Sharp matters - sharpening doesn't

[@wickedcreekwoodworks4570]

I endorse this product and/or service :D Spot on! Also hearing myself called out by such a weblebrity still gives me a jump!

[@TheWoodKnight]

If I can ever match half of "just" your student work, I'd be tickled pink!

[@timothyoutman7427]

Is twerking while dovetailing a future video 😂

[@TheLizardOfOz]

We can but hope.

[@CodeAugur]

I felt this was maybe a cheeky comment based on another KZbinr named Meike who has good woodworking technique but definitely seems to get 100x more views by doing her woodworking in tight yoga pants and doing a lot of hip rotations while sanding.

[@TheLizardOfOz]

@@CodeAugur Link please.

[@whomadethatsaltysoup]

Glad I stumbled upon your video on sharpening. I've recently been trying to get my old Stanley No4 and No5 tuned up and sharp enough to shoot doors in. Yes, it sounds mundane, but I've been using a tracksaw and an electric plane, and just wanted to be a bit more, well, old school. Anyway, long story short, I've actually got them in great condition and super sharp, using a 400/1000 combi diamond plate, a 3000 water stone I picked up in Japan, and a leather strop made from MDF and the back of an old sofa. I also use a honing guide for consistency - making the whole process much easier to repeat. Anyhow, it made me chuckle, when you pointed out the absolute futility - satisfying as it might be - of producing gossamer thin wood shavings, if the project, in my case, a door, looks awful!

[@steveiv9250]

Your 100% correct, as long as your end result is sharp the method on how you get there really doesn’t mater. I too use the veritas jig for plane irons & chisels,, quick , easy and consistent.

[@jclwyd]

Would be interesting to see how you sharpen router plane blades etc

[@johnm7469]

Alternate title suggestion: Sharp good, Dull bad....

[@1deerndingo]

Stropping my plane/chisel blades. Do I use the green stick, white stick, diamond paste. Do I use a bit of baby oil with the wax stick. And is it worth anything to use progressively finer stopping compounds. So many Q's?

[@LINX009XBL]

Chisels & Plane Blades Sharpening guide would be awesome ^_^ , I have 2 wets stones 400/1000 Grit and 3000/8000 Grit

[@hypnolobster]

My sharpening journey has been expensive and chaotic. I've settled on waterstones, but the big deal was getting a damn grinder. Everybody talks about the stones, but nobody talks about shaping the bevel/getting the initial angle. Knocking a couple of degrees worth of microbevel off with stones is a nightmare, anything more significant than that is far worse.

[@bobdabuilder3324]

This is was really insightful but it left me with one more question. How do you get the right degree on the honing guide?

[@TheWoodKnight]

The key isn't getting the right angle, but getting whatever angle you want consistently! I've got a small video in the works on comparing three honing guides that goes into it a little more but... For the side clamping guides, screw a stop block a certain distance away from the edge to set the projection of the blade. Lie Nielsen have a PDF on how to do that for their guide, d3h1zj156zzd4j.cloudfront.net/pdf/LNT-angle-setting-jig-2019.pdf It's *slightly* different for the Eclipse clones (40mm instead of 38mm for 25deg) For the Veritas Mk2, it comes with a fence you attach to set the angles.

[@robertshepherd8354]

1200 grit is more than enough for good performance. Don't sweat that the plate is not fully flat. It just doesn't matter.

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

So good to see you on the tube again mate. Great video, it just made sense. Is that the veritas honing guide you use?

[@TheWoodKnight]

Cheers Vic. Yup, thats the Veritas Mk2 Honing Guide. They have a new side clamping guide - released a month or three ago? - that arrived from Carbatec today that I'll be putting through its paces as a cheaper alternative. Sorry I missed your Melbourne tour, I'm still yet to leave the house for non-medical events. I haven't made it to a Bunnings for supplies since July 😭

[@DownUnderWoodWorks]

@@TheWoodKnight Thanks for that Paul. No worries about the meetup mate, there's always next time. Merry Christmas.

[@OldSneelock]

Good points made about how sharpening can be done. Sixty years ago sharpening consisted of using my Dad's sharpening stone and spit to put an edge on my jack knife. Yes I was ten and sharp was sharp enough to whittle a green stick to make a bow and arrow from Box Elder suckers. Dad's stone was sway backed and rather small. It did the job. In the 60's Dad got a bench grinder. That became the way to sharpen. Thirty years ago I joined the Old Tools email group and actually studied the whys and where fires of sharpening. Oil, water, dry, powered, hand, even ancient treadle powered wet sand stones. Final grit size makes the difference in the finished edge. Your suggestion of judging the end result on a time vs effect basis is a good one. I now refurbish more tools than Ibuse . To each their own. Rather than setting an artificial level of proper sharpening I follow my machinists training. In the hierarchy of metal removal. Torch Saw Machine i.e chisel, mill, file, Grind Polish Taking a sixty to one hundred year old chisel, plane, spokeshave, axe, etc. from a beaten bloody stub to working condition is determined by what works best, fastest. Most start at the grind stage, followed by water stones similar to yours. I agree. The test of a sharp edge is the result, not the process. Very helpful explanation. Good job. 😁😎

[@bigg2904]

A very good point made well.

[@FixitFingers]

Great video Paul. I have been putting off buying chisels and planes to avoid having to get into sharpening too. I think it was Kuffy who told me a sharp cheap chisel is better than an expensive blunt one. So instead of saving up for 'good' chisels I don't have the skill for, I've picked up a cheap set, and think I'll copy your little sharpening tray system. Combo stone, flattening trowel, honing guide. Makes sense. As long as it makes them cut wood, that's all I'll need. Great advice, cheers.

[@TheWoodKnight]

Kuffy's advise on that is absolutely spot on. Its the same for photography - the best camera is the one you've got on you/the sharp chisel is always better than the dull one. Even the most garbage of modern steel is good enough to sharpen and cut wood, it just might require sharpening once a month versus once every three months. Planes are a little trickier because its not just a cutting edge involved, but even the "inexpensive" Luban planes are really really good! Hopefully Santa buys you sharpening gear ;) Sidenote: I've been away from youtube so long I forgot how comments work 🤦‍♂️

[@ohasis8331]

John Lennon used to sing 'happiness is a warm gun'. He obviously didn't know Kuffy who maintains that it's a sharp chisel.

[@tubamaster]

How do you sharpen a pencil?

[@darrylbrook5968]

Good content Paul, and yes agree there is a lot of PR effort put into the method but like you and the others have said, if you have a current method, it suits your mindset and gives you the edge you require or at least think it does it is all good. I have and do go down both paths depending on the current state of mind and what I think I will get out of the effort at the time "many times I have changed the process midstream just because it didn't seem to be giving me what I expected "and yes, that usually leads to it taking 3 times as long"... and your early statement of "It's not a hill worth dying on" is spot on... Merry Christmas and happy wood shavings for 2022 from Mandurah WA.

[@RobRobertson1000]

I'm still intrigued by the 'twerking' comment on the whiteboard :)

[@bloodgain]

If your blades are made from decent steel -- which doesn't mean they have to be expensive -- stropping can keep a blade going for a surprisingly long time between sharpening sessions. Wood carvers often _only_ maintain their blades with leather strops and compound, rarely resharpening with stones, and this is what many carving knife makers recommend. Granted, wood carvers aren't usually carving really hard woods, so they aren't putting quite as much stress on their edges as woodworkers put on chisels and plane blades, but you can still get several good stropped edges before needing to resharpen.

[@PeanutsDadForever]

Well done! Stick to one method. End grain test is the best. Thanks for your video. 👴🏻🇦🇺

[@ohasis8331]

Crubber?? Cork+rubber?? Don't be too hard on yourself, I still use the Veritas MkII honing guide.

[@TheWoodKnight]

Yup, thats exactly it - a cork/rubber blend. It basically has all the good properties of cork, but isn't crumbly and is chemical resistant. Can find small sheets of it at autoshops sold as gasket material, but depending on what types of rubber they have different properties (and prices) - though I think for woodworking it doesn't make much of a difference!

[@ohasis8331]

@@TheWoodKnight That's great, thanks for the info.

[@Pete.G]

Thanks Paul! The true sharp was inside me all along!

[@cobberpete1]

Smiles all round 😊 I've spent my doe on Diamonds, so will stick with them for the time being, although I use a record wet wheel for my turning gouges. Nothing wrong with jigs. Your words, makes things consistent 😎 . How about your take on sharpening router blades ( hand) and spokeshaves, I would find that interesting. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you and Nat.

[@TheWoodKnight]

I'll have to get a spokeshave that doesn't make me want to throw things a cross the room first! :D I inherited a Stanley #151, but like all of dads tools they were late 70s/early 80s I think, so it certainly wasn't a quality period of time for Stanley. It seems to have two modes - chatter like crazy or not cut! I guess I can sharpen the blade even if the tool itself needs work ;)

[@1LEgGOdt]

I prefer wood chisels that have a razor sharp edge that’s been taken through all of the grits until they have a mirror polished finish because I would rather have tools that glides with little to no effort through the wood that I’m working on since a polished surface would have little friction between the wood and the metal. Plus a polished cutting edge on wood chisels is nice to look at and it shows that I put as much effort in keeping them properly maintained and well cared for.

[@garvielloken3929]

Nooice!

[@Bill.L.Carroll]

Couldn't agree more, mate, who gives a rats!😉👍🏽