Waterstones Take I

[Joe A Faulkner]

Today I received my first set of waterstones, a kit of Norton combination stones (220/1000, 4000/8000 and the flatening stone). The kit came with an instructional video featuring Joel Moskowitz teaching a freehand method.

I gave his approach a try on 1 5/8" iron out of Stanley 120 block plane. I must be doing something wrong, because Joel somehow managed to hone his chissel in the video without wearing the tip of his index finger raw and bleeding all over the chissel he sharpened in the demo.

In the end, I had some level of success; now I just need to work on my technique.

[Jon Toebbe]

Yeah, your fingers shouldn't be bleeding from the waterstone! I was flattening a plane iron on a 1000 grit stone. The water was pretty cold and my hands were a bit numb. Looked down to discover the tip of my thumb had been rubbing on the edge of the stone... it looked like hamburger and hurt like anything once I was aware of it.

[David Weaver]

Today I received my first set of waterstones, a kit of Norton combination stones (220/1000, 4000/8000 and the flatening stone). The kit came with an instructional video featuring Joel Moskowitz teaching a freehand method.

I gave his approach a try on 1 5/8" iron out of Stanley 120 block plane. I must be doing something wrong, because Joel somehow managed to hone his chissel in the video without wearing the tip of his index finger raw and bleeding all over the chissel he sharpened in the demo.

In the end, I had some level of success; now I just need to work on my technique.

Yeah, put your fingers so only the metal touches the stone and not your fingers.

You'll probably end up doing this again sometime when you're flattening the back of an iron.

[Chris Fournier]

That is one of the most painful abrasions I've ever had! You won't do it again I bet.

[Andrew Gibson]

I do that on ocasion, I did it to 2 fingers when I was reestablishing the bevel on the cutters of my 79. Little skew cutters and about 2 hours of work... not much I could do about it.
I have not done it so bad that I started bleeding though.

[Joe McMahon]

I use a cloth that is used to hold wraps on horse's legs. I can't think of the name of it but it is very popular in the horsing community. A couple of wraps on each of the first and middle finger tips and thumb and no more painful abrasions. It is stretchy and does not use mastic but adhers to itself.

[john brenton]

Oooh, the old "micrometer of fingertip skin shave trick"....ouch. Suckers bleed forever. I prefer the "shop towel/electrical tape" remedy.

I gave his approach a try on 1 5/8" iron out of Stanley 120 block plane. I must be doing something wrong, because Joel somehow managed to hone his chissel in the video without wearing the tip of his index finger raw and bleeding all over the chissel he sharpened in the demo.

[Ken Tarvin]

One thing: make sure the flattening stone you bought is actually flat!

I bought a Norton flattening stone and it was far from flat, so bad that I took it back and exchanged it for another that was also not flat (but not so bad that some sandpaper and glass took care of it). Beware, because they will mess up your stones if you use them.

The insert in the package touts that it uses some kind of advanced technology to ensure a flat stone, but that's BS if I ever heard it...

[David Gendron]

I use a cloth that is used to hold wraps on horse's legs. I can't think of the name of it but it is very popular in the horsing community. A couple of wraps on each of the first and middle finger tips and thumb and no more painful abrasions. It is stretchy and does not use mastic but adhers to itself.

it is caled vetwrap. you can also find some at LV, http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...at=1,130,43332 or http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/pag...,64762&p=64762
But probaly easier to keep your finger a litle ways from the stone, espacialy the coars one!!

[Mark Roderick]

If it makes you feel better, I've been sharpening with waterstones for a long time now and still manage to cut myself regularly. Yes, bad technique. But sharp tools!

[Kevin Lucas]

even worse when you're on blood thinners (

[Joe A Faulkner]

If it makes you feel better, I've been sharpening with waterstones for a long time now and still manage to cut myself regularly. Yes, bad technique. But sharp tools!

Makes me feel a bit better knowing that an experienced freehand waterstone user encounters the same problem on occassion. I'm not sure if the abbrassion was from the stone, the wire, or the pressure I was applying trying to maintain the bevel in full contact with the stone. The pain is reminiscent of the soarness from attempting to learn to play the guitar. I'll have to eat pop corn left handed for a week. I have several more plane irons to sharpen, plus a set of bench chissels and mortise chissels to hone. No lack of opportunity for repeating the incident or hopefully improving my method.