So 40 years in, I finally know how to sharpen my tools.

[Dave Zellers]

Been a finish carpenter / wood worker / cabinet maker all my life. Being a cabinet maker doesn't mean you're worthy of the cover of Fine Woodworking. It means you make a living providing value to your clients. Most people want a simple cabinet to put stuff in. They are not looking to make a statement, they just want a place to hide some of their crap. Sharpening chisels and plane irons comes with the territory. Necessity is the spice of life and when your tools are dull, you sharpen them by whatever means you have.

I have ALWAYS known I was just a poser, sharpening wise, but a decent poser. I got by, thanks very much. There is nothing wrong with getting buy, But the collective knowledge of the internet is a Siren Song for those who believe that learning never ends.

So I joined this group of woodworking miscreants and have never been able to ignore any of the sharpening threads. But I have been able to resist spending money on the sharpening tools du jour. Then Christmas rolled around and rather than get something I didn't want, I asked for a Shapton 5000 grit ceramic stone- the cheaper all Japanese one not the made for USA Pro stone. I'll cut to the chase. It took me all of 3 days experimenting with this stone to go back online and pony up for 3 more stones- 320, 1500 and 12,000 grit.

I just spent the afternoon using these stones. I had an intellectual understanding of what to expect after years of reading, but that can't explain the actual experience of using them. To be clear, there is no magic, you have to do the work of much stroking and focusing on technique but as you get up into the higher grits, the results present themselves. Part of me was amazed and part of me expected exactly what I was getting because I was willing to do the work even if it meant going back and redoing bad technique. It doesn't take long to see what you are doing wrong.

This is because I also spent countless hours watching YouTube sharpening videos.

At the end of the day, I walked upstairs (basement shop) and said to my wife, "After 40 years, I just learned how to sharpen my tools."

It was a good day.

[Frederick Skelly]

Glad you liked the Shaptons. I also got sucked into their vortex - bought their 6000, then a 1000, then a 500. Now, I'm trying hard to resist a 320. They're really nice stones.

Fred

Edit: I found myself wondering if our forefathers would have had a similar experience. Like you, they probably used what tools they had to feed their families. But - like you just sorta demonstrated - jumped to better tools/stones/technologies if they'd had the money and opportunity.

(No, I'm not trying to srat another food fight guys. )

[Justin Ludwig]

I drank that kool-aid a while back and am glad I did.

I left a chisel on a job site by mistake. A trim guy, that I regularly hire, found it and set it inside a drawer for me. He called me and said, "Hey, is this your chisel?" Me- Yeah. "Why is it so sharp?" Me- Use it and you'll see why. That chisel was just a cheap Popular Mechanics version that I sharpen with a 700g diamond stone, nothing more.

He now sharpens his chisels and sends out all his miter/TS blades for sharpening. He had 20 blades in his trailer that were dull.

[Jeff Bartley]

Dave,
Don't forget about flattening your stones. I'm sure you've read the many threads covering this topic. I really like the Atoma 400.
It's hard to let the sharp things get dull these days, sharp edges work so much better!

[Andrew Hughes]

Execellant news Dave I can relate

[Dave Zellers]

Dave,
Don't forget about flattening your stones. I'm sure you've read the many threads covering this topic.

Yes- I have one of those granite blocks. Use it with 280 wet dry paper. Works really well.

It's time to go back down and sharpen something!

[Jim Koepke]

Glad to hear you finally learned about sharp Dave.

My journey started at a very young age with pocket knives. Never got anything real sharp until in my 50s. That is when my woodworking started in ernest. It took a few years after that to finally get sharp enough blades to realize what wasn't working for so long.

jtk

[Brian Holcombe]

Welcome to the tip of the iceberg

[Bob Glenn]

Use what is available. This past Thanksgiving the wife and I went out to see the kids and grandkids. As usual, they always have plenty for me to do around their house. The son is starting to take some interest in building things and we built a wall rack together while I was there. I had brought some of my tools along in anticipation of what would be needed, however, I didn't anticipate the need for a plane. When the need for a plane arose, he said, he just bought one off the bay and went and got it. The blade was as dull as could be and needed to be ground and sharpened before it would do anything.

He didn't have a grinder, much less stones, but I asked and he came up with some 100 grit sandpaper. I knew it would take more sandpaper than what he had to grind any kind of edge on the blade, so I did the initial grinding and shaping on the concrete sidewalk, then finished up with the sandpaper on a flat board. It was now where near what I would settle for in my shop, however, it worked!

[William Fretwell]

Most of wood work is presenting a sharp edge to wood. The sharper the edge the more polished the wood. Get the right shape behind the edge and the edge is stronger. Diamond plates to flatten your stones YES!
Bought a custom knife in Elmax with proper heat treatment recently just to see how it is. The maker leaves you to do the final finish on the edge. By the time I finished I had re-defined sharp in my head, what a steel! The smallest touch cuts. I should add it's very tough, it took a while.
So how much steel do we get through in our lives in all our tools; 1", 2",3"....6"?

[Prashun Patel]

in 40 more years, you will REALLY know how to sharpen

[Patrick Chase]

Then Christmas rolled around and rather than get something I didn't want, I asked for a Shapton 5000 grit ceramic stone- the cheaper all Japanese one not the made for USA Pro stone.

Most knowledgeable people who are not named Harrelson Stanley (a.k.a. "Shapton USA") believe that the "made for USA Pro stone" and the Japanese one are one and the same. The Glass stones are a different matter - they stopped selling those in Japan per Stu, and they're now pretty much only available through US channels.

In any case I think that's a good choice for an initial stone. They're spendy for what you get because they're thinner than other similarly priced stones, but they're also pretty easy to use. The 5K has a nasty habbit of loading up and "catching" (loaded spots form such that the blade just skips over them) but that can be fixed by adding water. Just make sure not to soak them for more than ~15 min. They're like Magnesia stones in that excessive soaking is harmful.

I'll cut to the chase. It took me all of 3 days experimenting with this stone to go back online and pony up for 3 more stones- 320, 1500 and 12,000 grit.

I just spent the afternoon using these stones. I had an intellectual understanding of what to expect after years of reading, but that can't explain the actual experience of using them. To be clear, there is no magic, you have to do the work of much stroking and focusing on technique but as you get up into the higher grits, the results present themselves. Part of me was amazed and part of me expected exactly what I was getting because I was willing to do the work even if it meant going back and redoing bad technique. It doesn't take long to see what you are doing wrong.

This is because I also spent countless hours watching YouTube sharpening videos.

At the end of the day, I walked upstairs (basement shop) and said to my wife, "After 40 years, I just learned how to sharpen my tools."

It was a good day.

Now all you need to do is start playing with exotic steels and sharpening setups. I see diamond paste in your future :-).

[Dave Zellers]

The 5K has a nasty habbit of loading up and "catching" (loaded spots form such that the blade just skips over them) but that can be fixed by adding water.

I am experiencing exactly that. Spent five hours today sharpening plane irons. Starting to get comfortable with the process. Most of the work goes into flattening the back.
I did know that the cheaper Shaptons are the same as the "Pro" line. Shapton says the pro line has been adjusted for "humidity" in the USA. ��

It kinda seems like I need something between the 320 and the 1500.

[Stewie Simpson]

Edit: I found myself wondering if our forefathers would have had a similar experience. Like you, they probably used what tools they had to feed their families. But - like you just sorta demonstrated - jumped to better tools/stones/technologies if they'd had the money and opportunity.

I think some of you members need a good dose of reality into what was being achieved by those craftsmen of days gone by. No fancy pants metal planes emblazoned with the LN or LV logo were being used, nor were they using exotic steel alloys within their blades, nor were they using high tech ceramic sharpening stones. And guess what, they were more than likely achieving better results within their woodwork than most of you could even dream of.

Dave, my apologies for being so forthright, but if its has taken you 40yrs within your craft to finally learn how to achieve a sharp edge on your tools, it wasn't the fault of sharpening stones you were using.



Stewie;

[Jerry Olexa]

Sharpening has always been a challenge for me also...In spite of my many years of WWing....I've tried many methods, jigs, machines, stones but my lack of patience usually got in way,,I recently bought a TORMEK and having generally good results but it does absorb much time (I'd rather be woodworking than sharpening)...So, I understand your frustration..Glad you found a solution...(it may not be your last),,,A fellow not totally happy sharpener. We all tend to look for the perfect solution,