Sharpening frustration - I need a one-size-fits-all method

[Jerry Olexa]

That is an excellent and simple video.....Agree

Hey Mike,

Not to change your world too much, but you might want to watch the sharpening videos by Paul Sellers on Youtube. Just search Paul Sellers Sharpening. Watch the one on chisels and the one on plane blades. He gives incredible info, and he makes it a very quick process. Here is the kicker though. He sharpens at least several times a day, and sometimes much more. Its not a daily mindset, its a several times a day mindset. And he is not a tool junky - in fact if you watch his videos, he is all about spending as little money as possible. He has three diamond plates mounted on a sheet of ply. It sits on a shelf just below his workbench. He pulls this little sharpening station out, puts it in his vice, and uses a little glass cleaner for lube. He runs his chisels and blades freehand, although he is not averse to honing guides and in fact uses them in some situations. He sharpens on his coarse (250 grit), fine (600 grit) and extra fine (1200 grit) stones very quickly - maybe 10 passes on each. Then he strops. That is a very quick thing as well - 30 or so passes on the strop and he is done. The whole process takes only a couple of minutes. His chisels and planes are incredible to watch work - they do what he wants them to. Watch the videos, you will see what I mean.

Good luck with whatever you decide. I have been through many of the methods, I have a LapSharp system. King stones, Shapton stones, a grinder, and finally the diamond stones. The diamond stones appear to be the best, certainly the fastest.

Joe

[lowell holmes]

I learned to sharpen tools in Paul Sellers classes at Elm Mott Texas (near Waco).
His system is simple and it works. That's where I saw my first diamond stone.
He has leather on wood for a strop. It was charged with honing compound.

[Matthew Springer]

My own $0.02
I historically sucked at sharpening and kept chasing more and better stones thinking it was the gear. Also being a computer engineer, I have more money than sense. Also I wasn't married, so managed to acquire a tormek, a duosharp, a bunch of loose DMT stones before that, a trio of shaptons, a trio of nortons, flattening plates for the nortons, strops and one of every honing guide made including the two from Veritas and the Kell. Oh and a surface plate and some PSA sandpaper packs.

It's not the gear.

In retrospect, I did a couple things that made me suck:

For the backs I was trying to flatten the entire back, not just the bit up near the tip. Don't do this. And I wasn't sticking at it until the scratches actually were even up to the very tip of the blade. I'd get tired, look at the nice even scratch pattern over the rest of the blade back that _wasn't_ near the tip and stop thinking I'd totally flattened the back. The scratches need to go all the way to the tip. You can spend a ridiculous amount of time initially getting things the various backs flat, but after that it shouldn't be too bad.

Side note: For my two cherries/new blades, I also didn't actually remove the gunk that comes on them with mineral spirits, just ground it off, which of course gums up your stone. Don't do this.

For the bevel it seemed obvious I could sharpen it freehand since it's already got a nice plane angle to it. Besides I couldn't get the jigs on there repeatably and squarely. But it turns out I can't. Especially if you're going to be removing any amount of actual material you really really need to stay consistent. I sure can't without the jig. Sometimes not with the jig. It's one of those things like sword fighting or surfing than since i'm a man, I thought I would naturally be awesome at. Not so much, i use the jig.

What works for me:
I've found that for removing material off the back, I like the surface plate + 45u PSA sandpaper. I stick it on, run through EVERYTHING handy then go on to the next grit. I no longer use the Charlesworth/Schwartz ruler trick since I've found you need to remember to keep using it, which I never can. Once I get the back flat, I skip the diamond plate and head straight to the 1k shapton. Note that since you don't use a jig for the back, I run through everything I want to sharpen at a single grit size, then switch grits.

For the bevels, I go jig + angle gauge (using the LV2 mostly) onto the coarse DMT duosharp that I've had for a while -> shaptons. Then I use the fine side of the duosharp to reflatten the shaptons every other tool or so. Doesn't take much flattening but does make a huge mess. On subsequent sharpening the main thing is to keep getting steeper by a degree or two per pass so you're only attacking the very edge, then re-establish the bevel once you need to. Note that the technique here is the opposite since I use a jig. Get one tool through all the grits so you don't have to switch the jigs.

I find sharpening is mostly a "when you need it" thing. It's a PITA to get the blade out of the planes so those end up duller than the chisels. I will say learning to sharpen a very shallow curve consistently on the plane iron is AWESOME. These things work so much better with slight curves.

I can confirm what one poster here said, my DMT isn't so much un-flat as it is bumpy. It's got rogue grits that stick up and make deep scratches even after prolonged heavy use, but it's still pretty good for making things flattish afaict. I use it for redoing the initial bevel after 3-4 resharpenings and flattening the watestones. Which does make a mess.

If you do buy a DMT, get the 10x4 over the 11.5" x 2.5" I find I miss the extra width way more than I use the extra length. I don't know that I'd spend the extra 100$ to get the x-course over the just-plain course but I have a grinder if I really need to get something back to rough shape. For flatteing the waterstones, I just need it harder than the stones. Rinsing of the plate frequently actually speeds the cutting the most.

[Brian Ashton]

I only had a look at all the responses and im betting youre more confused than before

[Brian N Hall]

I've tried them all except a grinding wheel...Diamonds, waterstones, shapton ceramics, and arkansas stones. Here's my take:

They all work...pick a system and just do it. The process is the same regardless of the which stones you use. I started with waterstones. They work great, but they're messy and need to be flattened frequently. I added Shapton stones in 1200 and 8000 grit ceramics and that was an improvement...they stayed flat much longer and only needed a spritz of water to keep them cutting well. I still used a coarse waterstone to restore the initial bevel angle, but that stone wore faster than the other grits and I got tired of constantly flattening it.

Then I bought a DMT duosharp to use for flattening my waterstones and decided it worked better for establishing the initial bevel. Then I decided to try a 3-stone setup of the DMT Dia-sharp stones that Paul Sellers uses. They're pretty inexpensive for diamond stones and they cut better than the waterstones, stay flat, and you can use them dry, with water, or oil (I use window cleaner). The extra fine puts a good edge on, but It's not honed to a mirror finish. I could have just touched it up with my 8000 Shapton, but I came across a Black Arkansas stone cheap and decided to give it a try...it works great and since it uses honing oil, the blade gets a light coating of oil to prevent rust as the final step in the process...and it stays flat.

Sooo, my current system uses 3 DMT Dia-sharp stones (extra coarse, fine, and extra fine) and finishes with a final honing on a Black Arkansas stone. I have them setup at a "sharpening station" next to the bench and I can sharpen an edge in less than 5 minutes, and touch up an edge in less than two minutes. Knowing what I know now, I'd skip the waterstones entirely...the diamond stones cut better, stay flat, and are more versatile. They do "wear-in" a little and become slightly less aggressive once they're broken in, but have great tactile feedback if you enjoy freehand sharpening. It's great to see quality diamond stones at such reasonable prices.

[Jim Koepke]

Howdy Brian and welcome to the Creek.

Thanks for a well elucidated reasoning on your choice of sharpening media.

Yes, they do all work. The tricky part is finding what works best for ones needs. The OP mention a few chisels and a few plane irons. When one advances to gouges, garden tools and a few other items the choice gets more involved.

I am alway curious as to where people call home, what part of this planet do you call home?

jtk

[Brian N Hall]

Thanks. I currently reside in the Great Pacific Northwest...Vancouver, WA. I grew up in New Hampshire and transferred to the west coast to open a new office for the company I worked for back in 1995. This area offers everything I loved about New England, without the snow in the winter (you don't have to shovel rain) or the insects (black flies and mosquitos) in the summer. I can literally golf in the morning and ski in the afternoon...year-round. I'm an hour from Mt. Hood, an hour and a half from Mt. St. Helens or the coast, and about 20 minutes from the Columbia River Gorge. It's an outdoorsman's paradise.

I have a 20' X 40' free-standing shop at my home on 5 acres with all the power tools, an unfinished dust collection system, and a growing number of hand tools (I may just sell the dust collector...it's just collecting dust). I've discovered the joy of using hand tools and other than ripping or planing, my power tools stay under dust covers or in their cases. Lately, I've been building a collection of moulding planes and have already sold or given away about half of my router bits as a result. I have an autistic son and he is starting to show an interest in what Dad does in his shop. Right now we're starting to build the bookcase from the recently released David Schwarz DVD for his bedroom, and he and I cut all the rough lumber to size today. I have a 22" Disston D8 crosscut saw I just restored and it fits him perfectly.

Well that's enough ranting for now...thanks for the warm reception.

[Steve H Graham]

I have a few DMT diamond stones. I use them with water or Windex or whatever. No guides. I just hold the chisel down while watching from the side to make sure the bevel is flat against the stone. I use a square from time to time to make sure the edge is perpendicular to the side of the chisel.

It works just fine, and so far I have avoided buying a big pile of extraneous contraptions and waterstones.

Things went really well for me, so I would not hesitate to recommend trying it the simple way before wading into a forest of gadgets.

[lowell holmes]

I have a few DMT diamond stones. I use them with water or Windex or whatever. No guides. I just hold the chisel down while watching from the side to make sure the bevel is flat against the stone. I use a square from time to time to make sure the edge is perpendicular to the side of the chisel.

It works just fine, and so far I have avoided buying a big pile of extraneous contraptions and waterstones.

Things went really well for me, so I would not hesitate to recommend trying it the simple way before wading into a forest of gadgets.

This works for me except I don't push away from my body, I push cross body. This allows me to lock my wrists to hold the face of the chisel absolutely flat.
I observed this on a Mike Dunbar scary sharp video and later on the Tools for Working Wood site. Actually, I sort of rock from side to side and stroke simultaneously.