Couple of easy (!) questions please

[Deadeye]

Hello

I've just been restoring an old hand plane - my late father-in-law's.
All good, and now I need to re-grind and sharpen the blade.
I'm going with sandpaper on a flat offcut of granite worktop.
However, despite my sandpaper promising that it's wettable, doing so seems to just release the grit into a slurry almost immediately.
So my two questions are:
1. What make/source of sandpaper do you use for sharpening?
2. What do you wet it with? Pre-mix sharpening solutions seem eye-wateringly expensive and I'm sure I read that they're just soapy water?

I've tried to phrase this in a way that doesn't slide off into an argument about the best way to sharpen. So the method is a fixed constriant for now!

Thanks as always for the advice

 

[novocaine]

1. Norton
2. soapy water or just water

happy hunting.

 

[Fitzroy]

Screwfix wet and dry works well, range of grits and not too expensive.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-wet-dr ... pack/32368

Fitz.

 

[Woody2Shoes]

I get stuff from my local ironmongers (yes, we still have one - for now!) just 'normal' wet'n'dry black stuff. I know that Halfords (because it's often used for car bodywork) sell packs of it as well as most DIY sheds. I just use windolene or similar, but you could use water.
A small amount of the abrasive will come off and make a slurry - along with the abraded metal particles - and a certain amount is not a problem at all, as long as the paper still has integrity and abrasive attached. Excess slurry gets mopped up with a bit of kitchen paper towel. Cheers, W2S

 

[ED65]

All good, and now I need to re-grind and sharpen the blade.

Do you need to regrind? Is the edge damaged or the primary bevel too steep or the edge very out of square to the sides?

If the answer to those questions is no then a regrind isn't needed. Do a standard honing job and call it good.

I'm going with sandpaper on a flat offcut of granite worktop.
However, despite my sandpaper promising that it's wettable, doing so seems to just release the grit into a slurry almost immediately.

I have some of that! This is a sign of cheap paper. You could try wetting with something other than water, e.g white spirit or baby oil, to see if this helps but it's likely the quality of the paper will remain an issue.

You could also try using the paper dry but the grit may still release too easily.

Pre-mix sharpening solutions seem eye-wateringly expensive and I'm sure I read that they're just soapy water?

Some of them are sort of that (eye-wateringly expensive and basically a type of soapy water, or akin to window cleaners).

FWIW many people who have tried them and compared directly to soapy water or a generic window cleaner say there's no discernable difference and I think you can trust that. There are some additives that can be in honing fluids that are beneficial, e.g. rust suppressants, but in terms of how they aid the honing process itself it's probably all marketing mumbo jumbo.

I've tried to phrase this in a way that doesn't slide off into an argument about the best way to sharpen. So the method is a fixed constriant for now!

Amen to that!

 

[--Tom--]

3m abrasives are good

 

[Noel]

Attach to the plate with masking tape, sellotape, gaffa tape, anything similar around the edges will do the job and you can re-use the paper again.

 

[woodbloke66]

I'd use standard silicon carbide 'wet n'dry' paper stuck to your granite block with something like 'Spraymount' adhesive and then just wet the surface(s) with a spray of water.
If you want to move upwards in sharpening films, then use the self-adhesive 3M films from somewhere like Workshop Heaven; use with a lubricant of your choice; I use WD40 (or similar) but paraffin works just as well - Rob