iDRY Vacuum Kilns

Sponsors:

Sharpening your chisel

Started by stumax, December 02, 2015, 11:18:23 AM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

stumax

I have recently started a barn project and have finally gotten to dull up a couple of chisels.  I have been sharpening on an 8 inch by 2 1/2 inch extra fine diamond stone.  I don't need a mirrored edge but I really like a sharp edge.  I am using a chisel guide which gives me a really flat grind and then I do a few strokes at the end to give me a secondary bevel.

Getting to my question:  Once you put a honing guide on a chisel you loose about 2 inches of your stone.  With an 8 inch stone you only get less than a 6 inch stroke.  Does anyone know of a longer made stone that is relatively inexpensive?  It needs needs to be wider than 2 inches.  Or is there a better way to sharpen? 

bill m

Best Sharpening Stones .com have stones up to 12 inches long. Not sure what you consider inexpensive.
NH tc55da Metavic 4x4 trailer Stihl and Husky saws

Spruce_Goose

I haven't sharpened many large chisels (yet) but have furniture tool experience for what its worth...

I prefer water stones (lots of them out there plenty wide. I have Norton's). Whether water or diamond, having a few successive grits is valuable. Too fine a stone will take forever for anything but touch ups (and may not actually get the edge clean of small nicks) and too course a stone won't yield a sharp edge. They make combo stones (for example, one side 1,000 grit to start, the other a fine 6,000 to 8,000 to finish.) With water stones you'll also want to flatten them occasionally with sandpaper on a flat surface or a lapping plate.

QuoteI am using a chisel guide which gives me a really flat grind and then I do a few strokes at the end to give me a secondary bevel.

I wouldn't really worry about the shorter stroke you get with a guide unless you just find it annoying, but I would turn the stone 180° every so often to even the wear (diamond and water alike). Also no need to reshape the large primary bevel every time. Just a quicky on the micro bevel is all that is necessary until the micro bevel grows too large.

Other ideas:
Try free hand sharpening; anyone can do it with practice. Perhaps with a tf chisel being long and heavy, it gets unwieldy though?

If you really want a larger sharpening surface, another option to a larger stone is to use the wet/dry sandpaper trick. Buy a few grits (rough equivalents to 1,000 to 10,000 grit water stone) of wet/dry sandpaper and stick it to a flat surface such as float glass or flat granite, etc. You can use water to stick the paper to the surface, and also as lubricant.



Brian_Weekley

I generally find the water stones to be too hard to keep flat (at least the coarse grit ones because they wear so quickly) and they are expensive.  I now use a 9x12 piece of granite that I bought at a woodworking store with wet/dry sandpaper (e.g., 200/400/1000 grit).  I just squirt the granite with a water bottle so the back of the sandpaper sticks to it.  Then I wet the sandpaper and hone with a guide.  This is a nice big surface to hone on.  Some folks use a piece of plate glass instead.   However, I still use a 4000/8000 Norton water stone to finish honing and add a micro-bevel.



Shinninger uses a vertical sander here:

https://forestryforum.com/board/index.php/topic,62872.msg966753.html#msg966753

e aho laula

stumax

You haven't had any issues with tear out on the sandpaper?  That would give me an inexpensive 12 in block. 

To answer earlier questions:
Some of the 12 inch sharpening blocks I have seen on amazon were running close to $200.  Inexpensive for me is under $20.

I am trying to avoid the many short strokes with a short block.  I dont think I will get a better edge with a longer block but i find the short strokes annoying.

Thanks for the input,
Stu

Brian_Weekley

Yes, if I get too aggressive or don't keep the sandpaper flat, I occasionally might tear the sandpaper.  However, I like the fact that I can quickly sequence through different grits by quickly removing and slapping another piece of sandpaper onto the block with water.  Alternatively, you could just use some spray adhesive and glue down several different grit strips side by side.  Check out the Rooster and Brad show where they glue down different grits to a tile:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Z3CM1m4weM


e aho laula

Spruce_Goose

Another trick to help keep the sandpaper flat is to "break the back" of the paper by running it over an edge (sort of like how people curl ribbon with scissors). If you get the paper to curl away from the grit side, the water can more easily hold the middle down than the edges...

shinnlinger

Shinnlinger
Woodshop teacher, pasture raised chicken farmer
34 horse kubota L-2850, Turner Band Mill, '84 F-600,
living in self-built/milled timberframe home

Raphael

I've got a Tormek I use to "hollow grind" a proper bevel angle, but most of the time I use micro abrasive film on the table of my jointer at home and on a couple of free soapstone counter top samples in the field.
... he was middle aged,
and the truth hit him like a man with no parachute.
--Godley & Creme

Stihl 066, MS 362 C-M & 24+ feet of Logosol M7 mill

Thank You Sponsors!