Honing chisels as you work? Best method?

[dmede]

I use Lee Valley water stones to sharpen my plane blades and chisels. 200x grit for basic grinding and shaping, 800x to smooth the blade after the coarse stone and a 4000x for the final edge. I usually use my Veritas sharpening jig to get the initial sharpening and honing done but then as I work I may go back to the 4000x stone and free hand the honed edge to bring it back. This works ok, but not as good as initially using the jig. Problem with using the jig to hone is that A) it takes too much time to set up when all I want is to touch up the edge and B) it never gets the exact same angle so I end up honing a new bevel everytime.

Is there another step I’m missing after honing with the jig and 4000x stone that I can use to help keep the edge going without needing the jig or should I be content with free handing on the 4000x stone as I work?

dave

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=43071&cat=1,43072

[pcford]

snips
Is there another step I’m missing after honing with the jig and 4000x stone that I can use to help keep the edge going without needing the jig or should I be content with free handing on the 4000x stone as I work?


Lots of way to skin a cat...I'm sure you will bet a lot of answers. One thing I'd add is I use a buffing wheel to bring up the edge. It's quick.

[Charles Burgess]

Try an old fashioned razor strap...like a wide leather belt hung up nearby, with some red rouge (polishing compound) on the rough side of the belt.

Give the chisel edge a few strokes on the strap every so often and the edge will last longer. Works great with plane blades too.

[Bob Smalser]

http://www.woodenboatvb.com/vbulletin/upload/showthread.php?t=9336

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/3302197/68779318.jpg

There's nothing more effective for final stropping than a stitched cottom buff loaded with Knifemaker's Green Rouge.

[dmede]

I don't have a grinder or the bench space to dedicate to one in my one car shop. Is the strop w/ green rouge a good alternative to the wheel?

Something like this? (I'd make my own): http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=32999&cat=1,43072
http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/woodworking/sharpening/70m0350s2.jpg

[George Roberts]

Buy good tools. Sharpen once a week.

Good = HSS cutting edge.

[reeljob]

Anyone have a link/tips for sharpening chisels and plane blades in general? I think i'm sharpening them OK, but i'm sure they could be sharper.

[dmede]

The link below has some info on basic sharpening:

http://www.antiquetools.com/sharp/index.html

[Keith Wilson]

I use Lee Valley's microabrasive sandpaper for final honing and touching up the edges of cutting tools. Their finest grade is 0.5 micron, which is about equivalent to a strop and green compound.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=1&p=33004&cat=1,43072

[Dave Fleming]

Buy good tools. Sharpen once a week.

Good = HSS cutting edge.


Yessir, nice HSS plane blades and hand chisels...been made since Adam was a pup.


Oh George, again you take the cake.

:rolleyes: :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

[bainbridgeisland]

I guess I am just not up on the latest.

The way I learned the trade was to not worry about the final honing because a few minutes of use would put the edge way back. I was taught to touch up the edge every few minutes as I worked using the stone in my pocket. I still work that way.

The idea was that keeping the right geometry and keeping the tool sharp allowed the job to progress quickly. Nobody where I Apprenticed or later worked had time to stop work, climb down the staging or go into the shop to hone his or her tools.

I have often wondered about this kind of stuff as I read WoodenBoat magazine. The 'how to' articles in the magazine do not reflect how I learned the trade. Generally work progressed very quickly in the yards I worked for. Even though we worked on timber vessels every day, we worked with just a handful of power and hand tools compared to many amateur builders today. I have never really figured out why WB doesn't advocate these simpler methods.

[dmede]

bainbridge, I'd say it has something to do with most of WB's readers being hobbyists and not professional boatwrights. Your average garage boat builder like me isn't doing this for a living and does have time to stop and strop a blade here and there.

But I do like hearing about using a small pocket stone. I keep one in my truck for when I'm away from the garage or out camping. I figure that would be the equivalent to using the 4000x water stone though. So since I'm never far enough away from my regular sharpening setup while in the garage it doesn't make as much sense as a simple strop or buffing wheel for my boat work.

[Dave Fleming]

Bainbridge is right, you didn't have time to climb down from the job on the ways and stroll up to the shop, get out your big sharpening stone/s and work on a nice edge.
So.......
In our tote boxes we kept a small stone for touching up a tool edge.

For me it was a nice Norton Hard Arkansas White.

Your pocket chisel, the one in the right hand leg pocket of your JC Pennys overhauls was kept in a leather sheath the back of which formed a honing strop for after you used your pocket stone.

Some grizzled old timers used the leathery palm of their hand for this purpose but, I could never build up such a thick skin, sigh.

[Bill Perkins]

David ; we're at our best as Lovers , not Fighters . I think you simply made the right decision.

[reeljob]

dmede- very helpful link. Thanks

[Bob Smalser]

...Your pocket chisel, the one in the right hand leg pocket of your JC Pennys overhauls was kept in a leather sheath the back of which formed a honing strop for after you used your pocket stone.


http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5090019/76085129.jpg

The natural companion to your block plane.

Obtain an old Witherby or Swan socket bench chisel, grind it to the length of a butt chisel and put a shallow, 20-degree paring bevel on it.

Then heat the socket-blade joint and bend it upwards so's you can pare without scraping your knuckles. Rehandle and make a sheath, and you're in business.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL12/1104763/5090019/176177070.jpg

[cjp63]

I spent 10 years making hand planed early american funiture. always had a stone at the bench. Got paid by the piece so stropping cut into profits, and like everyone else says, the blade will need to be retouched sooner rather than later. The difference in the cut it is not worth the time to strop every ten minutes.

Besides, that's why God invented sandpaper.

[dmede]

So what grit and size would you want your pocket stone to be?

[bainbridgeisland]

I just bring along my Arkansas stone (mounted in a block of wood) in the pocket of my tool belt or apron whenever I use a chisel, knife or plane. When doing general work on softwoods I might touch up the edge every 10-15 minutes. For hardwoods maybe every 5-10 minutes. Just before a difficult cut I would normally spend a moment longer to put on the edge I want.

The above is for hull and deck work. In my experience, most cabinetry details can be made with the right setup. So I would only use a chisel occasionally and then for a short time. The edge stays longer since the tool is not used as much.

An old friend of mine told me recently that he took a class on sharpening from The Japan Woodworker. Says after an all day class he accomplished the sharpening of one tool. He used all kinds of special sharpening equipment to obtain that edge. I didn't have the heart to tell him that a few minutes of use would put the edge back to a 2-minute sharpening job. While it is true that a spectacular edge can be developed, my experience is that such an edge is not normally worth the time and equipment needed to obtain it. There are folks out there who obsess on sharpening that I don't really understand. Don't get me wrong, I keep most of my tools sharp, just not to the level that some claim is necessary

[dmede]

I would tend to agree with those sentiments bainbridge. At some point it's better to put that energy into the work-piece rather than the tool. Sharp is good, very sharp is good. Scary sharp may be a waste of time for most of the work I'm doing.

[cjp63]

I would tend to agree with those sentiments bainbridge. At some point it's better to put that energy into the work-piece rather than the tool. Sharp is good, very sharp is good. Scary sharp may be a waste of time for most of the work I'm doing.

That's what I was trying to say.