Behold thoſe Monarch-Oaks that riſe,
With lofty Branches to the Skies,
Have large proportion’d Roots that grow
With equal Longitude below:
Two Bards that now in faſhion reign,
Moſt aptly this Device explain:
If This to Clouds and Stars will venture,
That creeps as far to reach the Centre;
Or more to ſhow the Thing I mean,
Have you not o’er a Sawpit ſeen,
A ſkill’d Mechanick that has ſtood,
High on a Length of proſtrate Wood,
Who hir’d a ſubterraneous Friend,
To take his Iron by the End;
But which excell’d was never found
The Man above, or under Ground.
The Moral is ſo plain to hit,
That had I been the God of Wit,
Then in a Sawpit and wet Weather,
Shou’d Y——g and Ph——ps drudge together.
The Universal Mercury (London) – February, 1725
The above poem, published anonymously by Jonathan Swift, was meant as an act of censure on the poetical character of Edward Young and Ambrose Philips.
—Jeff Burks
Chris,
I have two sharpening questions in two different areas; power tools first, and then hand tools.
When you were a Hybrid woodworker, how often did you find that you had to send out your jointer and planner knives to have them sharpened (I am a novice hybrid woodworker myself)?
Also regarding hand tool sharpening I have video’s showing approaches from yourself, David Charlesworth, Frank Klausz, Mario Rodriquez, Lonnie Bird, Leonard Lee of Lee Valley Tool works, Paul Sellers, and Jim Tolpin; all with sometimes subtle and other times very large differences in approach. The least involved approach seems to be from Frank Klausz and the most involved approach seems to be from David Charlesworth. Taking all of this into consideration along with my not wanting to spend all of my time (as a retiree) sharpening I have tried to come up with a compromise approach as discussed below.
Please let me know your thoughts on the following approach that I plan to pursue initially:
1. Grind the back of the chisel or plane iron using an extra coarse DMT diamond stone and then hone the back on a 800 grit King waterstone and polish it on a 6000 grit King waterstone; hopefully only needing to do this once for each plane iron and chisel.
2. Grind the primary bevel of 25 degrees for plane irons and chisels using my extra coarse DMT diamond stone only.
3. Hone a 35 degree secondary bevel on plane irons and chisels using my 800 grit King stone.
4. Polish the 35 degree secondary bevel on plane irons and chisels using my 6000 grit King stone.
5. Remove the wire edge using my 6000 grit waterstone; only after I have completed steps #2 through #4 above.
Thanks,
Dave
Dave,
Almost every regimen will work. My only “addition” to your proposal would be to buy some stropping compound and finish the bevel on the strop. That will take you one step further for about a $10 investment. Some notes on your steps:
1. Grind the back of the chisel or plane iron using an extra coarse DMT diamond stone and then hone the back on a 800 grit King waterstone and polish it on a 6000 grit King waterstone; hopefully only needing to do this once for each plane iron and chisel.
NOTE: Not all tools require coarse grinding on the back. Lie-Nielsen tools can be started on the 6,000. Veritas tools don’t need to be touched on the back at all. Old tools… start as coarse as possible. #80 belt-sander paper might be faster for old tools.
2. Grind the primary bevel of 25 degrees for plane irons and chisels using my extra coarse DMT diamond stone only.
NOTE: Just to be clear, you don’t need to grind every time you sharpen. Only when the secondary bevel becomes too large.
3. Hone a 35 degree secondary bevel on plane irons and chisels using my 800 grit King stone.
4. Polish the 35 degree secondary bevel on plane irons and chisels using my 6000 grit King stone.
5. Remove the wire edge using my 6000 grit waterstone; only after I have completed steps #2 through #4 above.