Getting a chisel scary sharp

[TomWisc]

I just saw this video on sharpening woodworking chisels and thought some of his techniques apply to sharpening leather tools. I didn't check if someone already posted this video but I have not seen it before.

Worth the watch!

 

[bermudahwin]

Everyone develops their own techniques for sharpening, learned through various observations, lessons and experimentation. Thank you for sharing the video.

My note is not about the video, but about the title:

SCARY sharp, should not exist if you are using tools daily.

All of my blades (including axes) are really sharp andfit for purpose. The guy in the video would say scary sharp; I say properly sharp.

DO NOT TRY THIS: I am not suggeting or recommending this as a way to test blades... I can shave with all of those knives I have tried (keep the 10 in cooks knife away, as I cannot guide it around the chin without removing nose).

You cannot be scared of your blades or you will cut yourself. Get the proper tools properly sharpened for the job; too blunt they'll snag and jump - ooh bad cut there and the cut is jagged so healing's harder. Properly sharp, far less likely to snag, unless you are scared of it...

I know its semantics, but I once drove 20 minutes to a friend with a horror cut, where the tomato knife  had not cut the tomato, but had cut her hand. The ragged cut made fun cleaning and butterfly stitching, but she has just a light scar as a reminder. The knife was BLUNT so I sharpened it, and taught her how to handle sharp knives and keep them sharp... she had been worried that they were too sharp as she had kids in the house. That was a whole nother lesson.

[Danne]

On 1/29/2019 at 10:44 AM, hwinbermuda said:

Everyone develops their own techniques for sharpening, learned through various observations, lessons and experimentation. Thank you for sharing the video.

My note is not about the video, but about the title:

SCARY sharp, should not exist if you are using tools daily.

All of my blades (including axes) are really sharp andfit for purpose. The guy in the video would say scary sharp; I say properly sharp.

DO NOT TRY THIS: I am not suggeting or recommending this as a way to test blades... I can shave with all of those knives I have tried (keep the 10 in cooks knife away, as I cannot guide it around the chin without removing nose).

You cannot be scared of your blades or you will cut yourself. Get the proper tools properly sharpened for the job; too blunt they'll snag and jump - ooh bad cut there and the cut is jagged so healing's harder. Properly sharp, far less likely to snag, unless you are scared of it...

I know its semantics, but I once drove 20 minutes to a friend with a horror cut, where the tomato knife  had not cut the tomato, but had cut her hand. The ragged cut made fun cleaning and butterfly stitching, but she has just a light scar as a reminder. The knife was BLUNT so I sharpened it, and taught her how to handle sharp knives and keep them sharp... she had been worried that they were too sharp as she had kids in the house. That was a whole nother lesson.

 

When I started with leathercraft I couldn't sharpen my knives, and I needed a lot of force to skive. Now I have learned how to sharpen and not only did it give me more consistent results, It also gives me more possibilities to skive at "awkward" angles.  Sometimes I hold my leather down and skive between thumb and index finger. Which would be really dangerous with a blunt knife.

[bikermutt07]

4 hours ago, Danne said:

 

When I started with leathercraft I couldn't sharpen my knives, and I needed a lot of force to skive. Now I have learned how to sharpen and not only did it give me more consistent results, It also gives me more possibilities to skive at "awkward" angles.  Sometimes I hold my leather down and skive between thumb and index finger. Which would be really dangerous with a blunt knife.

Yep, I didn't know I would have to learn to sharpen when I started in leather. Just one of the many techniques you have to aquire along the journey. 

Most of my sharpening goes to my Kalamazoo 1x 42 belt sander. It makes life so much easier. I think it cost me about 300 bucks, but it was a great investment. I'm sure it will outlast me.

[Danne]

11 minutes ago, bikermutt07 said:

Yep, I didn't know I would have to learn to sharpen when I started in leather. Just one of the many techniques you have to aquire along the journey. 

Most of my sharpening goes to my Kalamazoo 1x 42 belt sander. It makes life so much easier. I think it cost me about 300 bucks, but it was a great investment. I'm sure it will outlast me.

I often hear people complaining about how hard it is to skive with consistent results. I think those people would think it's quite easy if they used a really sharp knife and skive with the bevel down. (I don't say it's the wrong way to use the flat side down, but I think most people would think it's easier with the bevel down.)

I use sandpaper for sharpening. But I plan to buy one SK11 150-600 for reshaping bevels and flattening whetstones, and two whetstones (Shapton Kuromaku 1000 and 5000) 

I just had to comment on this "I'm not paying 80 bucks for a belt!!! It's a strip of leather."  I don't think people in general understand that 80 bucks is not that much money for a belt, compared to the cheap belt for 15 bucks, which you throw in the trash after a couple of years. (split leather with a finish.)

Edited February 25, 2019 by Danne

[OwenSweenie]

Thank you very much, everyone! This is worth a try.

[NeilMott]

Hey all.

I'm a bit late to this thread.  A few questions to clarify: 

it's ok to push and pull on a whetstone?  

Any preference on a set of diamond stones?  I have a 3000/8000 whetstone but I think both are really too fine to get my chisel and my skiving knife sharp.  I think they are too fine by themselves.

I also find it a bit easier to skive with a chisel...Danne, you're saying you skive with the flat side up?  I will have to try this.  

Neil

[MikeRock]

Danne,

The term 'scary sharp' came from the Old Tools site.  Twenty some years back there was a thread on sharpening, everything from using an old flat rock to diamond stones and water stones, even finishing with buffing.

We regard tools with some reverence even, and 'scary sharp' means properly sharp if you will.  There is some limit to just how sharp a tool should be to be useful, and also some limit on how dull we should work before sharpening.   I don't know the list population as of today but it is a good number of folks.  Some of the 'scary sharp' stuff involves working with graded abrasive papers on a backing plate, whether an old chunk of granite or a plate glass chunk.   Down to 2000 grit with just those papers I can shave my forearm easily.  Stroping, as we do with head knives, applies to wood working tools as well, from a pocket whittling knife to the finest compound curves on a molding plane blade.

[MikeRock]

oldtools@swingleydev.com <oldtools@swingleydev.com>

[zuludog]

On 10/14/2019 at 12:49 AM, NeilMott said:

Hey all.

I'm a bit late to this thread.  A few questions to clarify: 

it's ok to push and pull on a whetstone?  

Any preference on a set of diamond stones?  I have a 3000/8000 whetstone but I think both are really too fine to get my chisel and my skiving knife sharp.  I think they are too fine by themselves.

I also find it a bit easier to skive with a chisel...Danne, you're saying you skive with the flat side up?  I will have to try this.  

Neil

Yes, it's OK to push or pull on any kind of sharpening stone - oil, ceramic, water, or diamond, but you must only pull when using wet & dry paper

I'm puzzled by your comment about your stone being too fine to get a sharp edge, as the finer the stone, the sharper should be the cutting edge, and 3000/8000 followed by a stropping should give you an excellent sharp cutting edge

But if your chisel is blunt to start with, then you could get it into the correct angle first by using coarser stones.

Once you have the edge sharpened on the 3000/8000 stone you should very rarely need to go back to anything coarser; so as a coarse grade is only used rarely you could use wet & dry paper, say work through 600, 800, 1000, which would be a bit cheaper than buying another stone, then go to the 3000/8000 stone

You can skive with either side of the chisel, whatever suits you

I suggest you play around with the Search box on YouTube and look for things like - Sharpening a woodworking chisel - sharpening a skiving knife - Japanese leather knife - using a water stone - sharpening a Japanese leather knife, and follow the links & videos, there . Plus, if you search for sharpening a knife there will be loads of videos