Sharpening angle

[hortonstn]

What angle are most wood carving flat chisels sharpened to ?

[G_T]

There isn't going to be a single answer to that question. The harder the wood, and the more forceful the carving action, the fatter the wedge needs to be to have good durability.

Perhaps this link will be of some use: https://www.highlandwoodworking.com/woodcarving/2-sharpeningCarvingTools.pdf

Gerald

[David Rase]

I sharpen most of my flat chisels at 15 degrees.  I then add a secondary or "micro" bevel so I have a heel to use as a fulcrum. The fulcrum serves two purposes, one it burnishes the wood when I am grounding my carving and two it works as a pivot to control the depth of my cuts.
David   

[Rich]

I sharpen flat chisels at 25 degrees with a micro bevel of 30 degrees. Curved gouges 20 degrees with a 25 degree micro bevel. Same reason Dave gave for the micro bevels.

[Craig Wilcox]

I must be a "middle of the road" guy - I use 20* on most, and again with the micro bevel.  I do use a Veritas angle setter and roller jig, on diamond plates to 2,000.  I have 3M abrasive films running on up to 8,000, but very rarely use them.  I hone on leather, one with Simichrome, the other with Fabuluster.

[WadePatton]

I sharpen by feel as Paul Sellers teaches, to a flat bevel, no micro bevels on single-bevel edges, but fully polished. 

[Dan Fruth]

The greater the angle the more force required to make the cut....Woodworkers use 25-30 degrees for mallet driven chisels, and 15-20 degrees for hand guided work...Just a rule of thumb...

[Jerry]

I sharpen most of my flat chisels at 15 degrees.  I then add a secondary or "micro" bevel so I have a heel to use as a fulcrum. The fulcrum serves two purposes, one it burnishes the wood when I am grounding my carving and two it works as a pivot to control the depth of my cuts.
David
David Rase, Excellent advice. Jerry

[JohnnyFM]

What Wade said. I’m a rookie carver (read stupid) so I want to keep it simple.  Works for me.

[Fowler610]

I hone on leather, one with Simichrome, the other with Fabuluster.

I tried stropping with Formax micro fine honing compound (active ingredient is titanium dioxide) but it does not want to bond to the leather strop.  Must be for wheels only.  Craig, do you apply Simichrome directly to the strop?   Never heard of Fabuluster.  How about aluminum dioxide?   

I'll redo my chisels to 15 degrees.  Maybe that's why I was having difficulty with my sharp chisels--I sharpened them at 30 degrees with my Veritas machine.  Love this stuff! 

[Craig Wilcox]

Fowler, I keep different compounds on different strops.  Son makes rifle slings, has some scraps that I just glue to a piece of board.
Fabuluster is a white compound that jewelers use on their polishing buffs.  Works pretty good on tool steel.  Comes in a tube and is rather hard.  Rub it hard into the leather.  On a buff, apply it to the spinning buffing wheel.
 And yes, on the Simichrome strop, I just put some on the leather, then buff it in by stropping the chisels.  I have used Mother's Mag Wheel polish in the past, works pretty good.
Jewelers rouge is good for polishing soft metals, like brass or gold.
Aluminum oxide is what is on my sandpaper.  Speaking of which, 3M makes polishing films of various fineness, and I have several that I use.  I use diamond plates and the Veritas gauge for shaping whatever angle bevel the tool calls for, in 300, 600, 1200 and 2000.  Then the films go on up to 8,000.  Not much need for more than 4000, but the films will do a great job of polishing that edge for you.  I think Gesswein has a sample package of the films so you can try them out.
Don't cut yourself!

[Fowler610]

Appreciate the advice, Craig.  Thank you.   And thanks to Hortonstn for asking the question.