Five Sharpening Tips usually skipped in Sharpening Videos

[@osomxl]

A well thought out video and very good advice. I really like the “just get it done” attitude. It’s what really makes us better makers/woodworkers. Don’t be afraid to make mistakes as it is what gives us the experience in the long run.

[@jeffsimpson9232]

"They were just drunk!" 😂😂😂

[@jasongoodrich9055]

great video. I honestly think you are the most practical woodworking channel. No fluff, just get it done.

[@allenwc]

Thanks again, always worth the effort to watch.

[@jccote6059]

Thank you for the simplicity. My dad was a carpenter and he use one oil stone with 3-1 oil for everything. From a metallurgical point of view, I seriously doubt that the martensite « grains » at the end of a 18000 grit sharpened edge would last mere seconds while taken minutes to create. Next overkill. --> microbevels 😊

[@brucewelty7684]

Your comment about the surgeons resonated with me. My gut feeling sharpening past 2000 is a glorified pissing contest. I have seen "sooper sharpers" that had to rough the surfaces up so that a finish could actually adhere.

[@autumn5592]

Yeah. Anything past 2k has huge diminishing returns. 600 is pretty much the ideal grit. Longest edge retention, can easily get shaving (facial hair) sharp, is cheap, and doesn't take long at all. There is technical sharpness difference (minimum apex thickness) difference between grits of 300-1,500 that is worth mentioning. But realistically, unless you are garbage at sharpening, the differences won't be all that big, or even noticable at the finer end. I personally use 220-400 grit for almost everything I do. It cuts what I want, leaves the finish I want, and is fast.

[@alext8828]

Excuse me! You say you don't put a micro-bevel on your lawnmower blade? The micro-bevel has been the best thing since flannel pajamas.

[@thesjyoungjr]

I always use a micro bevel on my PJS.

[@autumn5592]

I avoid using microbevels whenever possible. To much trouble unless you stay ontop of maintaince Full flat, or convex is just better.

[@diggernash1]

Sharpening is my bane...not because I can't get something sharp, but because I can't let something be just sharp enough. What a time waster...lol.

[@CandidZulu]

On an oil stone I would discourage using a jig. They wear a rut in the middle fast. I must say though that the Norton with two sides, one being India, is a very good stone. But they need to be replaced regularly. I'm not surprised surgeons don not take their blades to a shiny edge. It's basically just a very small hunting knife, and many hunters use just the coarsest grit, making a perfect bevel edge, and then taking off the burr. The little serrations can be beneficial when cutting meat. When polishing metal it is taught in most books and vocational schools (like gunsmithing schools) to sand in a cross pattern.

[@Russ0107]

Sean is your profile picture supposed to look like you have horns? Why? You're not particularly devilish, in fact a halo would be more fitting. Just my thoughts. It just doesn't fit your character. Here's one viewer's suggestion to change the photo to be more fitting of the worth the effort brand! :)

[@fortorangewoodworking]

Great tips! Looks like I'm buying some carbide!

[@philaandrew100]

That was refreshing. So over the experts that insist you need to sharpen up to 50 billion with some over priced fancy pants equipment. My mentor sharpened his chisels etc on a 250 grit oil stone and stropped on a chunk of leather with no honing compound. His tools were still sharp enough you could shave with them....

[@donovancampbell7785]

Thank you for your knowledge and experience!:) you teach well.

[@M19pickles]

Great video! I love your last point on studying everything and questioning everything. I polished one of my kitchen knives to a mirror finish and food sticks to it more then to knives that don't have that mirror finish. I did it knowingly because it is a pairing knife that I wanted for precision. On most of my other knives I don't bother. I also don't sharpen things to as narrow and angle as I did when I was younger because most of the cuts that I make don't benefit from it.

[@calvinbass1839]

Good stuff. Thank you for sharing. Have a blessed day.

[@MrMicroguy]

I'm not using anthing, on any knife of mine (that i care one whit about), that removes "large" metal shavings. Sorry, but my good knives are not disposable. Go find a good butcher and check out their old knives. They've removed so much blade with the butchers steel (which is really just a file) that their butchers knives are now filet knives.

[@wortheffort]

Didn't say to. In fact I think I specifically said rough tools. Gotta pay attention.

[@johanvandeputte846]

Great video, I learned something 👍

[@andybrzezin]

First! Thanks for the video!

[@richardhaas1989]

Tip # 5! The most important. Trolls are invariably some fuddy duddy who just does what some uncle told them years ago and never think for themselves. Pay no attention to them! I subscribe to your channel because you have arrived at your information by actual trial and error. May I suggest a #6? LISTEN You can hear how the sharpening is going, there are different sounds. You can hear if a plane blade is sharp by the sound it makes as you use it. When I'm asked to sharpen someone's knives I now ask them what they want to cut. Tomatoes, lemons? That tells me they want "toothy" Steak slices without "tearing" the meat? A finer honed edge then.(I just realized that's just another form of listening...}

[@TheMonkdad]

Yeah I call it the “KZbin Effect” where some “expert” proclaims that you’re not a “serious” woodworker if you don’t do everything the way they do it. If I followed their demands I’d be spending all my time sharpening and not actually woodworking.

[@donaldroberts7055]

Awesome Brother! Love this video!

[@vinceLi3096]

Well said, Shawn! I agree with your point of question everything. When in doubt, do your own experiment. I remember when I first start woodworking, I was sharpening with a cheap $10 400/1000 grit waterstone. I built a nicolson workbench with it. Then when I made a leather strop charged with green compound, the edge was a big step up. When I bought 5k and 8k waterstones, it was another revelation. Up until recently, I would put a super keen edge on every blade I own. But now I am experimenting putting a coarser edge on some utility tools. Maybe there is some truth when my dad said "You don't need a stone finer than 1200 to do woodworking." Do you have the link to the 15s sharpening video you were talking about? Curious about that. Thank you!

[@AlienLeader4]

As always great information and mind set. Thanks for sharing you knowledge. Keep up the amazing work. 👽

[@thomashverring9484]

Because the windex like products I could get were too soapy, I started making my own. 4 parts water to 1 part alcohol with half a teaspoon of washing up liquid. It works perfect for me :^)

[@bobd5119]

If "washing up liquid" is a detergent, it will reduce the water's surface tension. The alcohol might do the same. Do you prefer isopropyl alcohol or Jim Beam?

[@thomashverring9484]

@@bobd5119 Yes, it may be a little overkill. I hope it evaporates a little faster because of the alcohol. Not iso or JB but just denatured alcohol.

[@eddienew2044]

Having watched many videos on sharpening I nearly didn’t watch this but the tips were very useful and I am glad I did. Thank you.

[@zapa1pnt]

Your comment, about doctors not taking their scalpels as sharp as wood workers take their chisels, makes no sense. Doctors do Not sharpen their scalpels. They come prepackaged, sharpened at the factory and ready to use. Also, scalpels are about the sharpest thing around, unless, of course, you are dissecting molecules. They are the gold standard, of sharp. A very foolish statement to make and, if given even 5 milliseconds, of thought, even more foolish to repeat. For your lawn mower blade, if it is not sharp, you are tearing your grass and will have a brown lawn. (No ones goal) Most folks kitchen knives and apparently yours as well, are not good enough, to take and hold a good edge, in neither material nor grind. Good kitchen knives, something you pay $100 to $200 each for are Very Much worth the time and effort, to sharpen properly and, if you are not doing that, you have more money than brains.

[@wortheffort]

You missed point of whole video but looking at your avatar….

[@autumn5592]

Knife maker and professional sharpener here; Scalpels, depending on where in the world you are, and what the operation is, are hand sharpened. They take quite a bit of skill to sharpen, but aren't required to be taken to all that high of a grit, only about 4-6k. They are also not the gold standard of sharpness. Many prepackaged/production/disposable scalpels are just sharp enough. They use a somewhat coarse abrasive, you can see the grind lines with your eye, so like 800-1,200 grit. They are barely sharp enough to shave hair, they will not break skin from pressure, they don't glide through things. You have to apply pressure and slice with them. Not that much sharper than your average craft/'x-acto' knife. I agree with your statement about grass. Mower blades do need to be sharp too. Lots of cheap knives are trash, sure, but you do not need to spend a lot of money for good knives, especially in this day and age. You can get good knives for like 30 bucks. Some knives below that can be plenty serviceable too, you just have to keep them sharp with a honing rod/steel or strop.

[@archiehebron8944]

I just picked up an antique miter saw. I'm planning on using it in my shop. That's an interesting piece of information regarding how the angle finder works.

[@terryrogers1025]

Thank you for this video, it is true, in my case anyway, I was, and still catch my self over sharpening things that don’t need to be anything more than, what I call utility sharp. You had a couple little tricks I will incorporate into my sharpening routine. Once again thank you young man.

[@CJCWoodWorking]

I use sand paper and lapping paper for sharpening my chisels and plane blades. After doing it a couple of times i noticed the wear in the center of the paper and i felt that was wrong so i started doing like you said, moving my chisels and plane blades around and using the whole paper. Noticed that they were sharpening faster and i wasn't going through paper as quickly. Just by questioning it like you said.

[@Borescoped]

Might want to double check your use of Simple Green. We stopped using it in the Air Force because it was apparently causing corrosion on our aircraft.

[@wortheffort]

more so or less so than other water alternatives? it is water based. i found it less so than soapy water or windex but have no science behind that impression other than observation.

[@Borescoped]

@@wortheffort well, checked out Simple Green’s website information, and it shows they now make a version safe for aircraft use. I believe the most important thing you are looking for is surfactants, “which lower the surface tension of water, enabling the solution to “float” away the swarf” Personally, I do the Cosman method of HoneRite Gold mixed appropriately with distilled water (to prevent corrosion), and then add in a tiny wee bit of Dawn dish detergent to make it more slippery (surfactant or as you put it wetter water).

[@shedactivist]

Great advice

[@soofihasan]

Excellent as always, very practical and no fancy fluff. Many thanks

[@marcbarash6045]

Thanks Shawn

[@losingfreedomisnofunFJB]

Wetter water will stick in my head for some time, I learned more than that from this vid but that one is sure to last

[@dpmeyer4867]

thanks

[@thomashverring9484]

Last tip is golden! Thanks, Shawn!

[@vincenthunter465]

Great tips, Shawn. Thanks.

[@jackthompson5092]

Great tips Shawn. Thanks a lot.

[@מעייןהמלבלבתחייםםםם]

Thanks, good video!!

[@trurex007lee7]

Great tips, thanks.

[@robnichols9331]

Brilliant - as always!

[@riccardo-964]

great

[@peterstevens6555]

Good afternoon from Auckland, New Zealand ...

[@pablolichtig2536]

Nice video

[@flowleopard893]

Thanks for the new video Shaun. In the last 3 months since discovering your channel my wood working has gone to the next level. An interesting point: I watched a video by Paul Sellers where he told about how back in the day they only sharpened plane irons to only 250g. Well I tried it and it was just a minor bit harder to push than sharpening a plane blade to 8000g. And I can work a LOT longer before sharpening. Point being, "sharp" is relative to the purpose of the edge. My chisels scare me lol, but plane blades I have found that easy groove where they work but dont require being sharper than a scalpel. My chisels are definitely sharper than scalpels. I have proof 🤣