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Always got by using others’ tools, but I’m trying to make it easier to do myself. Mostly basic stuff, chisels, small low angle block plane. I would have have posted at FWW, but this concerns carpentry, not fine joinery, as most of my work involves remodeling…….Just want to be able to keep basic tools sharp. I’ve considered a dedicated wet/dry unit, but I’d like my money to do more. What I was thinking of was using a belt sander for rough and med. grinding (ends up being useful for sanding jobs), then a DMT diamond ‘stone’ for the fine part……..What’s your spin on this approach or any alternatives? Recommendos for belt sander? Again, ‘carpenter grade’ sharpening, occasional hinge motice, strikes, etc. – no furniture……….Thanks guys, Breaktime has the great mimes, I mean minds. :o) -Ken
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Ken, ya better go back over to Knots and do a search. Your "Carpenter grade" should be shaving sharp, just like the furniture guys, unless you're using your chisel as a prybar all the time.
I have a 1800 RPM grinder, rough diamond stone, 1200 grit water stone and 6000 grit water stone. I use the diamond stone to flatten the waterstones. This isn't ideal, but its affordable.
*I used to use a belt sander first, to square things up, and get it sharp enough to use without any other measures taken. But then I would also use a piece of sandpaper, glued to a scrap piece of sink cutout to 'finish' the chisel well enough that I could carve exquisitly thin shavings by hand with the chisel. No pounding or heavy pressure needed.This was years before I became aware of the sandpaper on glass hoo haw.If you really want to get touchy feely with it, use progressively finer grades of sandpaper on the sink cutout, and then finish up with jeweler's rouge on a buffer wheel in the grinder. You'll be able to hold one up for a mirror, to look in while shaving with another.
*Ken , I take mine in and get them sharpened everything from chisels to saw blades in fact today I got to pick up my panel bit and a saw blade. But makita is supposed to have a good sharpening center thats reasonably priced for about 250 bucks. I havent used it personally but read some good reviews about it.
*I can't recommend the Makita system, too fussy. Get a bench grinder (low RPM if possible) with a cool running wheel. Buy or make a good tool rest and then find the patience to be sloooow in initial grinding (dip in water to help keep the tool cool (hopefully a cool tool too)). Then, using a honing guide (many options available at Garrett Wade(read the catalog for laughs)) finish up on your water stones, making sure you also sharpen the back. Get a medium or fine diamond stone to keep the water stones flat. That should only cost about $500, or just get out the belt sander.
*Ken, your idea works fine, we do it on the job all the time. Keep your fingers near the chisel (or whatever) tip, and when it starts getting too hot to hold, stick your fingers and the chislel in a cup of cold water. You can take the temper out of steel real fast with a belt sander...
*Yeah, don't bother with stones. Start with belt sander then work through progressively finer grades of wet/dry sandpaper glued to a pane of glass. I use a cheap honing guide to keep a consistant angle, but I stopped using stones a few years ago when I read about this paper on glass technique - easy, cheap, fast, effective.
*Hey Jim, how long will one of those sheets of sandpaper last? I've been curious about that system for a while, but haven't done anything about it. I'm thinking: "Why use disposable sandpaper when I can use my stones forever?" Am I missing something? I can sharpen plenty fast with my system, but is sandpaper quicker?
*I'm cheap. Don't send hand tools out for sharpening. Use grinder to remove metal, course then fine flat stone to prep for final and a 6000 grit stone to shine 'em up. Still doing it all by eye except I have one of those tool holders on the grinder where you turn the knob back and forth to move the carriage.
*The wet or dry paper lasts a long time. I've got about ten full sheets of different grits & a piece of 1/4" glass about 15" square. I use kerosene or paint thinner as a lubricant. No glue, the paper is loose. Make sure there are no bits of crud on the glass or the paper.(if you get a piece of something under the paper, it will catch and cause a tear) Squirt some thinner on the glass and the paper will stay put. Put another squirt on the top and sand. You can change the sheets to finer grits easily. When the sheets dry you can knock the dust off and they keep on working. I've been doing it this way for over 20 years, I can't think that gluing the paper down would be any better. When the paper is wet with kerosene it sticks to the glass as if it were glued, and you need only one piece of glass. Joe H
*I use a felt buffing wheel to put the final edge on and to remove any wire burrs, it just takes a few seconds and a chisel will shave the hair off your arm, but don't do it too much or people will laugh at you for having bald spots on your arm.
*That tip about not gluing the paper sounds good, Joe. I cut 1/4 sheets of each grit of paper and use a spray adhesive to tack each one to a larger pane of glass, all at once. Then I work my way from coarse to fine, maybe 40 or 50 strokes on each grit. Every once in awhile I lightly wire brush the surface of the paper to clean it. But you're right, I do get tears in the paper sometimes. I'll give your method a try, thanks. Thomas - I have tried so many different stones over the years I can't even remember them all. The best system I found was a set of ceramic stones I bought a few years ago at a woodworking show. But then I read about this sandpaper method online a few years ago, tried it, and can't believe how fast and well it works, even for me. If you have a system you like, great - I never did. It was always quite a chore to sharpen stuff so I avoided it or sent chisels and plane irons out. Now I don't mind at all, just takes a few minutes per tool.
*Thanks for the glass trick. Sears sells a powered wet grinder. Maybe 25.00 dollars. It is really slow speeded, and the stone gets a water bath every time around.It will do carpenter stuff just fine with a finishing, with 400 wet-dry in a vibrating sander or a leather belt.I was trhinking about putting the glass on my pc sander. [oh wow] I like the sander because it takes human error out of it and I need all the help I can get in that department.happy trails, Tim
*Thanks to everyone for the responses! Since I don't own a bench grinder (as yet), I'm gonna buy a belt sander (prob. Bosch EVS, the flat one that goes upside down) to rough and hollow grind. Means I can use the BS for more than sharpening. Read the Scary Sharp thing and will definitely go with the plate glass/sandpaper. For honing jigs, looks like the Veritas is the ticket. -Ken
*I end up messin' with the stones for hours...Where can I find out more about the paper/glass routine?-Robert
*Ken, IMHO the Veritas guide is a bit of a pain to set up and use. I worked in a large timber frame shop where a dozen joiners were using and sharpening a multitude of edge tools daily. We had several honing guides available (including the Veritas) and the favorite was a simple little guide that grips the edges of the tool and opens to fit any width blade. The cool thing is that the cutting edge is automatically set parallel to the wheel (and perpendicular to the sides of the tool), not so the Veritas. Sorry, I don't know a brand name but I'm looking at the March 2002 Garrett Wade catalog and the one of which I speak is on page 46, item B, $9.95. Just my two cents. Dylan
*Dylan- Thanks for the heads up on guides- I'll look for the jig you described..............Robert- Do a search here for 'Scary Sharp'. You'll find a link to an article on another site. -Ken
*Give it a try, Robert. You won't believe how well it works. Ken - is that the thing written at Cabinetmeker.com by a University of Washington grad? "Reflected nosehairs" and such? That's where I first read it, funny as hell. Worth reading for the writing alone.
*Jim- Yeah, I think so. Fairly long treatise on this method of sharpening- a lot more than just the mechanics of what he was doing, very entertaining. Good writer. -Ken
*Nice article...Thanks, Jim and Ken
*Reason the sandpaper on glass is good besides the throwaway paper, is that the glass alweays stays flat. My stones are worn down to about a half inch thick in the center. Kept needing a new one for anything wider than 3/4" chisle or plane. I have the Makita waterstone setup and like it, especially for my 12"planer blades and plane blades but it is fussy - needs a little patience. I use a belt sander to put a little hollow ground on the chisles every now and then but being careful not to overheat.I keep a "framing chisle" that never gets honed, just ground. It hangs out with all kinds of low life nails, knots, grit, etc. and comes home looking like a regect from the back alley crew but power grinding puts it back in service quickly.