Hand Tool Sharpening: What method do you use and why?

[HMH]

Hey Folks,

I'm slowly but surely building a pretty well equiped shop, picking up tools here and there as I need them, and I have recently picked up a pretty good collection of hand planes and chisels that I now need to keep sharp. I've done some research of the various means and methods, but I'd be interested to know what you folks are using and why...

Let me start out by saying that I currently have NOTHING with which to sharpen my woodworking blades, (other than a small wet stone I use on my pocket knife), so my options are pretty wide open. I'm leaning toward the Worksharp 3K as it seems to get good reviews, is quick, and is seemingly idiot-proof. That being said, I kind of like the old-school approach of using a good set of sharpening stones as well, but there would obviously be a decent learing curve to becoming efficient at that approach.

I know there are a ton of other methods as well, Scary sharp, slow-speed grinder w/ a Wolverine type jig, (or a really good eye), the Tormek, (more $$$ than I want to spend), etc. So I put it to you, How do you sharpen your hand tools?

Thanks guys.

[willarda]

Just my two cents on this issue. But I think that there is too much confidence given to the ability of power tools to sharpen a blade. It has been my experience that the same amount, and possibly even more, attention to detail and technique is needed when using any of the power methods of sharpening. They do not necessarily make the process easier or more precise and accurate. In general, I think that starting out with a power tool method of sharpening keeps you one step separated from truly understanding what is needed to get a sharp edge. The literature sings a siren song about how simple the machine is to use. But I find that most of them require a lot of set up time and fiddling, and you always need to deal with the danger of burning your edge. Plus these tools are expensive and almost always have or need optional jigs to do what you want.

A diamond stone and two waterstones (and with a simple honing jig) will give you a tremendous edge from "scratch" in just minutes. There are no real shortcuts to a superlative edge.

Having said all of this, I do have a WorkSharp 3000 which I love and which does an excellent job. However, I use it to sharpen 30 chisels at a time, not one. And this is because the best way to use the machine is to have a glass plate for every grit (same on both sides) so that you can work the bevel and the back together. This entails extra expense, as you can imagine, but is very efficient when you are ganging up tools to be sharpened. Even so, I use a slow speed grinder to shape the bevels initially because the sandpaper, (even at 80 grit) will not work down the bevel on a heavy wide chisel very fast. You can also burn a blade on the Worksharp as well if you are not careful. I should also say that when you are going a lot of grinding on the WorkSharp there is a fire hazard from the filings catching on fire on the underside of the plate.

Consider the simple approach first, become proficient in feeling the sharpness of your edge develop, then decide if you need the power tool approach.

[Mike Davis]

I totally agree, also consider the possibility of working without power. If you depend on a machine to sharpen your tools you are dead in the water when the lights go out.

[dkeller_nc]

Heath - As you may have noticed, there are almost as many sharpening methods as there are woodworkers. So I'm going step back from exactly what you should/shouldn't get for a minute and ask a few questions. I'll also note that there is no such thing as an idiot proof sharpening system - the idiots are way too skilled.

The first, and highly important question, is "what do you want to sharpen?". If the answer is high-speed steel lathe tools, that's going to be a very different answer than if you want to sharpen traditional, european-style carving tools. Woodworking flat chisels and plane blades are yet another answer. For example, the scary-sharp sandpaper method is usable, but difficult, with traditional carving tools (the reason is that the sandpaper tears too easily). For lathe tools, waterstones would be the absolute pits - it would take forever.

And for flat chisels and plane blades, you can certainly use a jig and stones (oil or water), or sandpaper. However, this is the best choice only if you don't really care how long it takes you to do it. This answer is the same for the flat-grinding systems like the Worksharp (though far faster than doing it by hand). The reason is that all of these methods produce a flat bevel, which is not ideal on this type of tool. Far more efficient is a hollow-grind followed by honing on a very fine grit stone (the intermediate grits are not necessary and are actually harmful - more strokes means more chance of rounding a bevel).

The reason that a hollow grind is so efficient is that blade maintenance removes far, far less metal than a flat bevel system (only a micro-fine edge on the front, cutting edge, and the very back of the bevel is honed). It is also self-jigging in that the front and back of the grind touch the honing stone, providing a positive registration surface. In contrast, the flat-bevel method means that you must either a) perfectly duplicate the previous bevel angle to remove metal all the way up to the edge (which is required to get a sharp tool), or you must slightly increase the angle to make sure the front edge gets contacted. That garantees that the bevel will become more and more steep over several sharpening sessions, leading to the eventual situation that a plane will not cut because there's insufficient clearance angle, or a chisel will pare poorly and take a lot of force (higher cutting angle = more required cutting force).

To put together a hollow-grind system, you must have a wheel grinder (whether dry, wet, or hand-cranked) and a fine honing stone (or very fine, and somewhat expensive, sub-micron ceramic paper). In my particular case, I use a Tormek and an 8000 grit Japanese waterstone. You can, however, do just as well with a dry grinder (which is much, much less expensive), though you will have to train yourself to hollow-grind without excessively heating the blade and ruining the temper.

However, and this is the reason I offered the caveat of "what do you want to sharpen" at the first of the post, a hollow-grind system is very much not desirable for carving tools. In fact, a hollow grind on a traditional gouge will make it dang near unusable because unlike a plane blade or a flat chisel, the bevel itself is a jigging surface, and the hollow grind will make it "dive" in the wood.

Similarly, for lathe tools a water grinder and a honing stone would be unbelievably laborious - high speed steel in the tool is very, very hard and would take forever on a water-cooled grinder. This is why most experienced turners use a machine with both a dry grinding wheel and a grinding belt - the wheel for rough grinding, and the belt for finer grinding and removing the hollow bevel.

And, while I personally think powered sharpening of carving tools is a quick way to remove way too much metal, this particular area is where tools like the Worksharp and the Jool Tool shine - because they leave a flat bevel.

Finally, I should point out that sharpening is not the same as maintaining an edge tool. Hands down, the best method for maintaining any edge tool is a leather strop charged with honing compound, used manually. By eschewing power honers, you remove the biggest cause of having to take the tool back to the grinder - rounding the bevel. And with a strop, you can have a medium-dull plane blade that has otherwise been correctly ground and honed back to unbelievably sharp in 4 strokes - there is nothing faster, and there never will be.

[HMH]

Wow,

Thanks to all who posted, especially Bill, Mike, & David. You guys definately opened my eyes on the subject, and while at this point, I am mainly concerned in keeping a good edge on my planes and bench chisels, I think I'll go w/ the grinder/ waterstone/ leather route. I have a grinder, although it is not slow speed, so I realize I will have to read up on how to minimize overheating the steel, but that seems like the logical next step in building up my resume of basic woodworking skills. Seems like one of those, "you can't run before you walk" kind of things...

Thanks again for all of the feedback folks. Best....Site....Ever.....

[CarvedTones]

Speaking from experience, trying to use a high speed grinder with a stone that isn't as wide as the blade can be a recipe for disaster. Many people pull that trick off with jigs and care; I ended up with an uneven edge of overheated steel. So I am not saying you can't do it, just warning you that it isn't simple. David showed me the edges of his plane blades and gave me the same explanation he gave you. He is right; it would be easier to hone the edge if it is hollow ground. But I don't have what I consider the right setup for getting a consistently good hollow grind. So I am choosing the extra effort involved in flat grinding because I can do that right over the convenience of a hollow grind because I haven't been able to consistently do that right.

[Mike Davis]

Just like hand honing you can learn to hand grind. Jigs make the task somewhat easier and more consistent, but there is no substitute for practice.

I think some people get too wrapped up in the theory and fear of messing up. They don't take the time to look closely and observe what the tool needs, what the grinder does and the effects of their actions.

There are whole books written to try to explain a simple thing that can be demonstrated and taught in a few minutes. But, without the hands on practice some never realize how simple and easy sharpening really is.

[CarvedTones]

Speaking of practice, I picked up a blade to use in a peg shaper (kind of like a specially tapered pencil sharpener) yesterday. I got a Buck Bros block plane blade at Lowes for under $3. The larger smoothing plane blade was also under $3. If I were contemplating taking a good blade to the grinder for the first time, I think it might be worth the small investment to practice on one of these first.

I will readily admit that I am resistant to hollow grinding. All my tools are finally really sharp and I can reliably get them that way again by flat grinding. I would rather go cut things with them than take the time to learn hollow grinding right now. BTW, my high speed grinder is a cheap imported 6" with factory stones and replacing it is not even on the radar right now.

[dkeller_nc]

Andy makes a good point - choose something cheap for your first foray into high-speed dry grinding, because garanteed you will blue a blade at some point.

There is a trick to dry grinding without trashing your blade by taking the temper out of it: replace the wheels!. Even a pro is going to have real difficulty keeping the steel cool enough with the wheels that come on import dry grinders. You really, really need a really coarse, open, and friable wheel. The grit should be 36 - while that might sound extraordinarily coarse, it's important to keeping the edge cool. The higher the grit number and finer the wheel, the higher the heat generated.

Second thing is to either make or buy a good-quality, steel tool rest. This is also important to keeping the heat down, as the steel acts as a heat sink. Lee Valley sells a very, very good tool rest for not too much money (they also sell coarse, friable grinding wheels).

Finally, use a multi-point diamond wheel dresser to very slightly crown the wheels - also important to keeping the heat down, as well as helping you with the geometry. One aid to getting a smooth grind all the way across a wide plane blade is to use a small engineer's square and a scratch awl to strike a line across the back of the blade, then grind to the line.

You might want to review Joel Moskowitz' write-up on the TFWW website on grinding and sharpening - it's a very good, brief tutorial.

For the leather, you can buy one from Joel, or you can get a scrap at the Tandy Leather store in North Raleigh (and other bigger cities). I bought the scrap, because I knew I'd need it to line my vise jaws as well as make several strops for the inside of my carving tools.

[CarvedTones]

Yup, my cheap grinder is pretty worthless for sharpening. In fact I often use it to dull edges (corners). It's good for taking the burrs off a cut piece of threaded rod so a nut will fit on it or taking the point off of brass nails before peening them back. But approach it with a piece of Sheffield steel? I don't think so...

Michaels also keeps a limited supply of bagged Tandy scraps. It's entirely possible that the leather grips on my kids' bows came from a purse at the thrift store, that I have a strop exactly the size of a Dickie's work belt and that both these items sell for under $2 each, but I would never confirm such a nasty rumor. If I were to shop there, I would certainly only get items that are clearly good leather, preferably even a brand like Dickies that I recognize, and are unfinished on at least one side.

[dkeller_nc]

Here's Joel's blog entry on grinding blades:

http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/M...html&BlogID=48

It makes reference to his article in the June 2008 issue of Fine Woodworking, which in contrast to most of the magazine in the modern era, was a very good article. You can get it from the FWW website if you've an on-line subscription.

[CarvedTones]

Dang it, David, I told you this wasn't on my near term list.

But I read the blog entry and followed the link to look at these stones:
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/M...egory_Code=CNO

which includes this in the description:

We put one on our old high-speed 6" circa 1978 $50 grinder and started grinding everything in sight. We are doing a lot of hollow grinding because the risk of burning the steel is so much reduced.

So if I got one wheel, which should it be? My guess is the 60 grit I Grade. I actually do own a diamond wheel dresser. Even cheap guys like me can't use their lousy factory wheels once they get filled with metal dust.

If I could get a wheel for only $40 or so that would actually make my 6" grinder work for this and were able to get a little hands on instruction from a local period furniture maker I might learn to hollow grind.

[froglips]

Well, this thread is heading somewhere that this might be a good read.

http://www.planemaker.com/articles_grinding.html

This is from Clark & Williams, hand plane makers.

It makes the case for using the coarse wheel that comes with the grinder.

I like terms for things, so to me, the grinder is a coarse shaping tool, not really a sharpening tool.

Recently, I heard that the binder is what causes the bulk of the heating. If that is to be believed, the finer pink/white wheels contain a much higher ratio of binder to grit.

Lately, I have found following Clark & Williams advise has worked quite well.

But, as has been mentioned, a lot depends on what you are sharpening.

Jim

[dkeller_nc]

Originally Posted by CarvedTones

Dang it, David, I told you this wasn't on my near term list.

But I read the blog entry and followed the link to look at these stones:
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/M...egory_Code=CNO

which includes this in the description:


So if I got one wheel, which should it be? My guess is the 60 grit I Grade. I actually do own a diamond wheel dresser. Even cheap guys like me can't use their lousy factory wheels once they get filled with metal dust.

If I could get a wheel for only $40 or so that would actually make my 6" grinder work for this and were able to get a little hands on instruction from a local period furniture maker I might learn to hollow grind.

I'd get the coarsest wheel you can. In this case, the 46 grit. In a couple of places, I'd take issue with Larry in the C&W article - that's about the gray wheels and the star wheel dresser. The problem with many of the gray wheels is that there is no binder - it's a solid composition of aluminum oxide, which is very hard and isn't very "friable" (a fancy engineering term for "breakable"). While a star wheel dresser will definitely true your wheels to the arbor, it can't be used to slightly crown the face of the wheel, and that's critical to being able to grind a wide blade without overheating it.

A couple of other tips on not overheating your blades - use a very light touch, and just touch the blade to the wheel, travel across its face, and retract again. You can see the proper way to hold and feed the iron in Larry's pictures - you must use your off-hand to provide a "stop" for the pushing action from your dominant hand so that you can grind straight across.

Also, you really have to have a good tool rest, and most of the newer asian grinders have a wholly insufficient one. This is a good one:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.a...=1,43072,45938

You can also make one out of heavy angle if you've a friend with an angle grinder and a cutting wheel. All it needs to have is a very sturdy base, a lockable adjust mechanism in 2 places (for which a 1/2 bolt and a star nut will work just fine), and flattened rest (you can flatten the top piece of angle with a file).

But, Andy, I'd point out that if you're happy with your worksharp, and it gets you where you want to get (sharp blades), I'd stick with it. You've already got the investment in the hardware, and I would only consider switching out yours for a more efficient honing mechanism if you're a nut like me and surface most of your wood with handplanes. And I think I mentioned this - while I prefer to sharpen my carving tools entirely by hand, the Worksharp set up is really nice for that application - because you can see what you're doing, and you get a flat bevel at the end.

[CarvedTones]

I have an angle grinder and cut off wheels, so I could make a rest, but I am starting to get the feeling this will snowball. I was a flat grind bigot until I saw your blades up close and now I understand why being able to do both is good. I would still choose flat if I could do only one as it does work for everything. I don't surface most of my wood flat ever, except maybe a small panel for scroll work or relief or a couple of items to join.

[dkeller_nc]

I think what I'd make your decision on would be whether you own a lathe, wish to own a lathe, and want to do turning, for whatever purpose (such as making instrument pegs). Under those circumstances you may well want to set up your grinder, because with the high speed steel that lathe tools are made of the heat just isn't an issue. You can blue high speed steel and do absolutely nothing to the temper, and nothing's faster than a high speed dry grinder.

My thinking is that the Worksharp might be difficult to use with a 17" long lathe tool, but I could be wrong about that, because I don't have one.