Chisel gets dull whilst working up through the grits

[scooby]

Unicorn sperm, quite difficult to find the secretive animal, mind you that's the easiest part...........


am I in trouble with the wokies?

Thats an image I really didn't want in my head

 

[Argus]

Unicorn sperm, quite difficult to find the secretive animal, mind you that's the easiest part...........


am I in trouble with the wokies?

Come again?

 

[Jacob]

Does anyone here have the ability to ‘lock’ their wrists at the right angle for sharpening, like you see on a lot of tutorials? I have to say mine don’t, they just seem to wobble about

Me too! People write this sort of stuff for mags and just come up with daft ideas which then never quite go away.
You have to visualise 30º of course, but that isn't difficult. You could always cut a little wedge at 30º to remind yourself. The only other angle you need is "a bit less than 30º" which should pan out near to 25º

 

[D_W]

Does anyone here have the ability to ‘lock’ their wrists at the right angle for sharpening, like you see on a lot of tutorials? I have to say mine don’t, they just seem to wobble about I get by without always using a guide but have to resort to it sometimes to re-establish angles. One thing I’ve found out re. sharpening is to have a dedicated area to it, so you don’t have to faff around clearing stuff out of the way, walk to sharpening area, sharpen, back to bench and start taking end grain shavings off cast iron , courtesy of your .25 micron diamond paste

Nobody with a lot of experience actually does that. It's a feel thing, you hold the chisel at a relative angle with some wiggle room and get after it. I think the idea of turning into a human scaffold operating like a giant honing guide is parallel to people wanting to use hand tools like power tools, or to turn into the same type of scaffold to take a pass with a plane. Both are similar - we extend our arms a little and the wrists move to accommodate arms extending.

 

[D_W]

am I in trouble with the wokies?

Yes - flashing lights and sirens are imminent.

 

[JohnPW]

The only way you can lock your wrists is if you lock your whole upper body and arms and step forwards and backwards, and I don't think anybody goes that!

 

[D_W]

The only way you can lock your wrists is if you lock your whole upper body and arms and step forwards and backwards, and I don't think anybody goes that!

I hate to say it, but there was a "guru" here in the US who, as far as I know, didn't do too much woodworking ,but ran around to clubs teaching sharpening. That's exactly what he advocated. It's sort of like saying you'll have a low-fatigue low stress planing position of you tense up rigid and don't extend your arms. An hour or two of planing usually solves the myth of that being easy.

Sharpening is a results-based activity, and hopefully with a considerable amount of laziness involved to avoid doing things that are labor intensive (as in, results and speed come together at the same time). What seems to be hard for some people to get is that the results are needed, but the economy isn't as far as someone sharpening seldom. Fast and sloppy isn't any good unless we're knifing mortar off of tile.

Context is important, though, too - especially when talking about something like a felling axe and someone listening to a carver is wondering why "people don't know what they're doing, and are sharpening a felling axe with a file, and why are the axes so soft, anyway. Only Rc 61 is a suitable axe hardness".

 

[Jacob]

The only way you can lock your wrists is if you lock your whole upper body and arms and step forwards and backwards, and I don't think anybody goes that!

This chap does it, side to side, like some sort of dance of the gnomes! 6.22 in. Always makes me laugh. I wonder if he has found out how to sharpen a scrub plane yet? https://www.google.com/search?q=lee...e&ie=UTF-8#kpvalbx=_k2ahYNblIcKajLsPreuq2AE13

 

[Cabinetman]

The only way you can lock your wrists is if you lock your whole upper body and arms and step forwards and backwards, and I don't think anybody goes that!

No but it is possible to keep your feet still and sway on your knees ankles and hips. DW doesn’t think much to it but it’s the way I’ve always done it. Not that I’m totally locked up on my upper half.

 

[Adam W.]

"It's just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
With your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tight

But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane
Let's do the Time Warp again
Let's do the Time Warp again...."

And sharpen that chisel to 27.25º

 

[mikej460]

Meanwhile, back in the land of sharpening, despite all the talk of free-hand stroking, (with all its rhythmic pleasures), jiggery, stones or diamond plates, there has been no mention - not a jot - about LUBRICATION.

Here goes, then, what to use in a civilised process.........oil? water? window-cleaning fluid? .......... your own secret formulation?

Windex?

 

[mikej460]

Well after getting through a bucket of popcorn reading this thread I saw only one mention of actual steel used. My 10p worth is it is a case of not only what works for you but also what works for the steel your chisel is made from. I have various grades of oilstones and waterstones which I bought when starting out but haven't used much since. I use tend to use oilstones and a basic guide for working through a damaged (chipped) edge and freehand for honing; this works for me on my dewalt and old sandvik chisels for now but I also have a set of better quality kirschens stored away for which I have promised myself to hone with the waterstones once I've setup my new workshop later this year . I use a scrap of upturned leather glued to a piece of mdf plus autosol for final stropping. I know if I've got it right if I can square out a routed mortise with three strokes and not reach for Thor's Hammer. For context I use the dewalts for building work but I've made furniture with the sandviks all with hand made joints.

 

[D_W]

No but it is possible to keep your feet still and sway on your knees ankles and hips. DW doesn’t think much to it but it’s the way I’ve always done it. Not that I’m totally locked up on my upper half.

The shimmy advocated here was literally a dance step or a waist rigid rocking. I think folks have a different level of rigidity and if you sharpen something three times an hour in the shop, you'll end up doing things the way I do. Not because "it's the right way" but out of laziness. Laziness and increasing cycles to observe sort of lead to the same place.

Kind of like drawing an arrow back on a bow. It's not like we're that much stronger after a couple of years of bow shooting, but our bodies and brains learn the easiest way to draw the string.

 

[Jacob]

"It's just a jump to the left
And then a step to the right
With your hands on your hips
You bring your knees in tight

But it's the pelvic thrust
That really drives you insane
Let's do the Time Warp again
Let's do the Time Warp again...."

And sharpen that chisel to 27.25º

I might try the Hokey Cokey with WD40

 

[doctor Bob]

I might try the Hokey Cokey with WD40

Hip done then Jacob?

 

[Chippysu]

Unicorn sperm, quite difficult to find the secretive animal, mind you that's the easiest part...........


am I in trouble with the wokies?

I bought Smurf Poo, not convinced it's any better than my other honing pastes but certainly makes me smile every time I use the blue goo!

 

[doctor Bob]

I bought Smurf Poo, not convinced it's any better than my other honing pastes but certainly makes me smile every time I use the blue goo!

Similar to womble doodoo I'd have thought.

 

[Chippysu]

Similar to womble doodoo I'd have thought.

You know I'm googling that now to see if it's real!

 

[D_W]

I bought Smurf Poo, not convinced it's any better than my other honing pastes but certainly makes me smile every time I use the blue goo!

I get only the Japanese Smurf poo. They eat a lot of volcano ash.

 

[mikej460]

I get only the Japanese Smurf poo. They eat a lot of volcano ash.

But don't the US Smurfs eat grits?