I just got a sharpening kit from Lee Valley (stone pond, 800/4000 waterstones, honing guide, etc.) and also got the “Sharpening Woodworking Tools” DVD (Leonard Lee is a riot). The DVD is excellent in showing technique, but one small detail he doesn’t explicitly cover is how much pressure to apply. After watching the DVD, I set everything up to sharpen my Blue Marples chisels, and realized that I really didn’t have a clue as to how hard to push the bevel against the stone. Do I use half my body weight? –a few pounds of force? –a featherlight touch? I settled on a sort of medium force, but my 3/4″ chisel just refused to develop a decent edge. The 1″ and 1/2″ chisels came out perfectly — but the 3/4″ just won’t behave. The bevel won’t sharpen evenly. Weird. ‘Couse, I’m so new at this, I really don’t know what’s weird and what’s typical.
-M.
Replies
Mark,
Hollow grind the chisel first, it cuts down on the sharpening time considerably. Make sure your stone is still flat. If you sharpened the other 2 chisels first and used too much pressure then you may have created a hollow in your stone. It is also possible that you just have a bad chisel considering you were successful with the 2 others. Waterstones wear quickly but are also easy to flatten. Put a piece of drywall sandpaper (open mesh type) on top of the plate glass that came with the stone pond, add a little water and rub the stone on the paper. When you have an even pattern of scratches over the face of the stone it is flat. You can also use a cement block but you need to make sure it is flat first. Good luck.
Mark
MarkH ,
Don't feel bad , sharpening a chisel or for that matter any cutting edge is something that takes a lot of practice for most of us to learn .Still to this day, after almost 30 years some days I don't do as well as other days. As far as the right amount of pressure or how hard to push. I was taught to pretend you are slicing a layer off the top of the stone . I hope that helps you some . Keep trying . Also I agree hollow ground is a great way to go for most chisels .
good luck
Mark, I use a light touch: fingertip and forearm pressure. Like handsawing, pushing doesn't make things go any faster... you need to let the tools do the work.
BTW, I have that Leonard Lee DVD, too. My family thinks I'm very strange, laughing by myself at a woodworking instruction program. He's a character, isn't he?!
David
"The world that was not made is not won by what is done" -- Mundaka Upanishad
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