What method do you use to sharpen your hand tools?

[CarvedTones]

find a good method for sharpening gouges. Almost anything works well for flat chisels and plane blades.

Well, at least we have the easy ones to make us feel like geniuses.

The absolute hardest one for me is my Stubai Sculpture Adze (click). It's an awesome tool for making carving blanks from firewood; then I can use my other tools to turn the blank back into firewood and the circle is complete... Anyway, both ends are a challenge. The ax end is not a flat slope and the edge has a little radius to it (it has a little less now that I have sharpened it a few times) and the gouge end doesn't have a good point of reference that you can pivot on. I have had the most success clamping it in place and using the slipstone and ceramic cone on the gouge end.

 

[Mike Davis]

You can use your table saw to cut a cove in some straight, hard wood. Sand it smooth. Then use spray adhesive to glue 400, 600 or higher grit wet&dry paper in the groove.

This makes a great hone for curved tools like the adze or a wide curved chisel.

I will try to work up a pictorial tutorial memorial later.

 

[richlife]

Well, at least we have the easy ones to make us feel like geniuses.

The absolute hardest one for me is my Stubai Sculpture Adze (click). It's an awesome tool for making carving blanks from firewood; then I can use my other tools to turn the blank back into firewood and the circle is complete... Anyway, both ends are a challenge. The ax end is not a flat slope and the edge has a little radius to it (it has a little less now that I have sharpened it a few times) and the gouge end doesn't have a good point of reference that you can pivot on. I have had the most success clamping it in place and using the slipstone and ceramic cone on the gouge end.

Yup -- you are "genius" -- I can see it in your work.

It's funny, when I was first trying to do my flat blades, I sure didn't think they were easy!!

I have problems with my carving adze also. It just never seemed to have the right grind to be effective. Some modification helped but it's stilll not a tool I like to use. But Mike's suggestion is good -- I made the channel in sections of basswood with the tool itself (an interesting challenge with the adze -- I'm not saying I did it for that one.) The wood is hard enough to hold the shape while soft enough to be effectively shaped. That's where I first got the jewelers rouge as opposed to using sandpaper. Both probably effective and since I went to sandpaper on a flat plate, I might be more inclined to try Mike's approach.

Rich

 

[CarvedTones]

I have made forms that fit them in balsa using 60 grit and the tool, just holding the sand paper and tool together and dragging them across the balsa to sand out a channel. Then I use that for honing. The trouble I have is maintaining the proper angle and not rounding the edge when I use the form to sharpen (or not tilting far enough to get to the edge in contact and just polishing the base of the bevel). When I do it in the vise, I can lean over it and see that the slip stone or ceramic cone is making contact (and sometimes use the Sharpie trick to be doubly sure). But it takes a lot of time to do it that way because I am only sharpening one little tiny part of the edge at a time.

 

[Timmy]

I just use sandpaper (80 only if it's really nicked, 120, 220, 320, 600 and 1500) with a little bit of water on it for lubrication and I use a piece of granite for a flat surface.

Do you get the tools sharp enough? It seems like when I go up to 1500 the tools still aren't sharp enough. The guys in videos seems like the blades slide through the wood like butter, but that isn't the case for me.

 

[Sandy Rose]

Do you get the tools sharp enough? It seems like when I go up to 1500 the tools still aren't sharp enough. The guys in videos seems like the blades slide through the wood like butter, but that isn't the case for me.

It gets them pretty darn sharp for me, by the time I finish with the 1500, I have a mirror finish on it....just make sure you get a decent second bevel on it. At first I noticed that I wasn't spending enough time on each grit, so I color the edge with a Sharpie marker before each grit and sharpen it until the black is gone.

 

[CarvedTones]

Paul Sellers has an interesting take on micro bevels in a recent entry:

http://paulsellers.com/2012/01/sharpening-chisels-forget-weaker-micro-bevels/

 

[Mike Davis]

Do you get the tools sharp enough? It seems like when I go up to 1500 the tools still aren't sharp enough. The guys in video seems like the blades slide through the wood like butter, but that isn't the case for me.

Sharpen until you feel the wire edge on the back of the edge. Swipe the back once or twice on your finest grit then proceed to the next finer grit. Make sure you get the wire edge on every grit and you will notice a huge difference in sharpness.

 

[Timmy]

Thanks Sandy and Mike. That is probably my problem. I don't feel a little wire. I have heard of feeling it, but was afraid of over sharpening it. I will also give the sharpie idea a try.

 

[bwat]

Tormek if it's got a bad nick, Shapton Ceramic to 16000 grit for the mental therapy it gives me.

Ditto, except Ido not own a Tormek. I use the Worksharp to start if really bad edge or nick then Shapton stones, then shave my arm :gar-La;

 

[willarda]

I would not call that lazy! No reason to suffer when sharpening. I use my Worksharp all the time. I teach classes and often have 40-50 plane irons and chisels to sharpen afterwards. Shortens my time my time from hours and hours to minutes.

I'm lazy so I use a Work Sharp 3000 to do my plane irons and chisels. With the proper technique and stones I could probably get them sharper by hand but they are sharp enough for me.

Terry

 

[Jeff]

This is great to hear all the differnt ways you all sharpen. Does anyone have a lead on good stones that won't break the bank?

Bill Clinton would ask: "Define break the bank".

The DMT DuoSharp diamond stones are excellent. The 10" x 4" combinations aren't badly priced considering that you get 2 stones in one so they're about $76.50/stone. They work nicely with the Veritas MKII honing guide and the extra width is handy for plane irons.

http://www.dmtsharp.com/sharpeners/bench-stones/duosharp/

Shapton ceramic stones are also handy and a bit cheaper. They're a bit smaller at 8 1/4" x 2 3/4".

http://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/Shapton-Ceramic-Water-Stones-C84.aspx

Neither one is messy like a regular waterstone and require no periodic flattening. Just a little spritzing with some water. :thumbs_up