Not the average sharpening question

[Racers]

I test on my thumb nail the lower angle it catches my nail at the sharper it is.

Pete

 

[RossJarvis]

Regardless of what use you're going to put the tool to I'm thinking that the sharper you can get it the better. The next thing to think about is how to use it and after that, how long will it stay sharp.

I'm currently thinking that bashing out housing/lap joints with a chisel in pine is causing me too many problems, so I either need to learn how to bash better, or possibly just learn how to chop out with hand pressure (e.g. turn the joint on its side and bear down by hand), at this point it becomes a bit more important as to how long the chisel will keep its sharp edge. So tool selection becomes important too.

I'd say that an edge is truly sharp if you can bung a sheet of bog-roll in the air, then push your edge at it. if the bog-roll slices cleanly in two then the edge is sharp, if not sharpen again. I believe this is how the crusades started.

 

[custard]

Regardless of what use you're going to put the tool to I'm thinking that the sharper you can get it the better. The next thing to think about is how to use it and after that, how long will it stay sharp.

Hello Ross, your question about "how long will it stay sharp" is important and not frequently enough asked. In my experience a marking knife will stay sharp enough for several weeks use, a dovetail saw (assuming it's not a hardpoint) will easily last through a chest of drawers but may not make it past three chests of drawers without freshening up the teeth. A traditional Stanley or Record plane iron may give you about 10-15 minutes of constant use on oak (perhaps a bit longer for rough work across the grain), A2 irons will last about twice as long between sharpenings. If you're dovetailing then you can easily use a couple of chisels for rough chopping the tails and rough chopping the pins on one hardwood drawer, but you'd be advised to sharpen them before tackling the final paring cuts on the pins.

Just up the hill from you in Froxfield is a workshop with some pretty competent furniture makers. If you look at how they, or most professionals work, they don't try to get ultimate sharpness on any tool, but they do have a finely tuned instinct for the dividing line between "acceptably sharp" and "unacceptably blunt", and generally speaking they tend to adopt a little but often approach to sharpening to stay comfortably on the right side of that divide.

And for commercial working, even at the highest level, that makes good sense. You can waste an awful lot of time forming that bog roll slicing exquisite edge, but it will only stay exquisite for one or two strokes. However, allowing a tool to deteriorate to where you have to really force it through the timber is not only tiring, but it risks damaging a joint or a surface that you may have spent hours creating; so a policy of little but often, and without getting too obsessional about it all, is a sensible approach. That contrasts with the practices of many hobbyists I've known, who will take infinite pains using 15,000 grit waterstones or sub 1 micron scary sharp papers, but then continue using the tool way past the time when it needs freshening up.

 

[Jacob]

How long the edge will last matters less if you have a simple sharpening regime and do a little and often. It's all a trade off; softer steel = shorter life but easier sharpening. Arguably a simple regime and softer metal means you are sharper for longer as it's less of a disincentive to stop if it only takes a few seconds.

 

[custard]

How long the edge will last matters less if you have a simple sharpening regime and do a little and often. It's all a trade off; softer steel = shorter life but easier sharpening. Arguably a simple regime and softer metal means you are sharper for longer as it's less of a disincentive to stop if it only takes a few seconds.

Yes, I tend to agree. It's important that, whatever sharpening regime you adopt, it's so quick and thoroughly practised that you don't spend any time fretting about it, you just get on and do it.

 

[DannyEssex]

Thanks again for the kind advice

I brought some chisels and a couple of planes from Workshop Heaven and never having sharpened anything ( successfully ) before asked Mark to put a good edge on one of them for me so I would know what I was looking for. It gave me something to aim at and while I cannot do it as fast as he did the principle worked

I have ordered a set of chisels from Workshop Heave and have asked Matthew to do the same. Which he has said he kindly will. Just looking forward to them coming now :lol: