My sharpening station

[Escudo]

Picking up on wizers threads regarding sharpening I thought I would post a picture of my sharpening set-up;

I have the Red / Green DMT diamond duosharp Bench Stone (extra fine / fine)

I also have a hard translucent Arkansas stone (Ultra fine)

I also have a leather strop, which I use with some blue compound and vaseline.

I am quite happy with my results from this set-up.

A few quick swipes on the fine diamond stone and then the Arkansas. I remove the little burr that results using the Arkansas which I can do with the blade still in the veritas Mk II guide. This is helpful as I can then strop the blade with it still in the guide.

I also have a tormek which I must confess I don't use that much, although it is quite useful for sharpening the missus gardening tools.

The veritas guide is very useful, as a novice. I hope one day with more experience I will be able to operate free hand.

Tony.

 

[nimmaj]

I really enjoy seeing how other people do things - great for gathering ideas! Thanks for posting that.

Where did you get your strop from?

Cheers...

Ben

 

[wizer]

Thanks Tony. That's actually the sort of setup I am aiming for. Much neater and less messy. The only thing I may add is a cheap grinder for the occasional primary bevel.

Tho, I rattled the piggy bank last night and it was sounding very hollow :?

:wink:

 

[bugbear]

The veritas guide is very useful, as a novice. I hope one day with more experience I will be able to operate free hand.

Tony.

Feh. If guides are acceptable to Jim Kingshott, Jeff Gorman, and David Charlesworth, I (for one) feel no shame in using them, and little motivation to stop using them.

BugBear

 

[ByronBlack]

The veritas guide is very useful, as a novice. I hope one day with more experience I will be able to operate free hand.

Tony.

Feh. If guides are acceptable to Jim Kingshott, Jeff Gorman, and David Charlesworth, I (for one) feel no shame in using them, and little motivation to stop using them.

BugBear

I agree, I learnt how to do it by hand and was for a while an advocate of this, but the guides give quicker more predictable results, it's no different than using a guide for a circular saw or a fence for a router really, they are all jigs to improve the results, there should never be any shame or requirement to have to sharpen by hand, technology and methodology move on.

 

[dunbarhamlin]

If guides are acceptable to Jim Kingshott, Jeff Gorman, and David Charlesworth, I (for one) feel no shame in using them, and little motivation to stop using them.

My main rationale for not using a guide for refining an edge is that ssince some cutters have to be honed freehand (router planes, striking knives, finger plane blades, card scrapers, gouges, slitter blades...) doing all blades freehand is good practice.
(Also, the angle in degrees, radians or grads... oops - think I got the lid on in time - don't think any worms escaped.)

 

[woodbloke]

Pretty much my set up as well except substitute a green DMT stone, 10000g Spyderco ceramic and an Eclipse guide - Rob

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I am in the process of rebuilding my workshop. I promised myself a dedicated sharpening area and, with essentially a blank canvas, I ended up with this ..

The plumbing has yet to be completed, as has a set of doors for the cabinet.

The aim is to have a grinding area, and then use the draining board for the waterstones. Since the following picture was taken I have made up a board to clamp the waterstones ..

I do like the Tormek since it will safely create a hollow grind right up to the edge of the blade. This means that one can speedily hone a microbevel.

However, a Tormek is not the only way to go. It is fine for 01 steel, but slower on A2, and slow overall. So I recently upgraded my 6" high speed grinder for a 8" half speed grinder (1400 rpm). I have added a 46 grit Norton 3X wheel, and I am very impressed how cool it grinds.

Machines are only the initial preparation. My Shapton waterstones (1000/5000/8000/12000) and strops (for maintaining the edge between honing) are what I spend most time on.

While I prefer to hone freehand, I do have a couple of honing guides. The LV Mk II is used on BU plane blades, and a small Kell is used on my OB mortice chisels.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[ByronBlack]

Derek, that is a Zen Garden of the sharpening world, very smart. I may eventually invest in a slow grinder, my cheapie fast grinder isn't really suitable.

 

[Escudo]

I agree Bugbear, there is no shame in using a guide. Although, it would be good to learn the skill to achieve the same standard of result by operating freehand.

I am sure this is possible with practice and technique and I have an open mind regarding matters.

As to whether sharpening is a science or art. I would say Science using the guide, art if operating freehand.

I am a scientist, but one day I will be an artist. :lol:

Tony.

 

[marcus]

I sharpen freehand for three reasons:

1) I think it's a good idea to develop and maintain skill and sensitivity in the use of our hands whenever we have the opportunity - the quality of the work we produce can only benefit from this.
2) It takes a bit more skill to do, so (to me at least) it's a little bit more satisfying.
3) It's a little quicker - there's no need to fiddle around with a jig.

There seem to be more and more jigs etc. to buy which do jobs that are, in fact, quick and easy to do well freehand with a little practice. One of the side effects of this is that people can start to believe that skills which were once acquired as a matter of course by anyone who worked with wood are much more difficult to master than they are in reality. A fear factor slips in. This makes lots of money for the tool companies, but I think often we might be better to save our money and take the opportunity to develop our hand skills. This will repay us with increased dexterity and confidence - and more money in the bank!

Cheers,

Marcus

 

[woodbloke]

I sharpen freehand for three reasons:

3) It's a little quicker - there's no need to fiddle around with a jig.

Cheers,

Marcus

I use a Eclipse clone jig (about £5) and it takes me and it takes about 5 seconds to put a blade into it and set it to the correct distance (using the small 'bench hook' arrangement)...fairly economical with both time and money.
I can also sharpen freehand having been a woodwork teacher in a previous life...at one time I could manage about 80 bench chisels in less than an hour (honing only, no grinding ) - Rob

 

[marcus]

Hi Rob

I can also sharpen freehand having been a woodwork teacher in a previous life... at one time I could manage about 80 bench chisels in less than an hour

Well I guess after all those you deserve a break! :shock:

I used to share a workshop where some of the guys used honing jigs and someone had made one of those guides for setting the angle. I experimented with it all for a while and even bought a honing jig, which I still own. In the end though I found it to be a little bit of extra faff at the beginning of sharpening, and I wasn't experiencing any noticeable benefit in terms of results. Also - and more importantly if I'm honest - I felt a bit cheated out of the enjoyment which I still get out of sharpening freehand.... The jig I bought (I think it's an eclipse too - the grey ones) cost about £10, which I'll grant isn't a huge amount, but still money I'd rather have spent on something else given that I don't use the thing! A lot of the modern jigs are much more expensive than this of course

In terms of the benefits of learning to hand sharpen I was more referring to people who are newer to woodworking. I know lots of very skilled woodworkers who use honing jigs, and of course they can all hone freehand if they need to. But it seems a shame to me if one were to never learn to sharpen freehand at least at the beginning.

Sharpening is something that one has to do a lot anyway, so it's is an ideal opportunity to develop skill, consistency and accuracy in ones hands. It's particularly good because you can't fudge it. It gives concrete feedback about how you are doing.

I think there can be a big confidence boost in just knowing you can do it, and confidence boosts like this tend to add up to a greater willingness to stretch oneself in other areas. Conversely I suspect that feeling that one can't do things and that you need a jig can make you feel less sure of your abilities to do things skilfully with your hands in general.

In any case I know that if I had skipped learning to sharpen jig-free I would have missed out on a lot. I also know that I'm still learning from doing it. But maybe if I had spent years sharpening all those school chisels freehand I would feel there was not much more to be gained and would get the eclipse out again!!

Cheers

Marcus