Hello fellow hand tool enthusiasts!

I hate sharpening. I use hand tools almost exclucively and I sharpen daily. I have tried every sharpening medium available and have found that I have use for all of them but I use waterstones the most. I have a Norton 1000, 4000, and 8000 grit stone as well as a 220 grit that I use for restoring and final grinding. I keep my stones flat with a Dia-Sharp lapping plate. I grew up using oil stones, but after the advent of A2 and other tough tool steels, I made the switch to water stones.

I know that lots of us use the "scary sharp" method which involves sand paper in progressive grits and I too have used this method until I realized that the cost of sand paper came to almost two hundered dollars a year. I am a professional woodworker and every penny counts. I spent around $250 on quality waterstones almost 5 years ago and have only had to replace my 1000 grit stone a few weeks ago. The 8000 should last for 20 or 30 more years.

I use to use 220 grit paper and a surface plate to flatten my stones but finally bought the lapping plate. $200 is alot but compared to the price of sand paper over time, I consider it an investment. They are supposed to last 15 years or more.

Diamond lapping plates for sharpening? Sure. For certain tools, but they just dont do what an 8000 grit stone does. I use them for sharpening inshaves, scorps, drawknives, gouges, and scissors but I always finish with a high grit water stone.

I have custom shop made slip stone for carving tools ( I am just learning to carve from a woodwright at Colonial Williamsburg) and even a couple ceramic stones that I use on my firmer gouges.

I use a slow speed grinder with an  80 grit Norton wheel to regrind my blades and follow with a 220 waterstone.

Needless to say, I sharpen my own saws as well. I have a saw vise similar to Steve Newman's "porch vise" in that mine is shop made from wood and goes in my leg vise.

So what do you use and why do you prefer that method? I am interested to know. Does anyone have any cool jigs or set ups that make sharpening less dull (excuse the pun)?

The fun part of woodworking is making sharp tools dull:-)

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Adam Welker
Red Car Construction and Fine Woodworking

I use the "Scary Sharp" method with a Veritis honing guide. My plate is a piece of granite. 

But, I only sharpen 8 chisels and 6 plane irons. 

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Gene
'The true soldier fights not because he hates what is in front of him, but because he loves what is behind him.' G. K. Chesterton

I have a combination of methods I use. For the most part I used the "Scary Sharp", but after acquiring a WorkSharp 3000 I used it for a lot of my chisels and plane irons.

I also have a combination water stone that I do touch ups on as I work along. I have been just using the 220 grit paper to flatten my stones on for the time being.

For my lathe tools I have the Wolverine system on a slow speed grinder.

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John Moody
Site Administrator


John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

I really like my old Tormek system but it does have it limitations.

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Lew Kauffman-
Wood Turners Forum Host

Time traveler. Purveyor of the world's finest custom rolling pins!

 I hold the thing to be ground in my hands.  Then either at the  pedestal grinder or on a stone I apply the work to the abrasive and  stroke or hold  it  ot manipulate it appropriately.

On the grinder Drill bits must be rotated and moved through the pass  knives strokes along the wheel chisels lightly applied without moving them much, lathe tools manipulated pursuant to the geometry desired.

On the flat stone  the drill is  largely the same.  Hold in the hand and stroke without allowing the work to wobble.

 Don't be fooled by the beautiful, even, perfectly symmetrical results that some very expensive lathe tool sharpening gizmos produce.  You really don't need that  kind of  grinding precision.   It looks great, but it's awfully expensive prettiness and not a lot more.  In use the tool is held in the hand and manipulated accordingly.

I don't like  abrasive paper.

I used to laugh with derision at the mirror polish guys  until I tried it.   I was blown away.

Now I finish my edges with a 4 foot long hunk of wood and some 3-M autobody polishing compound I got in a big black poly bottle for under $20.00.  It'll  last me forever . I squirt a dab on the wood  clamp it in a vice at an angle and using my body to get a long stroke I use the whole length in smooth even strokes till it's a mirror.

The edge this produces is astonishing in the cut quality and  it lasts and lasts.