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Site AdminPermalink Reply by John Morris on July 21, 2011 at 8:40pm

Dan, I have one Combination Water Stone I use and love. See this link Water Stone. I use this after I scary sharp my edges to 400 grit. Then I take my tools to this combo stone and I get great results. I know your looking for specific grits, but this is the stone I use, and the grit, and I love it. I can work up a really nice slurry on the 4000 business end, it builds fast and you get some nice looking mud to hone your edge with. At the same time, the stone is very durable and doesn't loose its flatness easily, and it should last you a few years with care. The 8000 side, does clog a bit, you have to clean it infrequently, sometimes you'll get a little slurr build up, but it is easily cleaned off. The 8000 side leaves your tools with a brite polish, very nice. Hope this helps.

 

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John Morris
The Patriot Woodworker

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Master CarpenterPermalink Reply by Wayne Mahler on July 22, 2011 at 4:53am

Dan

I use wet and dry sand paper to start my sharpening with. Depending on how bad the chisel or iron is I start with 220. Then I move to a 400, 800 then 1200 then 2000. After I use a 4000/8000 wet stone to finish it of and polish it up. The 8000 leaves a highly polished tip and once totally sharpened all you have to do is occasionally go back and touch them up.  Hope this helps. BTW the whole process only takes a few minutes to do.

 

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Wayne Mahler
God bless and protect our troops that serve so we can be free.

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JourneymanPermalink Reply by Adam Welker on July 22, 2011 at 5:26am

Dan,

Unless you have some really damaged irons, I would stay away from the 220 grit. I own a 1000 and a 4000/8000 Norton water stone. Norton stones are wider than other brands and this makes sharpening wide plane blades (like a #7) easier.

If I have to do any serious work on a blade, I use wet or dry sand paper at a low grit. Were I you, I would take the money I was going to spend on a 220 and buy a granite surface plate and a few sheets of wet or dry paper. The plate is less than $30 and you can buy the sandpaper in individual sheets. Get a few 150 grit and 220 and maybe a few 320 or 400.

If you plan on rehabing the plane I am sending you, the surface plate will be invaluable. Maybe a few sheets of 80 or 120 grit paper as well.

Once you get a good edge on a blade with waterstones, bringing it back to sharp after use is quick and easy. The guys at Woodcraft put on a good show and will answer any questions. Just dont let them sell you any junk. After all, they are salesmen.

 

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Adam Welker
Red Car Construction and Fine Woodworking

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ApprenticePermalink Reply by Will Sampson on July 22, 2011 at 8:08am

OK, I'm going to put a heretical response here. Don't buy any waterstones. I used Japanese water stones for years and swore by them. Then I got a Work Sharp 3000 sharpening unit. There is no way I can get as good results hand-sharpening in such short time as I can with the Work Sharp machine. It's especially good for flattening the backs of chisels and plane irons. It also works on gouges and you can even get an attachment for knives and scissors. The unit costs less than $200 and has a heat sink, so it keeps blades from overheating in sharpening without having to have any water as coolant or lubricant. It takes up less space on my sharpening bench then the messy waterstone area I use to have. When I first saw this system, I confess I thought it was a gimmick, but I've been using it regularly for years, and I'll never go back to hand sharpening. I don't think my original video review of the system is still on line, but here's a link to my review of the wide blade attachment. Here's an official promotional video about the tool.

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JourneymanPermalink Reply by Adam Welker on July 22, 2011 at 8:13am

I agree with Will. I had the pleasure to use a Worksharp at a friends shop on a few chisels. In was incredible. I guess I just prefer doing by hand on waterstones. For the money, it is more than worth it.

Will Sampson said:

OK, I'm going to put a heretical response here. Don't buy any waterstones. I used Japanese water stones for years and swore by them. Then I got a Work Sharp 3000 sharpening unit. There is no way I can get as good results hand-sharpening in such short time as I can with the Work Sharp machine. It's especially good for flattening the backs of chisels and plane irons. It also works on gouges and you can even get an attachment for knives and scissors. The unit costs less than $200 and has a heat sink, so it keeps blades from overheating in sharpening without having to have any water as coolant or lubricant. It takes up less space on my sharpening bench then the messy waterstone area I use to have. When I first saw this system, I confess I thought it was a gimmick, but I've been using it regularly for years, and I'll never go back to hand sharpening. I don't think my original video review of the system is still on line, but here's a link to my review of the wide blade attachment. Here's an official promotional video about the tool.

 

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Adam Welker
Red Car Construction and Fine Woodworking

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Permalink Reply by Michael Dove on July 22, 2011 at 9:07am

I try and go as much power free in my shop as possible even my grinder is hand cranked.  so with that in mind waterstones are what I use.  One question begs to be asked though, how sharp is sharp enough for your work.  I tend to work with more figured lumber than not so I want as sharp an edge as I can get.  My top stone is 10k and I follow up with a horse butt strop charged with a green crayon from Lee Valley.  My sharpening setup is the hand crank grinder then a 1000 Norton followed by a 6000 King then the 10,000 Ice Bear and the strop.  For general sharpening though I would recommend a 1k, 4k and 8k setup. 

 

And don't forget to get a flattening stone.  I use a x-course diamond 'stone' for this purpose and it is the only thing it is used for.  Start with your finest stone first, get it flat then go to the next finer stone and so on.  This way you don't have to wash the flattening stone until you are done.

 

Michael

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Master CarpenterPermalink Reply by Bob Kloes on July 22, 2011 at 12:07pm

easy way to flatten your water stones is on the concrete. Wet down a step or your driveway and rub the stone around. It will get flat enough. Have done that for years. The worksharp is a nice unit also. Takes the hardest part of grinding and makes it dead simple.bob

 

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Bob Kloes
www.bobkloes.com

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Site AdminPermalink Reply by John Moody on July 22, 2011 at 2:32pm

Dan I have used several methods as most of these others have confessed to. I have used and to some extent still do the 'Scary Sharp' method. It works, it is inexpensive and once you get them there it is fairly easy to keep them sharp.

 

I also have some water stones. I have the 4000/8000 stone and use it on occasion. Last year when Home Depot made the marketing mistake with the WorkSharp 3000 and sold it online for 62.19 I jump on it and got one. I will say it does a fine job. It will flatten the back of a chisel and plane iron in no time. With the heat sink installed you can get a good finish on the edges and not over heat the iron while doing so. They don't take up a lot of space and swapping the grits out is fast an simple.

 

So I guess we all use a variety of methods to sharpen and at times a combination of methods.

 

 

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John Moody
John Moody Woodworks
http://www.johnmoodywoodworks.com

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Permalink Reply by Dan Shuflin on July 24, 2011 at 8:42am

Thanks to all that made suggestions. I went with a granite stone and the two sharpening stones I mentioned above. Did not get to see the sharpening demo because I evidently can't read. It is next month. Looking forward to sharpening my planes.

Dan

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