Sharp chisel

[Uncle Alvah]

I'm wondering if the folks on here sharpen their chisels "freehand" or if many/most prefer a jig or fixture of some sort. I have come to realize my chisels are not as sharp as they need to be. I gotta fix that.

[David Price]

Uncle Alvah,
If you are going to Dixon's, bring one of your chisels or gouges with you.  I will personally sharpen it for you and show you how in just a few minutes.

David Price

[Rolf]

I recommend http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=51868&cat=1,43072,43078&ap=1
Fool proof. Works Perfect on chizels.

Best regards
Rolf

[Scota4570]

I use the diamond stones that came with my engraving tools.  Those stones are expensive but worth every penny.  Those go from 280 to 2000 grit.  After that I use a piece of leather glued to a piece of wood, charged with jeweler's rouge. 

The angle is not critical.  I use different angles, depending on what I am sharpening.  A chisel to be tapped with a hammer is going to be a steeper angle than one that will only be pushed by hand.  Keep the flat side of the chisel dead flat.  Never be tempted to tilt it and take a stroke on the stone, just rub it flat on the stone. 

I use my knuckles to tell where I am at, angle wise.  Maintaining the same angle through the series of stones does nothing special.  It is a good idea to be deliberate and make a neatly formed edge though.  What is important is that the cutting edge is fully honed by each progressive grit.  I start a fairly shallow angle and come up a little every time I go finer. Knocking the burr off the end with the strop is important to a long lasting edge. 

Katana swords are sharpened this way.  The progressive angle makes a stronger, better supported, edge.  It also creates a wedging action that stretches the material about to be cut.  That makes the edge work easier and last longer. 

I always had a knack for sharpening stuff.  I am sure others' opinions will wary.  What I do works for me. 

[Ray Settanta]

In the past I could not learn how to sharpen freehand so I used the guided honing system from Lee Valley and/or the cheaper one from Robert Larson. Then I bought the Work Sharp 3000 and it worked very well. I think freehand is the easiest way to go but if a person is just not able to maintain a consistent angle then a jig works well. BTW, I don't know how or why but this past year something just clicked and I was able to learn how to sharpen my chisels freehand. Only took 60 years of effort.

[g2608671@verizon.net]

Uncle Alvah,
If you are going to Dixon's, bring one of your chisels or gouges with you.  I will personally sharpen it for you and show you how in just a few minutes.

David Price

I'd like to see this too Dave.  Will be there on Saturday.

[Bill Raby]

   Scota4570 is right. But DMT makes diamond stones up to 8000 grit. Strop with leather glued to wood. For jewelers rouge use Zam. Don't use the red rouge. Red is great for gold and silver and such, but does not work on hard metals. But what works a whole lot better is 14,000 grit diamond powder mixed with grease. That will get your chisels very,very sharp. You can get diamond powder up to 200,000 grit, but no point in using is for sharpening steel. After 14,000 anything finer is not going to make a difference.

   Just as important is to get good chisels. The harder the metal, the sharper you can get it. Think of how sharp you can get a pine blade compared to one of those diamond blade scalpels that surgeons use. Problem is that harder blades are more brittle. They chip easier. So they start making them of different alloys and tempers and such to make them more durable. And expensive. You can get a set of a dozen carving chisels for about $10 on Amazon. They work great for mixing paint. I really like the Pfeil chisels. Those are probably the best ones that you can get and they are worth every penny. Lots of pennies! They cost a lot. Get one or two every pay day and eventually you have a nice set that your grand kids will be using into old age.

   I learned how to sharpen freehand. I tried one of those jigs once and I hated it. Got in the way more than anything else. But I know a lot of people like them. Jigs are probably easier to learn with, but freehand is better if you are good at it. I suppose it all comes down to what you get used to.

   One more thing on strops. Get a bunch of different size wooden dowels. Wrap them in leather and glue them to a board a inch or so apart. Use that to strop the inside of gouges.

[SingleMalt]

Some of you will cringe at my technique.  I use a buffing wheel at low speed with red compound.  I only use stones rarely.  When starting with stones, color the bevel with a marker, to help establish the correct bevel.

[Bill Raby]

Some of you will cringe at my technique.  I use a buffing wheel at low speed with red compound.  I only use stones rarely.  When starting with stones, color the bevel with a marker, to help establish the correct bevel.

   I am not cringing. I am SCREAMING!!!!

[Waksupi]

I do chisels by hand. Get them sharp enough, I was able to put a 3/8" skew chisel completely through a forefinger this past winter! No pain, quick healing. Bled like $#*!, though.

I do initial sharpening with Arkansas stones or diamond, and finish with a leather strop mounted on a board, treated with Simichrome

[Hemo]

Uncle Alvah,
If you are going to Dixon's, bring one of your chisels or gouges with you.  I will personally sharpen it for you and show you how in just a few minutes.

David Price

I can vouch for David Price's sharpening system and his presentation at Dixon's. He also sells a nice illustrated book on sharpening. He uses a long block of wood with inset stones of progressively finer grits side by side, and a guide next to the stones to keep a consistent angle. I built one of these and use it regularly--works great on both chisels and round gouges.

Gregg

[P.W.Berkuta]

I recommend http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=51868&cat=1,43072,43078&ap=1
Fool proof. Works Perfect on chizels.

Best regards
Rolf

I use one of these also for my straight chisels when I first sharpen them. I then free hand to touch up the edge when the edge gets bad then I use the guide again - it is a VERY good guide I also recommend it.

[SingleMalt]

Some of you will cringe at my technique.  I use a buffing wheel at low speed with red compound.  I only use stones rarely.  When starting with stones, color the bevel with a marker, to help establish the correct bevel.

   I am not cringing. I am SCREAMING!!!!

   

[P.W.Berkuta]

Uncle Alvah,
If you are going to Dixon's, bring one of your chisels or gouges with you.  I will personally sharpen it for you and show you how in just a few minutes.

David Price

Here is Dave showing me his way of sharpening a chisel at Dixons one year

[PPatch]

Alvah - watch this video by Paul Sellers on Chisel sharpening...



Don't get all hung up on angle, as long as you are in the ballpark you're fine. Teach yourself to do it by eye and by hand, it is so much quicker than messing with mechanical angle finders or whatever. Once you learn you won't need or desire any crunches. Also once you've sharpened a chisel all you then need do to maintain its edge is strop it when you feel it getting less sharp, which means when you find yourself using more and more muscle to make the cuts.  To strop make one by gluing an old belt, rough side up, to a pine board and charge it with green polishing compound.

I use DMT brand double-sided diamond plates for initial shaping and then sharpening to a good edge, I then use a fine stone to begin the honing stage, and finally go to two homemade strops for final polishing (one strop has gray the other green compound). My complete sharpening setup is shown in the picture below.



Learn to do it by hand and you will be able to the chore forever after.

dave

[elkhorne]

Dave,
Looks like you found a set of the chisels Paul Sellers uses in his YouTube demonstration. Did not catch the brand but they must be available around the states somewhere. Very good presentation.
elkhorne

[PPatch]

Dave,
Looks like you found a set of the chisels Paul Sellers uses in his YouTube demonstration. Did not catch the brand but they must be available around the states somewhere. Very good presentation.
elkhorne

They are my workhorse bench chisels and chinese made. Very inexpensive but take an edge and work just fine. My sister gifted me the whole set for christmas seven or eight years ago. She couldn't remember where on the internet she obtained them.

I did notice that my one Three Cherries 3/8s chisel will take a slightly better edge.

dave

[Ray Settanta]

Dave,
Looks like you found a set of the chisels Paul Sellers uses in his YouTube demonstration. Did not catch the brand but they must be available around the states somewhere. Very good presentation.
elkhorne

The chisels Paul Sellers talks about are the Workzone brand from the Aldi supermarket chain. I bought a set two years ago for about $6.

[jerrywh]

 I sometimes check my chisels under the microscope.  They often are not as sharp as you think. 

[Bill Raby]

I sometimes check my chisels under the microscope.  They often are not as sharp as you think.

   I have done that also. The trick is to use diamond powder on the strop. Gets chisels sharper than you ever thought possible.

[Eric Krewson]

What grit on the diamond powder?

[Mike Brooks]

I sometimes check my chisels under the microscope.  They often are not as sharp as you think.

Yep, I'm looking at stuff through my microscope all the time, couldn't build a gun with out it.....

[WadePatton]

I sometimes check my chisels under the microscope.  They often are not as sharp as you think.

Using a microscope is how I found that feeling a bevel is the quickest and simplest way to make sure the bevels creating the edge have fully converged.  No thing is properly sharp until the edges fully converge.

It may cut and get a given bit of work done, but it won't be fully sharp. 

Use the tools you have, it only takes fingers to feel a burr. 

[Bill Raby]

What grit on the diamond powder?

   Use 14,000 grit. You can get it up to 200,000 grit but there is no point to that. Steel can only get so sharp. Anything finer than 14,000 grit is just going to make it take a long time with no better results.

[WadePatton]

What grit on the diamond powder?

   Use 14,000 grit. You can get it up to 200,000 grit but there is no point to that. Steel can only get so sharp. Anything finer than 14,000 grit is just going to make it take a long time with no better results.

Finer grits do not change the bevel, or "sharpness," they only change the finish on the bevels--which is usually only important when the cut surface will be finished as cut-such as engraving or carving.