Japanese Waterstones - A Saga

[billw]

So, having purchased some tools and a set of King waterstones, I made my first attempt today to sharpen a new chisel. I diligently watched numerous videos on YouTube, read a few articles, and felt confident enough to have a go.

I have 250, 800, 1000, 1200, and 6000 grit stones. The 250 was mainly for older stuff, so I left that to one side, and opted to start with the 1200 and a 16mm Nyrex chisel. The stone seemed flat, using a square and holding it up to the light. All the stones (except 6000 because I wasn't planning on getting to the honing stage) were duly soaked until the water stayed on the surface, and off I went.

I'm not sure it went well. I held the chisel down with two fingers, avoided putting too much pressure on it, made sure I was holding it flat against the stone, and.... well either they edited those videos to cut out a lot of the work or that bloody chisel is made out of diamonds.

Doing the bevel wasn't any easier. I got the wrong angle at first (oops) so used 25deg instead of 20. The effect across the blade wasn't even, so I had a nice diagonal line going across it. I changed the angle to do the second bevel only to find the diagonal then went the other way. I think it's got about 8 angles on it now.

I learned a few lessons and tried the 32mm chisel and that went a fair bit better, although it was still really hard work. I think I need a sharpening course.

 

[D_W]

80-220 grit sandpaper that has full backed adhesive (or has no bits bunching up loosely) on a hard flat surface is a better place to start.

220 grit sandpaper is usually fine unless tools are way out of whack, and can be followed by the 1200. The king 1200 kind of a little bit finer than a typical medium stone and none of the king stones are particularly good for flattening - they're for honing.

If you're flattening anything on them, use the entire surface very deliberately or they will hollow pretty fast. They also release a pretty strong slick muddy swarf that separates the tool from abrasion to some extent. That's nice for finishing knife bevels, but not that great for flattening tools.

You'll likely not find the the 250 good for much. A good coarse stone is a norton medium crystolon in an oil bath. It's more typical in japan for a professional woodworker to have a crystolon type stone (carborundum, silicon carbide, etc) than it is for them to have coarse waterstones.

 

[Ttrees]

Hello
What you think you are missing out on by your sharpening course comment.
Do you think that your muscle memory will be greatly improved?

Very difficult to make a comment about sharpening chisels, but I will try and make a comment that applies to all styles and
techniques, whilst at the same time have some useful to say.
Just maintain the primary grind/bevel as much as you can so sharpening will take less time.
Aim for a sliver of edge that's getting honed, as it makes corrections easier,
thus making as little amount of time to tip up too much and make a steep large bevel be it rounded or flat.
Nothing wrong with polishing the primary with a few swipes
until you get brave enough to lift it a bit to actually make contact with the edge.

You'll have it down in no time.
Tom

 

[billw]

OK well I have some lapping glass and some sandpaper of various grits, so I guess I'll try that this morning and then use the waterstones for honing.

Ttrees - I tend to learn way quicker when I watch someone rather than reading, and whilst videos are OK you can't ask questions or get feedback so I think a course would probably be the best option for me.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

So, having purchased some tools and a set of King waterstones, I made my first attempt today to sharpen a new chisel. I diligently watched numerous videos on YouTube, read a few articles, and felt confident enough to have a go.

I have 250, 800, 1000, 1200, and 6000 grit stones. The 250 was mainly for older stuff, so I left that to one side, and opted to start with the 1200 and a 16mm Nyrex chisel. The stone seemed flat, using a square and holding it up to the light. All the stones (except 6000 because I wasn't planning on getting to the honing stage) were duly soaked until the water stayed on the surface, and off I went.

I'm not sure it went well. I held the chisel down with two fingers, avoided putting too much pressure on it, made sure I was holding it flat against the stone, and.... well either they edited those videos to cut out a lot of the work or that bloody chisel is made out of diamonds.

Doing the bevel wasn't any easier. I got the wrong angle at first (oops) so used 25deg instead of 20. The effect across the blade wasn't even, so I had a nice diagonal line going across it. I changed the angle to do the second bevel only to find the diagonal then went the other way. I think it's got about 8 angles on it now.

I learned a few lessons and tried the 32mm chisel and that went a fair bit better, although it was still really hard work. I think I need a sharpening course.

If I've read your description right, you seem to be doing the right things. When doing the bevel side, I wouldn't bother polishing the whole bevel surface, just put the secondary bevel on at about 30 degrees or so, just until you can feel the burr across the whole edge, then back off.

Narrower chisels are the very devil to keep an even bevel on. It does take a bit of practice to get finger pressure in just the right place, and to start with go for 'sharp' rather than 'pretty'. You can always correct at subsequent sharpenings.

Keep going, and with practice, things will get slowly - but steadily - better.

 

[Ttrees]

Hello again
So... what your looking for, is an instruction course for sharpening freehand with Japanese waterstones.
I don't think you will find something this specific.
The only folks I can think of is Phil Lowe, Frank Klausz and Rob Cosman, Deneb Puchalski...
A few more might come into play if your just looking for folks using waterstones with honing guides like Charlesworth ,
or a plethora of others that emulate the same technique.

If you want to see more freehand then you might want to watching some folk working with oilstones
Richard Maguire, David W or Bill Carter might be worth a look.

All will agree If its hard work, then you need an easy way to refresh your bevel.

I'd consider having a look at a bench grinder, slow speed bench grinder (the same looking machine but half the speed, not a whetstone sharpener) and a CBN wheel if you're considering what would probably be an expensive course.

Good luck
Tom