Lapping chisel back

[Jacob]

......
The biggest question that hasn't been asked though is if diamond stones and lapping film etc had been about in the days of Stradivarious and Chippendale would they have been using them rather than the other primitive sharpening tools available - I'm sure they would have moved with the times .....

Not if they were on this forum and read the endless accounts of difficulties, hours spent lapping, large amounts of expensive kit, stones wearing out or needing flattening every 10 minutes, all in spite of the availability of highly engineered, hi spec tools, better than their wildest dreams.
They'd say "sod that something is wrong here, lets do it our way"!

PS in fact much of the modern approach is not about achieving best results per se, it's about de-skilling - getting the results with gadgets and a very specific choreographed approach (even involving counting strokes - or see Deneb's funny dance on that video ), and a very detailed specification of accessories down to grit sizes in microns.
A low skill gadget/information based approach?

 

[Washy21]

Here is the lapped chisel. The other picture shows what happened when I started thinking about polishing with the 'Scary' method =D>

 

[Jacob]

Throw a pinch of salt over your shoulder immediately!
They must be sharp by now - what about doing a bit of woodwork for a change?

 

[Washy21]

Throw a pinch of salt over your shoulder immediately!
They must be sharp by now - what about doing a bit of woodwork for a change?

I will do in the morning .... after I have sharpened the rest of the tools. Seriously, though I think I'm on the right track now.

 

[Muswell]

Regarding the very corners of the blade, one thing that can affect the 'flatness' of the surface is the removal of metal from the bevel sides.
If the steel has any adverse stresses in it then the very corners can continue to move toward the bevel side as support metal is removed, in most instances in a working tool to a degree of no consequence at all, but if attempting to maintain within lapped flatness levels you may never remove them.

Also be prepared for a tool to move as the shop temperature changes, even holding a blade in the hand or using it will cause it to change dimensions, whether in the plane you are trying to 'improve' or not is a matter of chance, what appears flat one day may be otherwise the next.

Washy21 wrote:
...... Do I need lapped chisels (not necessarily polished like mirrors) in order to work on fine detail woodwork such as guitars

I doubt Stradivarius had anything other than a hand forged tools sharpened on a sandstone grinding wheel.

In fact to make a violin you hardly use a chisel at all, it's mostly gouges, knives and scrapers. A plane is used for trueing up the halves of the back and front before glueing and finger planes with curved edges are used for following on from gouges. I doubt whether Stradivari and his mates worried too much about flattening and polishing the backs. As for the guitar you only really use a chisel for tidying the slots in the head, unless you cut the ledge for the binding by hand rather than a router. The old school Mexican makers do this with a knife. You do use a plane a lot on very visible surfaces so that blade needs to be well prepared.

 

[Fromey]

http://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/video/2700/2707.html

 

[Muswell]

Oh, I forgot to add one more tool. There is an amusing video showing someone roughing out with a chainsaw, since this is rather more manly than using gouges.

 

[Washy21]

Many thanks for these links.