Ok now it’s time for me to deal with my first sharpening system! Mostly plane blades and chisels. I assume jointer knives are out of my reach! I’m looking for recommendations on bench grinders/tool rests and honing guides. I’m going to purchase Norton water stones….what grits should I get 1000/4000?
Thanks in advance
ED
Replies
A few months ago Fine Woodworking had an article on sharpening systems. You should get that.
The grits for the waterstones would be 200-1000-4000-8000. You can get all four grits in two stones.
Probably the most popular honing guide is the Veritas, available from Lee Valley Tools. The FWW article mentions another, which is available from Garett Wade.
Good luck.
My first stop at sharpening was the Norton waterstones but I concluded they were so soft that you had to "flatten" them too frequently. Then I tried a diamond stone at the suggestion of a professional hand tool woodworker; which wqas satisfactory. Then I tried the sandpaper method ( Scary Sharpe, as seen on some threads here). I have tended to go back to the diamond stone(1200 grit) and then follow with 2000 grit sandpaper. After a discussion with a man at Japanese Woodworker I think I will try their 8000 grit Takenoko stone.
One comment on honing guides ( jigs?) is that for Japanese chisels (short blades) they are worthless. They are great for plane blades but I have found that the really experienced woodworkers don't use guides but develope, over time, the skill to sharpen without the guides. I tried it the other day and didn't turn out too badly; I think you have to break the reliance on guides and develope the "feel" and hand coordination.
Good luck! Your question should produce only a few less responses than the question, "which religion is best". :)
I agree 100% with Sailalex. Get the finest diamond stone from DMT and then go to silicon carbide paper on a flat surface. I finally strop on leather with green rouge. I also have a 2" X 4" white ceramic ultra smooth stone. It's better than Arkansas and will always be flat and will never dish out. Stay away from the larger ceramic stones. They are not flat and can't be made flat.
The only other stone you need is a fine carborundum (sp) slip stone for getting into gouges and V chisels.
Don
Buy Leornard Lee's Complete Book of Sharpening. Its a taunton book i believe so i can be purchased here or at book stores. Its your definative sharpening resource.
by reading or referencing that book you can figure out what sharpening system best suits you and best of all how to *correctly* sharpen your tooling. You might be suprised and find out you may not need what you think you need, and need what you dont think youll need.
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