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I am trying to become proficient at sharpening planes and chisels by hand with an inexpensive honing guide. I'm not always getting the results I want even when I follow the guidelines I've read and studied. The power sharpeners go for a chunk of change and I'm wondering what you folks are doing....to Tormek, or not to Tormek?! I would also be interested in pictures of your sharpening set-ups. Beth

Beth before you give up on hand sharpening have you seen the information and set-up jig that Lie Nielsen has free plans plans for on their web site?
Maybe Todd Stock will chime in here as this seems to be right up his alley. Your gonna get a better edge learning to hand sharpen than off a tormek IMO.
Although I must admit the idea of a Tormek is pretty attractive.

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Jim Watts
http://jameswattsguitars.com

Used to have one of the Delta sharpening wheels. Didn't use it, didn't like it, sold it.

I now use the 3M diamond sheet stuck to a chunk of machined flat Corian. Grits from 70 micron (pretty coarse) to 10 (fine). I have an old Veritas honing guide that keeps plane irons square and has a secondary bevel feature; I hone chisels to a convex shape without a guide. On my bench, I keep a strop made of thick leather glued to a piece of hard wood (approx. 6" x 2") and charged with fine valve lapping compound. The strop takes off the burr or wire edge left by honing and is perfect for touching up chisel edges when carving braces etc. With a little effort, it puts a mirror finish on good steel.

Total cost is around $75, not counting the Corian. I had to take a six-pack to the local kitchen counter guys to root around in their trash for it.

Hi Beth

Ive been through the same process - have a look at the Veritas MkII Honing system. Not cheap but cheaper than Tormek, gives you consistent results every time. I did a weekend course on sharpening with a furniture maker in the UK, it was well worth it. You can spend a fortune on stones - I have two stones, a ceramic stone 1200 and a 4000 japanese water stone. These two seem to give me pretty good results but there are lots of options.

There is a tutorial that shows how to sharpen chisels. Do a search. It's well worth watching.

Neil

Hi Beth. I am completely happy with the Worksharp 3000. It costs around $200 and the leather stropping wheel ($25) is essential for getting a great edge. Check Amazon for bundled deals. If your plane blade is wider than 2 inches, you'll have to spend still more. The best feature is the speed and lack of set-up time. And you work dry. When your blade gets a little dull, just step over and run the leather strop wheel for a 15-second super-sharp edge. Don't strop the flat back of the blade, just the bevel.

I went through water stones and then to sandpaper on glass plates. Of the two, sandpaper was better for me. And cheaper.Both gave me sharp edges, but not consistently. The Veritas Mark II guide is expensive but gets you repeatable angles and is a nice tool.

It would have been nice to master honing without a guide or other crutch, but some of us are impatient and/or more easily frustrated. There's no art in my method, but it's mighty quick.

Thanks to all. I review Robbie Obrien's youtube video before I do the sharpening, but I think having a cheap honing guide might be causing some of my problems (I don't have good enough hand/eye coordination to dump the honing guide....I know, scary for someone using power tools every day). I will look into all of the options you've mentioned. I have invested a few $$ in stones and got a 12" square of granite tile to use as my flattening surface. I'll look at the Nie-Leisen plans and the Veritas guide. That would let me use what I already have.
Kevin, can the stropping wheel you have on your Work

Thanks to all. I review Robbie Obrien's youtube video before I do the sharpening, but I think having a cheap honing guide might be causing some of my problems (I don't have good enough hand/eye coordination to dump the honing guide....I know, scary for someone using power tools every day). I will look into all of the options you've mentioned. I have invested a few $$ in stones and got a 12" square of granite tile to use as my flattening surface. I'll look at the Nie-Leisen plans and the Veritas guide. That would let me use what I already have.
Kevin, can the stropping wheel you have on your Worksharp be used on a low speed grinder?

Google 'Scary Sharp'

The method uses half a dozen grits of emery cloth ranging fro 400 up to 2000 that are glued to a sheet of glass. I use a roller guide to sharpen my wood chisels.
You can even buy a kit that has a half sheet of all the grits you need with stickum on the back of the sheets.
It works for me!

And don't forget about the micro bevel.

And a bonus of the method is that while you are sharpening the edge, you are also polishing the back of the chisel to a mirror shine which comes in handy when cutting angles in binding and purfling.

I'm happy with the Worksharp 3000 as well.

Here's my set up. Hand crank grinder and then straight to a 8000G waterstone, followed by the green stropping crayon.

I have the Veritas power sharpener. It's great for taking seriously dull, chipped, damaged tools to a razor sharp state quickly, using fine cotton on a platen and honing compound as the final step. For re-sharpening, I do it with a guide or by hand on an 8000 waterstone. Just as fast or faster than the power sharpener at that point. When the micro-bevel needs to be re-established, I usually take the tool back to the Veritas. It was used a lot when I first got it to take my collections of old Marples blue chips, Stanleys and other chisels collected over the years to a shaving state. Since then, it only sees occasional use. I do really like the Veritas for gouges and Ibex plane blades though. Much faster and more accurate for me at least.

I use a 200/300/400/600 combo diamond stone setup from Harbor Freigth (cheap) and then go to a 1000 DMT (diamond stone) then green compound on a leather strop glued to a flat board.

I use the 200/300/400/600 combo on new tools and to flatten - but on my bench I keep the 1000 DMT and the leather strop. I am thinking I may not even need the 1000 on the bench all the time.

I learned from Todd's videos - thanks Todd !

By the way - I started with scary sharp and the sandpaper - that was a mess to keep organized and messy (not clean). I am much happier with the DMT stones & a strop.

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

I used an Eclipse honing guide for years, and before that a General 810 guide.
I found the General awkward (more on that in a minute) and the Eclipse did the job most of the time- it wouldn't clamp some chisels securely (mortising chisels) and couldn't handle tapered plane blades. It also was no use in sharpening the short blades from 'luthier planes'.
A year or so back, I bought a Veritas MkII but only used it a few times. The microadjust for the secondary bevel is a nice touch, but otherwise it seems too complicated for me. (If anybody wants to buy it .....)

I spent a week with Brian Burns a few months ago and used his sharpening system, which uses either a General 810 (if you can find one) or his (better, but doesn't 'rock') honing guide and a box to elevate the stones. A series of 'shims' of various thickness elevate the roller on the honing guide to the correct height for the job. With his system you can accurately put a few degrees of back bevel on a blade, rather than 'polishing' the whole back of the blade. It also handles very short blades well. His booklet has plans for making a plywood honing guide instead of buying the steel version, details of the stone box, etc. It really works well. I bought a couple of diamond 'stones' (I already had a couple of 8000# stones) and it's a great system.

http://lessonsinlutherie.com/doublebeve ... hirez.html
http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product. ... t_id=13113
http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product. ... t_id=13103
http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product. ... t_id=13103

With the right diamond stone, it's so fast that I don't see the need for a power sharpener for myself anymore, for straight edged tools. For sharpening gouges, I either work freehand or use the sharpening and honing belts in my 1" x 30? belt sander.

Cheers
John

Sharpening threads are sort of like French polish threads as there are many different ways to achieve the same effect. One of the more enlightening demonstrations for me was a Japanese tool expert doing demonstrations for my woodworking club. The apprenticeship in Japan includes a full year of learning how to sharpen. It's all done freehand and micro-bevels do not exist as they believe it causes stress risers due to the laminated structure of the plane and chisel blades. Watching him pull a plane with a cotton string and achieving shavings only a few microns thick was quite an eye opener to a new level of what sharp means.

Question about Todd's Duosharp to Norton method.

Are you supposed to get the Duosharp scratches out of the blade? I don't know if I'm overdoing it, but I can't get the scratches out. I bought the 4000 as an intermediary two weeks ago and still can't get them out.

Also, the blades feel incredibly sharp just after honing, but two weeks later (after laying on my bench on a microfiber cloth), they don't feel as sharp when you rake it over your fingers. These are Lie-Nielsen blades.

I enjoyed your video tutorials, Todd. I have the capability to do the duostone/wetstone honing without buying any new equipment and you have simplified the process in my mind. I LOVED your little angle jig and intend to make one for myself tomorrow. That thing is brilliant, and it is that step that has made my sharpening using the eclipse=style guide so challenging.

It IS true that there are many ways to defur this feline, and I have really learned alot from this thread. Beth

Are Smith's diamond sharpening stones any good, or should they be avoided?

Beth, I use 3M Microfinishing films (15u, 5u, 0.5u) on a granite slab with the Lee Valley honing guide. The granite slab (Grizzly) is one of the most useful tools in my shop. The 3M stuff is expensive, but it goes a long way. If I have to clean up small nicks in my edge I try to get them with a continuous diamond stone first. I used to use waterstones, they're nice but got tired of truing them up. The new Lee Valley honing guide is very nice. The old one was not so great.

Here is a great resource on sharpening. He makes his own guides, but I use the Lee Valley. Highly recommended reading for everyone.

http://www3.telus.net/BrentBeach/Sharpen/index.html

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Randy Muth
RS Muth Guitars Website
RS Muth Guitars Blog
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Christopher,
I tried one of the Smith`s this morning. Still a little undecided on it yet, as it has rather narrow width, and "bites" a little different than just gliding on stones.
HOWEVER, it cuts the hardest steel I have come accross (so far anyway).
If you don`t find it handy for the shop, send it to the kitchen where it`ll earn it`s keep.
Perfect for roughing in the shape (Coarse 325, Fine 750) and a little honing should do well for a turkey or two...

Coe Franklin

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

I've been sharping hand tools for about 20 years so I got a WorkSharp about 8 months ago http://www.worksharptools.com/index.php?option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=128 I couldn't believe the ease at which this machine can put an edge on my tools. It's worth every cent!

http://www.worksharptools.com

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Michael Lloyd

“I was born to ignorance, yes, and lesser poverties ...
I was born to privilege that I did not see ... I didn’t know it, but my way was paved” – John Gorka

The 8000 and 4000 are both Nortons. I ordered the 8000 four weeks ago and ordered the 4000 two weeks ago. I can take a picture of my final product today when I get home.

Do you use a micro-bevel? Link also PM'd me to say that the trick is to have a very small bevel. I'm using a 25 degree angle without a microbevel, so I'm working the entire face of the blade. It sounds like this is where my problem is. Lots of area and material to remove.

I've been doing it similar to Todd for years, I even use the same ol' Eclipse jig. One thing I do differently, is I use a belt sander as a grinder, to fix nicks and really messed up tools (flea market finds and the like). I hate spending too much time sharpening, and this is about at fast as it gets, I think. I like to hone frequently when I work, and with this set up, I don't have to pause much to do it.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Whatever method you end up using, be patient, take your time, and practice. It takes a little time to get the feel for sharpening tools but once you get it, it's a real pleasure to be able to put a good edge on a hand tool.

Chuck

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"To live a creative life, we must lose our fear of being wrong"
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