I've just taken delivery of a pair of skew chisels made by Crown. It was fairly obvious from looking at them that they are not meant to be in a "use straight out of the box" condition, so I decided to get to work flattening the backs and honing edges on them.
The first operation was easy: stones at 500, 2,000 and 6,000 grit and job done.
Then I turned to my Veritas Mk II honing guide (forgive me for I know not what I do and anyway I've only been at this woodworking lark for a year. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.) complete with the skew jig (the latter being tried out for the first time). After a quick look at Derek Cohen's account of how to use the latter, away I went. (Incidentally, I don't think I've ever seen better, clearer "how to" guides and equipment reviews than those of the good Mr Cohen.)
One chisel was more or less what it should be - 40° of skew with a bevel of 25° - but the other was approx 43°. I was quite surprised that there could be such a deviation. It did occur to me that I could attempt to work with what was there but I decided to get it to the official size as it would be a one off job and that would make future honings with the skew jig easier. So out came the steel diamond plate from DMT that I use for flattening my stones.
"Set the chisel up in the jig and I'll have this sorted in five minutes", I thought. Twenty + (!!!) minutes of solid grinding later I had the main bevel and angle down to the right size. Then it was just a matter of less than five minutes with the three stones and it is now tickety boo.
Lessons learned: a. Be prepared for tools that are not quite the size that you are expecting them to be.
b. The Veritas Skew Registration Jig definitely does what it says on the tin.
c. I feel much more confident/able about honing in general after this experience i.e. it was of great learning value.
d. I definitely feel that the chisel is now "mine".
The first operation was easy: stones at 500, 2,000 and 6,000 grit and job done.
Then I turned to my Veritas Mk II honing guide (forgive me for I know not what I do and anyway I've only been at this woodworking lark for a year. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.) complete with the skew jig (the latter being tried out for the first time). After a quick look at Derek Cohen's account of how to use the latter, away I went. (Incidentally, I don't think I've ever seen better, clearer "how to" guides and equipment reviews than those of the good Mr Cohen.)
One chisel was more or less what it should be - 40° of skew with a bevel of 25° - but the other was approx 43°. I was quite surprised that there could be such a deviation. It did occur to me that I could attempt to work with what was there but I decided to get it to the official size as it would be a one off job and that would make future honings with the skew jig easier. So out came the steel diamond plate from DMT that I use for flattening my stones.
"Set the chisel up in the jig and I'll have this sorted in five minutes", I thought. Twenty + (!!!) minutes of solid grinding later I had the main bevel and angle down to the right size. Then it was just a matter of less than five minutes with the three stones and it is now tickety boo.
Lessons learned: a. Be prepared for tools that are not quite the size that you are expecting them to be.
b. The Veritas Skew Registration Jig definitely does what it says on the tin.
c. I feel much more confident/able about honing in general after this experience i.e. it was of great learning value.
d. I definitely feel that the chisel is now "mine".
