Have I overdone the secondary bevel on this chisel?

[Jacob]

This is a no bevel plane blade - an old woody which I have sharpened up on an oil stone. The edge itself will be very close to 30º. It is very sharp.
I do chisels just the same

 

[D_W]

Just reestablish the primary bevel next time it needs sharpening. You'll find out with experience which size of microbevel is the least effort and that grinding earlier and keeping the bevel small is generally that.

 

[D_W]

I have some Japanese chisels which have virtually no secondary bevel, but, boy are they sharp & will cut paper on edge out of the box.

It's fairly common for used chisels from Japan to have the primary bevel hand ground shallower with the secondary freehand ground steeper. Either way works fine, but dead flat single bevel well-used chisels are fairly rare. At least from a sample size of a few hundred that I've bought. They do look prettier with a single perfectly finished flat bevel.

 

[D_W]

20º very difficult to grind. Why do you need these very unusual angles, skews etc?Depends who you are apprenticed to!Some might, many wouldn't, because if you are not bothered it's faster and easier to just do a rounded bevel. You don't have time to f about with jigs, glass plates etc if you are on a building site In fact you'd probably get laughed off.I thought you said there was no right way? What is "correct"?He ain't god but he is fairly practical - and he doesn't promote all the expensive sharpening gear and accessories that many of the others do. Even he gets a bit side tracked by modern sharpening nonsense and burbles on a bout "initialising" chisels. I wonder if he christens them too?

Sellers tries to convince people that spending on tools is bad but paying several hundred for a basic class of information that's generally free is a good idea.

People who use "his method" most often send me tools that are blunt with clearance problems or aren't sharpened to the edge.

 

[Pineapple]

Yes, you're wasting steel. That's all.

AND time spent at the Oilstone or Diamond-Plate....!

 

[AdrianUK]

Hugh, you’ve made me feel better with a couple of mine when I got a little carried away, however am happy to live with them until they need reshaping, as they meet what I need them to do, which is all I ask of them.

 

[Daniel2]

You see ?
We're never happier than when there's a good sharpening thread on the go.

 

[scooby]

I'm getting ready with the popcorn gif.

 

[Jacob]

I'm getting ready with the popcorn gif.

I'm poised at the keyboard ready to strike!

 

[Jacob]

Hugh, you’ve made me feel better with a couple of mine when I got a little carried away, however am happy to live with them until they need reshaping, as they meet what I need them to do, which is all I ask of them.

If you do it the trad way (as per Paul Sellars more or less) they never need reshaping. You might have to spend longer on the coarse stone if you can't bring up a burr quickly, but that's the only variation.

 

[David C]

A wide secondary like that will lead to slow resharpenninnng.

If you keep it very narrow, resharpening will be much quicker.

David Charlesworth

 

[Argus]

You see ?
We're never happier than when there's a good sharpening thread on the go.

We haven't got round to back-bevels yet....... plenty of time.

 

[Garno]

Just get a ProEdge ..........









Now that's how you stoke up an argument

 

[Daniel2]

I had wanted to get a Pro-Edge, but Jacob got through to me.

 

[Argus]

What's a Pro-edge?

 

[Garno]

What's a Pro-edge?

The best sharpening machine money can buy .........

 

[Jacob]

What's a Pro-edge?

Another expensive sharpening gadget. Basically a linisher, nicely made but any cheapo linisher will do exactly the same job
Linisher not that good for sharpening, with only a 2" belt. Sold it on.
I started using the 12" disc on my lathe (+ velcro sand paper) and it's better in every way. Quicker grade changes, quieter, runs cooler, dead flat grinding etc. And it cost nothing - it came with the lathe.

 

[hughcollier]

Wow, I really did open a can of worms!

Well I'm working my way through the chisels and have taken note and this is much more like it I think. Took hardly any time at all to create the secondary bevel once the primary was ground so I can see how easy it will be too keep sharp now with regular touching up.

I may have a go at freehand sharpening one of the smaller chisels just to see how I get on, that way if I make a mess of it will be relatively easy to sort out.

 

[baldkev]

Its probably easier to get practicing on wider ones.... the narrow blades can easily become lopsided until you have a feel for it... some beginners will put more pressure on one side unintentionally

 

[hughcollier]

Its probably easier to get practicing on wider ones.... the narrow blades can easily become lopsided until you have a feel for it... some beginners will put more pressure on one side unintentionally

Ah yes, thanks! That does make sense.