Hey thanks for all the great information. I'm still a little stuck on the 30° 25° bevel. If I have a 25° plane or chisel why should I bevel it to 30 on the edge and not just change the whole angle? Thanks, Jerome.
Just a +1 reply promoting the wish in my comment below to compare your results to the Unicorn method… shoulda put my comment here in the first place. Thanks!
What about this contraption? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-w3Y1AANySk.html He gets his chisels down to low 80's on the sharpness meter. And quick, fast, and in a hurry. I ordered two because I got to try it. I would love to see you put this through the durability test.
What's you lead time for Canadian orders (Alberta)? I can't find Scary Sharp films from any of my usual sources, and the cheapest result from Amazon Canada is three times your price. (I don't think the exchange rate is quite that bad!)
I remember a forum post once where some scientist who had access to an electron microscope showed how a blade looked at different points in the sharpening process at smaller-than-light-waves scale. Now *that* would make for a cool video, if you could track down a scientist with electron microscope access!
Awesome book that gives you step-by-step photos ru-vid.comUgkxTNB_zFBSnTo_O1PqfVUwgi7ityw0JlKt and directions to make every day project. I can see myself making a few of these projects and giving them as housewarming and holiday gifts!
I’ve been preaching 3 diamond stones: coarse, medium, extra fine, then strop for years. Strop every so often and you rarely have to actually resharpen. I’m glad this video validates what I believed to be true after years of application. Good video bud
As I watched the video I agreed with 3rd coast craftsman. Like all a mature woodworkers you go through all the systems and can only say the 3 to 4 diamond plates with leather strop is the most efficient and best option, particularly for above average woodworker. It,s not expensive, clean up is minimal and quick, Particularly when your woodworking time is limited, and you get great results. I don’t see myself ever changing. And I can get shavings down to .0005 to .001 and shave hairs. I believe that’s all one needs to get through your projects using most common hardwoods. This video is excellent and I watched many of your other great videos over the years. Thank you for taking the time (plus the cost) to produce this great video. Keep up the great work!
I love the way you do these in depth tests on things like this. That said, I do think that a good rule of thumb is that, if there is a lot of debate about how best to do a thing, then it probably doesn’t actually matter and it is, as you say, “whatever works for you.” There’s no debate about which end of the chisel is sharp because that question has a specific answer: there’s lots of debate about how to get the chisel sharp, because lots of different methods get good results.
This rule of thumb also applies internally to your own brain! I've struggled with indecisiveness for most of my life, until one day it suddenly clicked that I was getting stuck on certain decisions precisely *because* they didn't matter 😅 Since that epiphany I've saved probably entire days of wasted time by learning to recognise when it's happening, flipping a coin (or telling Google/Siri/Alexa to flip one for me), and immediately going with whatever the coin tells me... Or suddenly realising that I don't want to do what the coin tells me, in which case hey, I still made a decision 😎
@@clawsoon OP's observation works for situations where many people have real experience with different methods, and they all give good results. i doubt many people can claim to have real experience with raising children (doing it, prefferably a lot, AND correctly evaluating the results). it's statistically a one or two time thing for most people, and, talking results, only about half of all adults end up being able to form healthy emotional attachments. i'd definitely not throw parenting in the "doesn't matter, turns out fine anyway" bucket. i think it's more psychology vs dogma and indolence.
Since you have a Tormek it would have been interesting to see how the stropping wheel compared to the other alternatives 🙂 With my carving knives I usually just touch up the edge on that 2-3 times a day and find it being good enough. Sometimes I use a small fine diamond “stone” when the blade starts to feel dull.
This video came up in my feed for some reason so I decided to watch. All I can say is after watching I am compelled to sharpen something. Great presentation and interaction.
Interesting and it concords with experience. I have concluded after many years of trying different systems that the best option is to buy a Tormek first and never use anything else. It would be good to see a test of the sharpness you can achieve there.
As merely a hobbyist, sharpening is the last thing I want to spend a lot of $$ and time on. I bought the scary sharp after one of your previous videos and this just reinforced what a great decision that was. Thanks so much for the science of it!
Yes, but did you test Tibetan yak strops from only the left hind leg of an ovulating female yak in August? I bet it will be sharper. I only buy my strops from Lars Äkerman who conditions the yak strops in his BDSM workshops in Sweden. Never had a sharper chisel!
My father used to sharpen buck knives for hunters (he owned a small engine repair shop) and he would start with any major reshaping on a grinder, then move to a pair of stones, then to a piece of cardboard with compound. His final step was jeweller’s rouge on a flannel wheel to polish it up, but he told me often about a hard leather wheel he used to have for a bench grinder. Even without the hard leather wheel, he would often let the weight of the blade slide down his forearm and shave the hair off when gave it to the customer. The right person could sharpen a spork into a scalpel if they are dedicated, but it might only make one cut.
If you strop the beveled side first (on soft leather), starting with a 25-degree main grind, then the "round over" may simply add that "five degree" "microbevel" to the blade geometry. Very often you hear folks described an edge as the intersection of two planes. In reality, one plane maybe defined by a really flat back, while the other is the _tangent_ of the arc of the "rounded over" bevel. As long as that intersection is very acute, and very clean, you have a sharp edge. Paul Sellers makes this point, but the geometry versus material surfaces is pretty clear once you think about it. And, most importantly, as you note, you don't need anything but occasional stropping for quite a long time before you _need_ to tackle using stones again. I've eased off on how fine the stones I use are, and now rarely push beyond 1200 on a diamond stone. After stropping, the hair flies off the arm. For knives, I will work up to an 8,000 grit waterstone. Cooking needs much sharper edges than wood working.
I subscribe to Suman too… I love the collaborations you’ve been doing with Jason and now with Suman! Lots of respect and admiration for the WW community and the great info youall provide us!
How long will the Scary Sharp films last? Is there a good/easy indication of when they are no longer performing as expected and need to be replaced? Great video, very informative!
Go and watch the videos by Matthew Platt from Workshop Heaven he knows more about Scary Sharp than anybody alive. I've been using Scary Sharp for over a decade and am a dedicated hand tool craftsman. I probably change the five grits I use 5 times a year and I use hand tools almost everyday in my work. But I get 3 strips out of every A4 sheet. One time purchase of a piece of float glass for about £40 and a good honing guide and some sheets of lapping film and you are good to go.
As a Scary Sharp user, there is no right answer to this. It's going to depend on how often you sharpen, how hard you press down, whether you are back flattening new chisels/plane blades, and how many different tools you are sharpening on them. I change my paper about 2-4 times per year, but I resharpen on the SS probably once every 2 days, and then just strop while I am actually doing the work. I just like to reset the edge before a session. However, I usually start at the 1000 or 1200, the light blue or yellow, so the dark green and blue last longer, as I use them less. I also usually only need to do 5-10 strokes on the higher grits, and sometimes I even skip a grit if I am in a hurry. It also depends on whether you are just doing a micro bevel each time, or doing a larger surface area on the tool. The only ways to really tell are 1.) Is your steel leaving dark marks still? That is metal coming off, so if no metal is coming off, you probably are going to need to change the paper. 2.) Is it taking a lot more strokes to get the edge sharp? If you suddenly find yourself doing 50 strokes, it's probably time to change that paper. The way I generally tell is by going on the light blue/yellow until I get a bur, then using a sharpie and marking the very tip of the edge before each next grit, and going for about 3 strokes after the sharpie is removed. If it is not removing the sharpie, either your angle is off, or it is not removing material. It's not an exact science, so there really is no clear answer for everyone. There is certainly a trade off with the SS, because if you do go through a lot of paper, it's going to add up over time. I think there is a case to buy nicer stones to do the earlier grits, up to maybe 1200 or 2000, or whatever, then doing the rest on the scary sharp. Your stones won't need replacing if they are nice, so you save money there, and your paper of higher grits will last longer, as there is less to remove.
Great work, guys! When I found what worked for me in terms of ease, sharpness, and time, I stuck with it. It's sharpening three grits (400, 800, 1200) on diamond stones and stropping a few times on hard leather with green stropping compound. That's what I consider sharpening, otherwise it's 1200 and strop, or just stropping to touch up, which I consider honing. Oh, almost forgot! Not every tool is the same. Inspired from some discussions in the Rex Krueger community I tried honing my Mora knife on a slate stone instead of leather, which gave me a much better result that regular stropping.
Gotta say, honing is sharpening, the word hone literally means sharpen. But yes, I totally agree, taking up to 3k, 5k, 10k, etc. is all pretty pointless. Most really use is 220-600 grit, with a black compound on strop (IF I STROP). My blades will easily shave hair. Grit doesn't make sharpness. Touching up on hard abrasives is good, can't accidentally 'overstrop' on a stone, and prevents the issues that come with it (to much convexivity, rounding of the apex.)
@@autumn5592 Yes, I know, it's a bit of a personal use of the words, I guess. Which isn't the best of ideas 😅 But I'm trying to differentiate between full on sharpening and touching up, which I just did now 😂
Hey guys, thanks for putting this video out. So much work just to make the point to not worry to much. But yeah that's what at least I needed to hear, to somehow find trust in what I do already.
Great video and very helpful. On my own I have noted that stropping seems to be the key; but I always feel like I need to pull out the stones as well. You have saved me a lot of time and effort!
@@philshock3805 it’s good to keep in mind- all of these options got the blades sharp enough to do nice clean paper cut and shavings. I still use my Shaptons and will use them for my shop. But our testing equipment has more sensitivity than paper cut and shaving tests to give a better indication of which ones works well and let folks decide what their value proposition is. I still have 16k and 30k stones in my shop but probably am not going to be using them becaus the effort isn’t worthwhile.
It’s only April but I’m pretty sure this is the video of the year for me. I love how a rigorous approach can cut through opinion and point to an effective method. My biggest takeaways: 1. I’m potentially sharpening too often; and 2. My current system of 1000 grit diamond stone + 4000 grit Shapton glass stone + leather strop with green compound is effective enough for all situations. I have a set of scary sharp paper, too, but I do like the longevity of the diamond and glass stones. In any case, thank you for posting this!
Feel like you did the shaptons a disservice. You only have the stones that are higher than you should really care about. Personally, I like diamond up to like 1200, then shapton at 4k and 12k (i have a 8k for back lapping too, but don't normally use it) then stropping. Also curious how jende type strops and compounds work out.
I’m sure those stones are great. Our point was the the 30k shapton stone isn’t worth it. I love their lower grit stones and they are very high quality.
Interesting… Paul Sellers who is pushing 80 has been preaching the three stones, course - medium - fine and then stopping with the green stuff for over 6 decades.
Bought a piece of float glass from a local glass shop, they asked if I wanted the edge cleaned up or not. Didn't cost any extra, but if you're going that route, I'd definitely recommend doing it! Makes the edge smooth and safe to handle, you can't cut yourself on it. 12"x12" was about $20, thickness was 1/2" I think. Might go higher, like 5/8" or 3/4", if I were to buy again.
Hi Johnathan, GREAT video, seriously. Excellently well done. However, I have a small technical correction on something you said at the 19:30-ish mark where you were talking about both float and tempered glass. So if you're glass chipped, it was not tempered. Float glass can be tempered, but it is not by default tempered. Float glass is made by pouring glass over molten potassium. The glass is lighter than the tin (corrected from earlier wrongly listed metal, thank you @GB Expat Cornishman) and floats on top while hardening as it gets cooler. The potassium "lake" is very flat and provides very flat glass. Tempering can be done in several ways, but most commonly (such as in car windows), cold air is aggressively blown on the surface when the glass is very hot. This causes the outside surface (on both sides) to contract and compress the glass in the middle. For example, if the glass is compressed (say) 10,000 l/si on the outside, it takes >10,000 l/si to cause enough deflection to break the glass. Plus, the tempered glass breaks into small rectangular solids that are much safer than large shards of glass. Next time you pass a car accident, pull over and examine the side or read windows; you can see this. Windshields (the front window) are laminated glass and not tempered. When it breaks, the plastic lamination holds all the pieces so they do not fly around into the face of the driver or passenger. I was a scientific glassblower for over 40 years, demonstrating these dynamics to many groups and organizations and have written extensively on glass, glass physics, and glass chemistry.
@@katzmosestools Actually, the origin story is more complex then a super villain: I was getting my BS in Oceanography but was directing a Hungarian dance troupe and needed some customization of some glassware. I took a 1-unit class in scientific glassblowing. The chem professor who taught the class suggested I think about doing that for a job and it became a wonderful career. Any other glass questions, just ask. I may have answers.
@@chrisjordan4210 Haha. Of course. And it's all Newton's fault for inventing Calculus to work out rounded areas by cutting them into smaller and smaller bits. So don't blame me; blame Newton!!
@@nonexman Yep, I was only thinking of the imperfections introduced by Newton's model of gravity, of course, to sharpen an edge tool properly we need to factor in General Relativity..."frame dragging" etc...or maybe like using those really fine stones we're losing the plot as JKM said (and to think I used to enjoy woodworking)😊😊. Now, where's that old oil stone?
Something that is often overlooked on this subject is the type of cut the blade is used for: ** A chisel is most often used with it's cutting edge at 90 degrees to the direction of cut. Working the edge with the finer grit abrasives is good. ** A knife or other tool that is actually drawn across the material being cut can work better if it has a microscopically serated edge, such as that left by an abrasive that is not so fine. (Especially cross-cutting, in a material with grain.) The thinking is that the knife is working as a saw. Imagine a table-saw blade without teeth... no matter how finely honed the edge is, getting it through a two-by-four might take a while! 😜
@@autumn5592 : That has not been my experience... I am talking about stopping at 1000 to 1500 grit, as opposed to continuing to 8000 or higher. I am only talking about crosscutting. Your mileage may differ... that's fine by me.
@@PiefacePete46 I sharpen my tools to 220 grit mostly, I have never once seen this 'microserrated' edge that people seem to be convinced is real. My woodwork tools and knives shave hair easily, basically no pressure on the hair, and no noise. There is not much difference in cut initiation, and there is minimal effect on cut finish. Hight variance on the apex of a blade does exist, but it is random (does not correlate with grit), and is a 2-3 microns difference. It will not 'tear through material easier' it will not initate a cut easier, it does nothing.
7:36 I may be a little early and you could answer this later in the video, but isn’t the 25 vs 30 degree bevel argument about speed to maintain the edge and the improvement in cutting because of the angle? You could have a 5 degree bevel and achieve the same sharpness, but the cutting would not be good in the plane for durability. More plainly, does the micro bevel angle have merit in the real world even though it doesn’t improve the measured sharpness? Maybe a future video to tackle is, how the attack angle changes the durability and cut quality for certain tools. Or the science behind certain choices for blades. I would love to watch some extended content slowing down the frame rate and watching a full kerf ripping blade and having you explain the difference in how it works over a crosscut blade. Or showing a zoomed in view of a bandsaw blade doing curved with different tooth sets.
Long before all these modern sharpening contraptions, carpenters, timber framers, swordsmen, woodsmen, frontiersmen and others had to maintain their edged tools for maximum effectiveness. Thus I figure, it can't be too complicated, and that frequent sharpening is more important than "perfect" sharpening. I'll need to watch this tomorrow but look forward to seeing it. Update after watching - this fits my rather ameteur conclusion - use your favorite stone type up through the grits, then strop, and forget about it. Don't get too obsessive, but make sure its reasonably sharp and get some work done. Sounds like after a lot of cool science you found the same thing. I think I have Paul Sellers to credit for this logic.
Overall it seems to me that a lot of people make things very complicated. There are so many videos about tools and sharpening. Then there are those with lots and lots of power tools. I'd say the tools are rarely what keeps you from making something. It's mostly our laziness and our skills. Lots of great work has been done over thousands of years without all the stuff we have today. No need to sharpen tools to crazy grids. Even just going to 400 is pretty workable already. Depends on what you want to do. Sharpen or wood working.
The only thing I would correct in this video is JKM said you need to soak water stones. That's not true because there are many "splash and go" water stones that don't need to be soaked. I'm def NOT arguing in favor of water stones. Just making an informational correction for those who are interested in going that route.
Trend diamond stone, 300 one side, 1000 the other side, plus a strop. That's it. No films or plates or glass or buckets of water or...just one everlasting stone and a piece of leather glued to a chunk of wood.
As a wood carver I can say the only time I sharpen with anything other than a strop is when there is damage to a blade other than that it's a strop only.
holy shit 8 different grits you'll be sharpening all day and need a whole shelf for the crap. You don't need that. I can get a mirror finish on a sharp bevel edge with just 3 grits, or 2 plus stropping. Ridiculous.
IMO. Sharpening is like buying cars. When you tell anyone what you paid there was always a better deal out there. If it works, then just be happy with the deal you got.
End result: how well does the edge cut the wood. A blade at 150 may cleanly slice cherry or maple end grain but just shmushes and pushes over pine end grain.
I'm a strong believer of use what you have. I have a 40 year old oil stone, works fine. I'd rather have a sharp enough tool that will work than worry about perfection that performs the same. Sharpen quickly and get back to work
My issue with oil stones is keeping them flat takes more time than I’m willing to spend. I can use abrasives on glass and get a sharper edge with less overall time spent. Find a system you’re comfortable with and enhance it as needed.
@@raymondbunkofske4702Oil stones don't take long to flatten, some SiC grain on a bit of glass, or super coarse diamond stone will make them flat pretty quick, and they don't go out of flat very often.
It looks like you used the shapton stones as a sharpening stone, going back and forth with the blade. Did you also test what happens if you just use the highest one as a strop(only pulling it back)?
Yeah the whole final 14 minutes was done using that method. The Broll of Suman sharpening on the Shapton was not how the test was done. The testing parameters are on the text screen in that section and described in the first or second section
Love the vid, really do....question: how would Autosol (toothpaste style black and gold tube) polishing paste hold up against green polishing compound? Would really love to know your opinion. What about standard Stanley irons? Any tests on those....or would the consensus be (more or less) the same?
Hmm...... Interesting. I have a friend who is a very curious woodturner, and he said to use kangaroo hide for stropping because it doesn't compress, which would round over the edges.... I have several people I have to share this with....
The main advantage of the Shapton glass stones over traditional water stones is that they don't require soaking. You can just splash some water on them and use them. But yeah, I don't buy into any super high grit stones. My only issue with the "scary sharp" system is that it's great for chisels and plane blades, but if you're also sharpening knives, it can be difficult to get it set up in a good form for that use. There are plenty of good stone setups for knives. That said, aside from my really nice, expensive Japanese knives, I sharpen most of my knives using a sanding belt system (I use a Work Sharp), which is pretty much just "scary sharp" on steroids.
I'll point out good water stones don't need to be soaked! Ex. Naniwa super stones, shapton pro. They are marketed as "splash n' go". The shapton glass stones are just higher quality, wear slower, and are glass backed! Hope that helps
@@Haydt456 Certainly a lot of the modern ones don't, by popular demand, but there are still soaking stones that are good and have been used for decades. I'm impatient, though. Plus, it's a hassle to soak stones just to touch up one knife, and keeping them submerged all the time seems to make some stones less effective, IMO -- and a pain to store that way. And also not mentioned, there's not enough love for traditional "Arkansas stones" aka whetstones or oil stones. I don't use them much, but my father used to get some great edges on a simple 2-sided whetstone with a little machine oil, holding both the stone and the knife in his hands. Great skill to have in the field, and a decent oil-soaked whetstone is an entire field kit on its own and can last decades.
As my Mentor said about sharpening, keep it simple.. I use good quality Diamond plates. 300 for rejuvenating bevel, 600 to establish the edge, 1200 to form the burr then strop on hard leather with Chromium Oxide compound.. No need to pfaff about.
I'd invite you to research the cost of Sahapton Stones. The 30,000 grit Stone you indicated was $400 is in fact, $221.75 USD or approximately half of what you indicated. (Northwest Passage Tools - (amounts indicated are CDN dollars)
I don’t live in Canada but I paid $318 on Amazon which I say later in the video. Either way, I wouldn’t buy it again for any amount t of money. Just doesn’t add anything to the process.
Sharpening with 30000 grit is so time consuming, before reaching completely finished surface, that I would personally take Rob's advice and use it just to create a tertiary bevel.
I don’t doubt the science behind your tests but you did miss one critical element and that is how much do you value your time. With my shapton stones I am able to sharpen top to bottom, you can’t do that with sandpaper. Sure it saves a bunch of money and I cringed when I saw my total of shapton stones, but the cost of labor saved by quickly resharpening and getting back to work justified the added expense.
How often do you need to replace the paper? I would be interested to see if dollar for dollar a diamond stone or water stone is actually more expensive than replacing those scary sharp films. Maybe not if you actually sharpen less often, or maybe if you sharpen less often a set of stones could last you a lifetime and you could just hit some higher grits with the scary sharp when you wanted that level of sharpness
Thank you for these objective tests! I already knew that the obsessive fine stones up to tens of thousands which are expensive too, makes only a difference on the first 5 strokes. I use one diamond stone: 300 / 1000 then leather lapping, for me it does the job, no need for anything else.
Two of my favorite people talking about something I love, what could be better than that? But seriously, great video you guys! Loved the approach and final result 🤗
Cool video and I can appreciate the ton of effort that went into it. At the beginning, what is sharp is defined as being able to effortlessly cut printer paper (~140 g or less) and it’s stated that this is usually good enough for woodworking. This seems a bit arbitrary and it’s not clear why ‘effortlessly cutting printer paper’ is the standard for ‘woodworking sharp’. It would be ideal to examine the surface of planed wood and use it as a measure of what’s required for sharpness - it might be difficult to quantitate the ‘smoothness’ of planed wood - and this is very likely wood species dependent. For the 30 degree vs 25 degree bevel angle, it would have been cool to see a plot of number of strokes planed on wood vs grams of quantitated sharpness. You could then directly compare the plots of 25 vs 30 degree bevel for a better comparison of sharpness longevity as it relates to bevel angle - this might require more than three points as done here (10, 50, 100 strokes).
We’re on the same page. 140 is arbitrary. And what is “good enough”? Ever plane Honduran mahogany with “good enough”? Bloodwood? Or domestically, hickory. The idea of going literal hundreds of passes without needing to sharpen or only stropping is ludicrous. I’m pretty sure “whatever sharpening method works for you” is a euphemism for “whatever your standards are”.
Excellent video. These comparisons are invaluable. I've found that with diamond stones it makes a big difference if you get one with very fine grit. DMT's "Extra Extra Fine Diamond Stone" has particles that are only 3 microns, which is as fine as anything in the video. I have one, and it works very well. Plus it provides all the other advantages you mentioned. You do have to rinse it periodically to eliminate swarf. I would love to see you put it through your sharpness test and to see the results. FYI DMT's "Extra Fine Diamond Stone" has particle size of 9 microns. It also works well.
I've been seeing videos using that sharpness tester for years, and while it seems far better than other methods, I've always wondered how much variability there is given that you are testing a tiny section of a blade at a time. How much variance is there for a given blade if you measured the same blade 3 times, for example?
@@katzmosestools Great to hear. I imagine if your blade is well sharpened there should be little variance. I'm not great at hand/whetstone sharpening though. I have recently started using the KME system and it has solved most of my problems with sharpening. I did ask Project Farm this question years ago, and although he responded he didn't really answer the question as clearly as you did. Thanks for that
The Paul Sellers video I watch five years ago nailed it. Did anyone need to sharpen to 30,000 grit to make amazing furniture? Nope. So sharpen until it’s sharp enough and just get back to work.
Now that we have the proof I will continue to use my 1000/4000 water stone payed 18$. And to avoid strop I will buy a 8000 or 10000 water stone for additional 18$. 36$ every 2 years it seems to me the perfect sharpening system. And I don't like strops: you can buy the most stiff and expensive leather in the world (shell cordovan) and still risk to round your edge. Thanks for sharing, this was very precious information.
Agreed, there is so much snake oil and BS in woodworking, almost as much as there is in car detailing products. Really appreciate all the testing JKM does.
Watched this some months ago and came back to it today. The Shapton stones have an idiosyncratic 'grit system' which needs to be considered. Their "16000 grit" is 0.92 microns. I have a 12000 grit Japanese water stone that is 0.50 microns. Not saying that they are worth more for the $$ spent. And yes, they are messy...all of them..including the 'scary sharp' method.
personally I just want something thats fast (I like my worksharp 3000) and accurate thats all. After that getting a good edge I always just press very lightly for the clean up.
Honestly speaking I would love to see your techniques on using each of the systems. I used to use shapton stones after battles with every single system I was able to find. And after 30 seconds sharpening technique from Rob Cosman I havent found anything more friendly to myself. That bring me back to conlucsion I havent heard anything about tertiary bevel in here. This video is good but got some points ready to be extended / fine tuned. Last note - what about oil stones? Are they not good? Less messy then water stones, easy to use, no rust... Lot of positives
I teach over a hundred middle school students each year. My blades on everything are constantly trashed. What 'beginner' system would you recommend for younger students to use as they learn how to find that 25/30 degree angle and not destroy the worn/damaged blades to the point where I am grinding a new edge every month or so? I think teaching them how to respect the tools and care for them will eventually allow my students to not be so careless with them. There will always be a few students out there who may not be mature enough, but as a middle school teacher, it just comes with the territory! This also means that I spend an excessive amount of time cleaning up the chips and gouges they leave me each week. I'd love to learn about a better system that may not be 1000% sharp, but that can be "good enough" for a quick and easy solution while still keeping the students focused on their goal of sharpening and caring for the equipment.
Something important to point out is that none of these results would have happened if you weren't using a guide. If you sharpen by hand, you can't be that consistent. 140 on this device is almost what a barber's shaving razor blade is.
I think too much is made of sharpening. Once you learn the basic steps, it's quite simple. If you can easily shave your arm in one pass that's all you need for wood work. All I use is a Norton oil stone with two sides. I think the fine side is 1000 grit... A little compound on a strop and a few passes, you're done. And yes I'm a professional woodworker and carpenter.
Great video! Only question I have is edge durability for chisels - when mortising into harder woods, it seems that regular sharpening is imperative but I may be wrong
I am a sharpening system collector 😃, but I've found that I like my set of DMT and Trend diamond stones (180/600, 300/1000, 8000) best, followed by using a homemade leather strop (strip of leather glued onto a scrap of oak with green compound smeared on). I can touch up a chisel or plane blade in about 2 minutes and my forearms are bald from testing the sharpness.
Didn't test oil stones but your conclusion aligns with my experience and everything I've learned from professionals that I trust... get the burr, strop, and go to work!
I found some 10 x 14 tiles at Home Depot. Let’s you put 2 grits per tile, however what I like better about these is that you have a couple of inches left at the bottom of your sheet, so that when you sharpen with a jig you get to use the whole sheet in stead of just 8 inches .
@@katzmosestools nice! Im working with some panels of 9mm felt and woodlamels (acoustical panels) and to cut/fit the felt i use blades for stanley knives. They dull rather quickly on this felt or if i hit a staple, but because of this video i thought of stropping them - and oh boy does it resharpen them! 5-10 pulls each side and they as sharp or sharper than new! Nice :D
