Chisel sharpening – you’re all doing it wrong!

[jim_hanna]

Having followed some of the spirited discussions on this forum about sharpening I thought I’d let you know that all the views about ceramic, water, oil, diamond or slate media and hand versus honing guide are all wrong. The way to sharpen chisels, at least according to my DIY Manual, is to clamp them in a metal working vice and have at them with a file.

The book in question is this, DIY Manual, no idea when I bought it. I was browsing for information on a different topic when I stumbled on the sharpening advice.

I believe I’m allowed to quote excerpts in the context of a review so here is page 39, top picture showing some chisels, middle picture showing a chap with a file attacking something in a vice and the caption:
TOP AND CENTRE: Firmer chisels have square rather than beveled edges that are easier to keep sharp.

Bottom picture is interesting as well, obviously I’m using the wrong sort of screwdriver bit.

All of page 39 just to show I'm not spoofing.

My review conclusion is: thank goodness I didn’t pay full price.

 

[AndyT]

Thankyou O Bearer of True Wisdom!
I confess 50 years of sharpening sins.
Please forgive me.

PS Does the book explain how to sharpen files? My best ones suddenly aren't as good as they used to be.

 

[Glynne]

Not very often, but there are times when I miss Jacob.

 

[Droogs]

Not very often, but there are times when I miss Jacob.

:shock: :shock: :shock: :shock: SHAME SHAME SHAME


If I'm honest me too :roll: :roll: :roll:


:lol:

 

[ColeyS1]

Is he posting somewhere else now ?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[bugbear]

Is he posting somewhere else now ?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

I think everywhere else banned him long before this forum did.

BugBear

 

[ColeyS1]

I think everywhere else banned him long before this forum did.

BugBear

It's the end of an era.

 

[RobinBHM]

Not very often, but there are times when I miss Jacob.

So what has happened to Jacob?

 

[Cheshirechappie]

1) They are, quite obviously, diamond files.

2) Even if they aren't, and even if that method doesn't work on chisels, it is clearly very effective on the creases of workshop trousers.

3) Some people will publish any old rubbish. If there's any justice, that print run made a loss.

4) Unfortunately, there are still people out there who believe everything they read in books. And newspapers. And on the interwebs.

5) Fortunately, the vast majority of posters on this forum are wise, knowledgeable and intelligent, and wouldn't fall for that sort of stuff.

6) The publication date wasn't April 1st, by any chance?

 

[user 26031]

"...Firmer chisels have square rather than beveled edges that are easier to keep sharp..."

So that's where I've been going wrong all these years; a revelation!

 

[morfa]

Jacob is finally totally banned then? I'd sort of thought folk were just letting him ramble these days...

On topic:

Amusing book. However I'm sure there are folks who do stuff like that. I know a plumber who abuses the snot out of his chisels and then just has his old man re-grind them every few months. Assuming he doesn't loose it in the mean time.

 

[custard]

I try and stay away from sharpening threads, but I don't think this method is quite as mad as it sounds.

Saws and drill bits are commonly sharpened with files, so there's no question a file is capable of producing a cutting edge. And in my experience where most woodworking newbies come to grief is falling down the rabbit hole of aiming for some mythical "ultimate" edge.

I'm not about to set about my chisels with a file, but I've met plenty of beginning woodworkers who faff about with 10,000 grit plus stones and yet ignore the fundamental of first raising a wire edge. Consequently they can waste hours achieving ever higher levels of polish, but their tools actually have rounded cutting edges, so in practise are pretty blunt despite looking pretty. On the other hand the yard boat builder or site carpenter who maintains his or her tools just with coarser stones will achieve a functional edge and get back to working wood in double quick time.

 

[lurker]

in my experience where most woodworking newbies come to grief is falling down the rabbit hole of aiming for some mythical "ultimate" edge.

........, but I've met plenty of beginning woodworkers who faff about with 10,000 grit plus stones and yet ignore the fundamental of first raising a wire edge. Consequently they can waste hours achieving ever higher levels of polish, but their tools actually have rounded cutting edges, so in practise are pretty blunt despite looking pretty. On the other hand the yard boat builder or site carpenter who maintains his or her tools just with coarser stones will achieve a functional edge and get back to working wood in double quick time.

You sound just like Jacob!





..................but you are dead right too

 

[nivag the tool]

I used to share a workshop with a man whose preferred method of chisel sharpening was freehand on an upside down belt sander he even built a special jig to hold the sander in the vice, got the chisels sharp and made them look pretty with lovely rainbow colored patterns at the ends.

 

[katellwood]

got the chisels sharp and made them look pretty with lovely rainbow colored patterns at the ends.

But must have been going back to the sander every other cut :roll:

 

[D_W]

Not very often, but there are times when I miss Jacob.

So what has happened to Jacob?

Speaking of, there hasn't been any Charlie Stanford in a while, either. Lots of similarities between the two.

 

[Sgian Dubh]

I'm not about to set about my chisels with a file, but I've met plenty of beginning woodworkers who faff about with 10,000 grit plus stones and yet ignore the fundamental of first raising a wire edge. On the other hand the yard boat builder or site carpenter who maintains his or her tools just with coarser stones will achieve a functional edge and get back to working wood in double quick time.

There's a good amount of common sense in what you say. Like you I don't use files, and never have done to sharpen chisels and plane irons. I do however tend to sharpen only as much as I need. I probably do ninety five per cent of my plane and chisel sharpening on only a 'medium' stone: I'm not certain of the grit because it was simply labelled medium when I got it, but it's probably somewhere around 800 or 1,000. If I need better I move on after the 'medium' stone to my 'superfine' stone, again, grit size unknown, but it makes the tools much shinier, and therefore sharper for that final prepping work of a panel, or some other relatively demanding work. And whichever stone I use to finish my sharpening there's always a bit of flipping of the iron or chisel backwards and forwards on the palm of the hand for that final burnish, although it's probably debatable if the flipping thing does much.

In my experience it's certainly not always necessary to achieve a super sharp edge to work satisfactorily, and my practice of bringing the edge to 'good enough' quickly has served me very well all my working life, so I'll continue with it because I really need to work wood rather than spend too long sharpening. Slainte.

 

[woodbrains]

I try and stay away from sharpening threads, but I don't think this method is quite as mad as it sounds.

Saws and drill bits are commonly sharpened with files, so there's no question a file is capable of producing a cutting edge. And in my experience where most woodworking newbies come to grief is falling down the rabbit hole of aiming for some mythical "ultimate" edge.

I'm not about to set about my chisels with a file, but I've met plenty of beginning woodworkers who faff about with 10,000 grit plus stones and yet ignore the fundamental of first raising a wire edge. Consequently they can waste hours achieving ever higher levels of polish, but their tools actually have rounded cutting edges, so in practise are pretty blunt despite looking pretty. On the other hand the yard boat builder or site carpenter who maintains his or her tools just with coarser stones will achieve a functional edge and get back to working wood in double quick time.

Hello,

Let's face it, it is mad isn't it! The book is just plain wrong and it is an editing mistake showing a man filing something (not a chisel) and whoever compiled the captions didn't know anything about woodworking and just put a caption with the wrong photo. It is just misleading and hilarious to us, who know better, but can show us absolutely nothing about how to sharpen tools.

Drill bits sharpened with files, well only those designed to be, like an auger and saws with resharpenable blades. HSS drills and hardpoint saws.... not a chance, nor are chisels hardened to Rc 60 and above. It is daft suggesting it might be done, although some framers slicks are soft enough to do so, bench chisels, not so much.

Mike.

 

[D_W]

I'm coasting off of a complex migraine last week, so I might be a bit dense. Can someone clarify something for me? Are we to presume that:
1) The middle picture is incorrect (incorrect, as in it's just not the picture that the author or compiler intended), or
2) The middle picture has someone sharpening chisels with a file?

In the days of ward irons and disston files (or whatever your favorites there would have been), only a double cut file could've cut an iron, and even then, not for long. Of course, a double cut iron would do that much of a favor.

I'm sure I have an iron or two that could be cut by a good file, but they wouldn't make good smoother irons (they work great in a jack or double iron try plane where the bleeding edge needs to be uniformly worn with clearance maintained, but not perfect in terms of razor sharpness). I'll try to file one tonight. Even if they can be filed, though, they would go through a file in relatively short order, and files were mondo expensive in old catalogs (at least from what I can gather). It wouldn't be very economical compared to just using a stone. Even final shaping of the edge on a true temper axe can blow out a file, or get you halfway there. Presume those are low to mid 50s in hardness, but never upper 50s.

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

The man is filing something but not a chisel. TBH the low grade files shown in the picture are made of something like toffee, so likely ineffectual on mild steel for long, let alone tempered HCS.

I assume the compiler of the book wanted a picture of someone sharpening a chisel, picked a photo which should have been in the metalworking section and, not knowing enough about how to sharpen put on a caption to suit. Or something like that. It is obvious from the photo, with all the various forms of file on the bench, the engineers vice and the piece of metal in the vice, the photo wasn't taken to illustrate sharpening whatsoever.

That is not to say Custard or Richard above do not have valid points about obsessional sharpening, just the idea of sharpening with files to illustrate their point was a bit daft, especially since the book was wrong to show it anyway.

Mike.