Hi all, posting here because there seem to be quite a few options about for a sharpening kit for shaped/curved/angled edge carving chisels - and I'd appreciate some help on choice. There's a set of Two Cherries paring/in cannel gouges and a corner chisel that need sharpening right now. The aim though is to get set up with as generally useful a honing kit for shaped tools as possible because it seems likely that the odd carving carving tool will come my way.
My recently set up sharpening regime for standard woodworking edge tools is Shapton waterstones, with a WorkSharp (off the top platform) and/or a disc sander where heavier metal removal is required to form primary bevels. Light stropping only on MDF to finish to preserve edge geometry.
The Two Cherries paring gouges proved a right PIA as result of massive over polishing in the factory - it required cutting the last 1/2 in off all three, and doing a huge amount of remedial work on the backs to create a cylindrical/straight surface/overcome the effects of heavy dubbing/rounding over of the cutting edge. The primary bevels were reground using the (long) grinding cone in the drill press method, with angle set by locating the handles in a hole in a piece of ply clamped to the table. Slowish, but turned out very well. - the key is probably to source a fast cutting grinding cone from a specialist supplier. (many are hard and don't remove a lot of metal as they are made for fine finishing)
I've been struggling to find a suitable sharpening kit. Profiled waterstones are available, but seem likely to be problematical as a result of high rates of wear. The Chris Pye/Norton sets of coarse and fine signature slip stones look like a very effective general purpose kit, and a good choice http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/s...ones_and_Slips, but i'm cautious about the need to use oil in the sharpening area. (but will bite the bullet if needed) Ceramic slip stones sound like a very good (if more expensive) idea given their minimal wear, but there doesn't seem to be any multi profile kit of slips available a la Chris Pye. Diamond might be an option, but shapes seem again to be limited, and the characteristics are not my favourite.
Guess i'm hoping somebody can say that there's other options out there that haven't come up yet...
Thanks
ian