Scary Sharpening video

[Phil Pascoe]

It's easy enough to do - I've done it with an abrasive cylinder in a dremel. It doesn't need to be anywhere near as deep as the hollow on a Japanese chisel.

 

[ED65]

The little sanding drums Phil? That's what I had planned on doing it with, that and/or a solid carbide burr although with those you have to be darned careful of the swarf as it's full of stabby potential as I learned the hard way tapering the bevels on one of my car boot chisels that I decided was a keeper.

Presumably just a few thou would be enough to see an effect on an otherwise flat chisel, with a convex back I guess it would need more.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

yes, that's them.

 

[sundaytrucker]

I watched the video last week sometime and found the actual scary sharp content interesting, Matthew came across well and it made me rethink my sharpening regimen as I had been looking to transition away from scary sharp to either water or diamond stones.

My biggest reservation about scary sharp is the throw away aspect of it but as a sharpening media it is almost ideal as it is relatively hassle free and flat.

I find it disheartening that in 2019 on a woodworking forum we have someone commenting on Ben's appearance, he seems a genuinely nice guy and is hugely talented.

 

[ED65]

...it made me rethink my sharpening regimen as I had been looking to transition away from scary sharp to either water or diamond stones.

FWIW I would suggest giving very serious thought to trying diamonds. In the time I've been using diamond plates I can't even estimate how much I would have spent on abrasive papers, ten times as much or more? Obviously the cost over time is the classic argument against abrasive-paper sharpening, but even with good stuff that lasts the cutting effectiveness diminishes in a way that it doesn't with diamonds.

Diamond plates at the cheapest end of the market make testing the water very accessible as you really only need two plates, something very coarse and something very fine. There's no need for anything in between because honing isn't sanding.

All-in you're looking at under a tenner, and the two "I'll just get these to try diamonds out..." plates may last you longer than you'd expect, the 1000# plate I talked about here back in 2016 is still going strong.

 

[Harbo]

I’m afraid I couldn’t stand the bloke so fast forward a lot of it.
Matt would have better on his own.

Rod

 

[sundaytrucker]

...it made me rethink my sharpening regimen as I had been looking to transition away from scary sharp to either water or diamond stones.

FWIW I would suggest giving very serious thought to trying diamonds. In the time I've been using diamond plates I can't even estimate how much I would have spent on abrasive papers, ten times as much or more? Obviously the cost over time is the classic argument against abrasive-paper sharpening, but even with good stuff that lasts the cutting effectiveness diminishes in a way that it doesn't with diamonds.

Diamond plates at the cheapest end of the market make testing the water very accessible as you really only need two plates, something very coarse and something very fine. There's no need for anything in between because honing isn't sanding.

All-in you're looking at under a tenner, and the two "I'll just get these to try diamonds out..." plates may last you longer than you'd expect, the 1000# plate I talked about here back in 2016 is still going strong.

I have used diamond stones. When I first became interested in woodworking I went for the Paul Sellers recommended ezelap stones but when I went on courses scary sharp was the method taught and it made sense to go with the teachers recommendation. Since then I have bought an Atoma 140 and DMT 1200 plate for a brief use with O1 tools but I am not a huge fan of stropping which is definitely needed when finishing at the DMT 1200 and from what I have read even the finest DMT plate (xxf) requires stropping to take it to a decent edge.

I have a grinder and CBN wheel on order to take care of primary bevels as most of my tools are A2 now so only require honing and polishing stones/media.