sharpening

[michael a nelson]

thanks david i also find that my kings work faster with alot of water i have yet to add some of the coarse stones that you have but im sure some will come could you post a picture of you bench so i could get some more ideas

[michael a nelson]

william.jpgwilliam ng using his sharpening pond

[michael a nelson]

so i have been sharpenig for a while using all of the systems i have been liking free hand on japanese water stones i find that a slurry is counter active in the sharpening of a blade in that it is making more work then it is saving there for les benificial to getting a supper keen edge the way i see it is that when you are sharpening you want the edge to contact as little abonormality in the stone as posible to it is best to face the cutting edge away from you and pull the blade twords you when doing final sharpening that way the blade will sort of "glide" over imperfectons in the surface and not "bump" into them their for dulling the cutting edge very lightly the slurry i find if you are sharpening all you are doing is pushing the cutting edge into a buch of grit and dulling it let me know if im in the right state if mind or am i just nuts and please provide an explination as to why you think this way

[Mark W Pugh]

I attended a sharpening demo from Rob Cosman in vegas.

He only needed 3 items.

1. 1000 grit shapton
2. 16,000 grit shapton
3. Shapton diamond flattening stone (rubbed vigorously for a few seconds on the stone prior to use)

He said if you can't afford the shapton diamond flattening stone (which is pricey), then don't bother with his system because you need an absolutely flat stone.

For sharpening the planes, he used a thin steel ruler on the sharpening stone which gave a very small angle to the plane blade back. He did this trick to polish a very small back bevel / or basically to remove the wire edge perhaps.

His technique was awsome and fast, his plane took a shaving so thin it would float in the air like a piece of grocery bag. The shavings also had a static cling to them and they were sticking to his clothing...

If you do a lot of sharpening then woodcraft actually sells a 10,000 grit diamond plate that will be more durable than the shaptons. I have no idea whether that will be comparable to a 10K grit shapton, but at least you won't have to buy the shapton diamond tool and flatten every stone before use...

Don't know if this is the guy, but this seems fairly easy to follow series.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL2CDE5E71790E9165

[Marty Paulus]

Mike, As you put it you may be just nuts . By pulling the blade toward you with the edge away you are creating what is known as a wire edge. It feels sharp as all get out but is extremely fragile. You may also notice it will be felt on the upside of the blade after pulling it toward you. The logic for pushing the edge into the stone is that is polishes that wire edge out and leaves you with a sharp intersection of two surfaces. Once you sharpen a blade to the point where the wire edge is gone you will truely understand what sharp can be.