the turning tools, but it seems to work!) I have used diamond plates in the past when the edge seemed to be getting dull. I now use a "sisal mop" with cutting compond (several different grades). The mop works very similar to a felt wheel in that you take the tool to the rear of the grinder, pronouncing the burr?
I also use a soft mop and a swansdown mop with polishing componds, but agree with Greg that this ie only for asthetics, although depending on the timber/environment etc, polishing the tools almost negates dramas with corrosion.
I find that I can get a "razor edge" that lasts on HSS tools. I also find that with this method, the use of the grinder is for only when the tools have lost their bevel/hollowgrind, thus saving the gold/platimum (well, by the cost it seems that way?) impregnated HSS tools from getting eatan away

Until recently most of my work was on site, but my bench grinder was off site. Off site I grind on a 8" grinder with a green wheel, because that's how I bought it (2nd hand). Previously I used a 6" grinder with the original grey wheel and flimsy tool rests. I sharpen on two oilstones, both sides of a silicone carbide and the finer side of an Aluminium oxide. Touch up as required on the fine stone, go back to silicon carbide stone when it needs it, and back to the grinder when it loses its hollow or gets a nick in it.

On site was a different story. Sometimes I didn't have a stone with me and I have sharpened on a smooth bit of concrete slab with water from my water bottle. Other times I may have used WD40 or motor oil on my oil stone. Of course nicking a blade on a nail or screw is not uncommon so I would grind the blade, either on my belt grinder, an angle grinder with a cutting disc (less aggresive than a grinding disc) or on the side of my 14" steel cut-off disc. All quick and dirty but did the job. I've always managed to get an edge you could shave with. Now some of the fancier methods may give you a prettier looking blade or possibly hold their edge a bit longer but time is money and my usual reason for resharpening is more often than not, a nicked edge and "sharper" edges are just as likely to get a nick in them.

Not saying my methods are any better (actually, strictly speaking, they're decidedly worse ) but they've worked for me and I'm unlikely to go to anything slower and/or more complicated. I'd go for something simpler and faster if I could .

Mick

I struggle.

But scary sharp meant I sort of got there, and waterstones mean I struggle less (although it takes many sharpenings to get rid of the 'round' back that scary sharp produced!).

Enough of that, I wondered tonight as I was "sharpening" a couple of hammers if that is ever done anymore? An old chippie that used to work for me when I was too young to know any better used to give the face of his hammer a rub with sandpaper every morning before starting work.

I thought it had to help my nailing (at the time I was convinced that the hammer was slipping off the nail because of a faulty tool
) so took up the habit in a (futile) effort to get better.

The face of the hammer remains ding free and my brain tells me its' better to do, but wondered if anyone else has heard of it, (or hammers for that matter).

Cheers,
P (who still uses scary sharp even on the 12 pounder)

I give the face of my Estwing a bit of a polish making sure I swivel it around as I'm doing it so as not to flatten the domed face on concrete when neccessary. It's not to get rid of dings but to clean off any rust or residues like glue, wax, paint, concrete etc etc. I use my hammer to smack holes in plaster or masonry, drive nails, hit wood chisels and cold chisels, tap things into alignment etc etc etc. It does get all sorts of crud on the face so I give it a bit of a clean up before driving nails with it. Also if you drive a lot of gal nails or coated nails you will get a residue from them. Don't know that scary sharp is neccessary though

Mick

Originally Posted by journeyman Mick

Don't know that scary sharp is neccessary though

Mick,
You're right about keeping the dome! And as for scary sharp, tonight I took two hammers all the way through the grits.

Right down to 60.

P

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

Mick,
You're right about keeping the dome! And as for scary sharp, tonight I took two hammers all the way through the grits.

Right down to 60.

P

So what's the grit equivalent for a bit of steel trowelled concrete? It'd have to be about 120-150 grit. The quality is a bit variable but it's readily available. (Flattening it with a diamond plate or another stone might be a problem though)

Mick

As a retired carpenter and joiner, I have read many articles on sharpening tools. My hammer was rubbed on the rubber sole of the old "canecutters" sandshoes which were then the official safety footwear of the time, to clean the paint and sap off the face. If we were outside, the hammer face was rubbed in the dirt. Cutting tools were sharpened on a coarse/fine oilstone. There was no power on site. In the shed a grinder was used to restore the hollow so that the chisel etc. could be honed easily. Now retired but still working wood I use a white aluminium oxide because it runs cooler and will grind carbon steel tools as well as hss tools, without burning if used lightly. I also bought, out of curiosity a diamond hone, a slate with diamond slurry packs, a japanese water stone as well as a ceramic stone. I still use the al oxide wheel (#60 grit), but prefer the water stone (#800) to an oil stone because they are cleaner, easier and water is cheaper (at present at least). These are the only sharpening tools used and I can still shave the hairs off my arm with the chisels. I agree with Mick, is any more really necessary? I don't know of any tradesmen that carry a tool box dedicated to honing stones. I often wonder what would happen if some of these super sharp tools encountered a piece of hardwood?????
Jim

In summary I think that marginal benefit decreases for each extra 'step' of sharpening profficiency?

Funny, I said almost exactly the same thing to Derek a few months ago. I reasoned that there must come a point where the blade is sharp enough that making it any sharper would have little or no impact on it's ability to do the job. Diminishing marginal returns: see, I did economics too.

I think it's probably true, however how sure are you that you are at the break even point now? The object of sharpening is twofold. First and probably most important is that you want an edge that will sever fibres cleanly. Second you want an edge that will continue to do this as long as possible before it needs to be resharpened. A lot of the effort that goes into sharpening once you have achieved a really sharp edge is intended to achieve the second objective.

That's where all the complicated blade geometries and so on come into it. You want a blade that has the right bevel angle to do its job properly but that also has enough meat behind it to support the cutting edge. That's why you get people talking about different bevel angles and micro bevels etc.

If you do really want to understand this stuff, you should buy a copy of Leonard Lee's book. He asked the same question as you but took it one step further and went to great lengths to find out what was really going on. If you don't, then I guess sharp enough is when you are able to get on with the job for long enough between sharpenings without getting frustrated.

I sharpen when I'm not happy with the cuttin'
I sharpen with grinder, coarse/fine oilstone, file and only the one's needed.
I sharpen till the hair gets shaved off my arm or I can feel the burr on the lathe tools and scrapers :eek:
I do all this in the shortest time I'm able to.
Any sharper means I'll cut me not the hair and I bleed real easy.
I hate getting blood stains on a near finished piece. :mad:

Call me old fashioned or even ignorant but I believe I get the job done in the time available and not spend a whole heap of time doing the other bits. I thought that's what scary sharp meant!! - it's scary how much time you can spend doin' what should take as little as possible. :eek:

And I always pick up the Estwing and give it a rub on the the nearest bit of concrete/masonary to clean the face. I never remember what I was doin last with it and I like to keep the nail and my fingers straight

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

I struggle.


Enough of that, I wondered tonight as I was "sharpening" a couple of hammers if that is ever done anymore? An old chippie that used to work for me when I was too young to know any better used to give the face of his hammer a rub with sandpaper every morning before starting work.

I thought it had to help my nailing (at the time I was convinced that the hammer was slipping off the nail because of a faulty tool
) so took up the habit in a (futile) effort to get better.

The face of the hammer remains ding free and my brain tells me its' better to do, but wondered if anyone else has heard of it, (or hammers for that matter).

Cheers,
P (who still uses scary sharp even on the 12 pounder)

Is this a far North Qld thing? Mick & Powderpost are from that area, and my old man, from up there, also taught me to do it to keep the face clean. Could be something to do with rapid corrosion in the wet tropics?

He rubbed it in the dirt if outside, sandpaper if inside.

My grandfather, father & uncles taught me and we all lived in Essendon, just over the railway line from the great Windy Hill!! So it isn't a FNQ thing. ( Go
maroons).

Two of them were chippies so I guess it's more likely a trades thing