Locked in whether you like it or not: yet another sharpening thread

[Jim Koepke]

I am so used to doing it the way I do that any new technique would feel awkward.

This is a common experience. Once a person's muscle memory is established, any alteration feels odd. Though with time, muscle memory can be over written.

jtk

[John C Cox]

We all have to start somewhere and work out what's best for our own use. I think a lot of this is that we express things in general terms, but we use the tools for very specific things. Carving on soft cedar and redwood is a different animal than trimming plywood corners or chopping mortises in tropical hardwoods. The trouble is that the sort of durable edge that chops Bocote simply mushes Western Red Cedar, and the edges that glide through ultra light Englenan Spruce crumble instantly when you use a mallet on White oak... And it seems like Cherry, Walnut, and Honduras Mahogany will tolerate levels of dull or funny edge geometry that other woods just don't.

I found grinding hard to control freehand. The super coarse stones cut so fast that one wonky pass completely wrecks geometry, and then it takes forever to correct. As such, I love a machine for this, as it is super fast and maintains geometry well.

For chopping, I just go straight from the machine at P800 grit to the buffer, and the edge on a quality chisel will hold up to pretty hard use.

For paring soft stuff, final honing on an ultra-fine stone, and a bit of stropping seems to work better. Free hand honed edges here seem to hold up longer.

I think many of the honing "Tricks" from the experts have sort of an unspoken caveat that they aren't for stones any more coarse than 6000 or 10000. For example, use Chatsworth's "Ruler trick" on a fine India stone, and one pass makes a back-bevel 1/16" wide that causes a cap iron to misbehave and takes a year to grind out if you don't like it. Do the same thing with zero pressure on a quality surgical black Arkansas or Shapton 16000 and it teases off the burr and extends edge life in use, without putting a belly on the back or causing weird problems.... And if you don't like it, a couple passes on a fine India stone and it's gone.

And so it goes.

[Jim Koepke]

We all have to start somewhere and work out what's best for our own use.

A very clear and accurate statement, along with the rest of your post.

This is why what works for me is likely different than what works for others. In my case more than four sets of chisels are kept. Sure mortises can be cut with bench chisels, but for me a mortise chisel is a better choice. My bench chisels are good for chopping and some paring, but my paring chisels excel at paring with their low angle bevel.

I've given many of the tricks a try, but mostly stay with what has worked for me for years and woodworkers before me for centuries.

jtk