Ok, thanks to a $2 purchase over the weekend, and a package from Okinawa, Japan...I now have the biggie chisels to ad to my set of Mortise Chisels..

The short one is a Japanese 12mm ( 1/2"?) and the longer one is a Buck Brothers 3/8" chisel   Someone had ground the bevel BADLY on the BB chisel..

I haven't touched the Japanese one, no need.   The BB one will take a while to regrind.    needs a 25 Main bevel, with a 35 secondary  at the edge.   They had it at 45 degrees!  Backs are different as well..

Japanese chisels tend to have a hollow , the BB is supposed to be flat.....might take a bit..

Sooo, here is my set of Mortise Chisels.   Notice there is no motor attached to these.   Mallet to drive them is in the background....

Hey Steve, my humble opinion, but I would not do a secondary bevel on a mortising chisel, I would carry the primary bevel all the way. The beating a Mortising chisel takes, it would be best to have just one edge, the main wedge is all you really need. You go putting a secondary bevel on those chisels, the edge life is shortened considerably.

That being said, I am a huge proponent of no micro bevel! That's just me. I think they are worthless, the only benefit you get is a quicker sharpening time during lapping or honing. But you trade that for holding an edge longer, the micro bevels actually weaken the edge.

Now keep in mind, you been doing this a long time, you got your reasons and I respect that. My opinion is, well you know, the old saying, we all got one. I'm not questioning your process, just throwing my opinions out there is all!

The thing with the two bevels.....then you go back and blend the two into a single, slightly round bevel....convex.   Chips tend to fly up out of there, until you get a little deeper.   I have to have my glasses on doing those finger joints, as the chips will fly up and out..straight back at me....

 

never tried a micro bevel, even on the planes.....

36 minutes ago, steven newman said:

never tried a micro bevel, even on the planes.....

About the only time a micro bevel or secondary bevel is even thought to be beneficial on a plane blade is if the plane iron is 1/8th of an inch thick or less. Because with an iron that thin, (stock irons on Bailey's) it's hard to sharpen with a single bevel since the wedge face is so small, you have a very small reference surface to ride on the stone. So a second bevel or micro bevel is beneficial, possibly.

I agree with ya, no bevels on planes either, even the Lie Nielsen planes ship with a single bevel iron, there's a reason for that. They don't do micros, macros, secondary or any of that happy pappy fancy stuff.

 

Let me state though, sharpening and the angle of the bevels is a very personal thing, ultimately what works for a woodworker, is what they should use, regardless of what the zen gurus say about all this.

 

I don't even use a sharpening jig or honing guide, I prefer to freehand sharpen. Been through a few jigs in my life, but I always come back to how ol Dad taught me to sharpen in his lil ol one car garage shop 40 years ago, by site, by hand.