Sharpening

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I’m always amazed at the batshit crazy people on this Reddit and how they take sharpening to ridiculous levels.

I’m not even sure if the things they sharpen are actually used, it’s all about just sharpening 🤷‍♂️

https://www.reddit.com/r/sharpening/
 
Perhaps you could first explain how you go about the sharpening conundrum.

Everyone's always keen to learn and hear other peoples techniques
Ok a fabulous response from all contributors-now I get it and can see why this subject is contentious and often ends in verbal fisty cuffs . Well I looked at several options as my original method was a Stanley honing guide which gave good results but not very accurate. I looked at the axi ultimate edge system and the tormek but both to expensive with the additional jigs reqd . So in short I purchased the veritas deluxe honing guide as it gives me all the angles I’ll need in my life and the scary sharp set up . The tormek and the u/ edge would have spent most of there life parked up collecting dust so with the money saved by going with s/s and veritas I purchased a set of quality chisels for best work . On a personal note I find sharpening both boring and relentless but also therapeutic when you end up with that razor sharp mirror polished edge . The set up works for me , it’s cheap as every now and again I’ll order a few sheets of the abrasive to keep me stocked up . Thanks for all replies 😊😊😊please don’t send the heavies around 🤣🤣🤣
 
Did say in original post that I had no intention of starting such a thread , I happy with the answers and will consider this thread closed - one of my favourite sayings is - each to their own !! What works for one may not suit another.. great input and thanks again 👋👋👋👋
 
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..... the like of Stanley will flog you a 400/1000 grit stone as if it is all you need.

.....
It is, almost. If that's all you had you'd get by.
That's my whole point.
I'd go for a Norton IB8 in preference, or any of the trad offerings of a similar spec.
Plus a tin of oil and a some oily rags
I have added a Norton "0" which has a finer side. Also a leather pad plus autosol for stropping.
I also use my lathe for stropping - MDF disc at slowest speed on the outboard end, smear of autosol and very fast high polish almost instant on a small chisel.
Really good for gouges too and you can do the inside on the edge of the mdf wheel.
Some ops really need a polished edge and you can feel the difference.
 
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Well, you did set this particular ' Hare ' running and I have to say that, so far,the 'Hounds' have been remarkably well behaved. :)
 
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One day I'll get the hang of drills. For now I view them as disposable items.
 
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:unsure: 6" bench grinder?
 
From the way people go on about sharpening it seems that sharpening is becoming a competitive sport. Welcome to the sharpening Olympiad of 2023 fellow woodworkers. It is a bit like fly casting competitions, all very well in itself but does not catch any fish.

Perhaps our sharpening enthusiasts are merely trying to justify their vast expense on exotic means of getting a fine edge - mainly to shave one’s forearms it seems.

If someone is doing a lot of hand work, it's not a competitive sport - it's an in-the-cycle-of work type thing along with preventing damage to an edge in the first place - like even several thousandths deep nicks are unlikely to be sharpened out by someone.

I don't think there are many people doing that much work by hand, though, or the sharpening discussions would look more like holtzappfel and less like which honing guide to buy or a guy doing rough work talking about using stones in bad shape.

The fact that few people are actually doing much hand work and consider sharpness an achievement vs. a routine thing gotten quickly aids supposition. like believing that you can just hand grind out 4 thousandths of blade edge quickly and nicking and things of the like don't make any difference (a brisk sharpening session removes about a thousandth of length from a tool).

A cheap guide is useful for someone just starting ($10 chinese guide is fine) and a grinder of some sort, whatever it is, and then one or two inexpensive stones.

The discussion of this in holtzapffel in 1875 is so good (and so is the planing discussion before it - I never saw this before last week, too bad) that it should probably be the method taught to beginners). Not surprisingly, it doesn't sound anything like the sellers method and it requires a reasonably flat stone.

holtzapffel

if that link only works in the US, this is the 1875 version of Turning and Mechanical Manipulation: The principles of construction and I would imagine it's free on google books there, too.

Splitting the grind and hone angle allows for fewer stones, they don't need to be fast, and a beginner can handle he angles because of the spread between the two. Nobody has ever sent me a tool to refit that was sharpened like sellers' method and actually came sharp and without clearance problems. When I send tools back, especially if I make a new iron for them, they talk about how long the edge lasts on the new iron - but the reason it does is the method in holtzapffel moves useless metal out of the way from becoming a clearance problem and the actual tip of the iron is steep enough to avoid small chipping. It has little to do with the metal or quality of the iron.
 
And boring, lets not forget boring. And unfulfilling. And several other words beginning in un.

Far as im concerned, sharpening involves a power switch.
Maybe you need to stop using the power switch and find your way back to the craft? :unsure:
It's no more boring than sawing, planing etc and a good result can be just as pleasing, not to mention useful!
Everybody moans about modern sharpening one way or another, you only have to look at this short thread.
It's what keeps me blagging on about the very cheap, fast, efficient, easy, enjoyable, satisfying alternatives. Only trying to help!
 
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It is a bit like fly casting competitions, all very well in itself but does not catch any fish.
So, no less pointless than using the skill to actually catch fish. I've seen what people who catch them do - the daft beggars put the fish back in the water rather than in the pan.
 
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