So I know a lot of people love their sharpening jigs and claim it's the only way to get consistent and repeatable angles on their blades. Which, being someone who's freehand sharpened their whole life, always struck me as kind of odd. I get it if you don't do much sharpening or are new the realm of sharpening, but for us hand tool woodworkers, experience is not a problem. So it would seem to me that most of us would get pretty good at freehand sharpening and not need these jigs to get those consistent and repeatable results we all desire. Yet those jigs remain very popular. Which brings me to something I hear a lot about in cooking and blade forging communities that I don't hear much about here, and that is whetstone feedback.
Often times what separates a good whetstone from a great whetstone is its feedback, or its ability to tell you if your angle is off by just a slight amount. It feels and sounds wrong if you don't hold that angle precise. And the best stones for this are often soft, water stones that need a long soak. And because they wear quickly and need a long soak before each use, they're not convenient for us woodworkers, who often don't have access to a sink in our workshop. So we're more likely to gravitate towards the splash and go stones or the diamond stones that have terrible feedback. If you've never had the pleasure of using a Naniwa Aotoishi, I recommend you try it one day if you ever get the opportunity, just to see what it's like. A good whetstone with excellent feedback will really teach you good techniques that you can take over to other stones with less excellent feedback. It'll make it more obvious what you're feeling and listening for and make your mistakes more apparent, like a good teacher who doesn't let you stray from the path.
I now use sandpaper on plate glass myself, and while the feedback isn't as good as it is with most of my stones, the stones taught me what I'm looking for, so I only need subtle cues at this point. This way, I don't have to mess with flattening or soaking stones. And when I look at the whetstone being sold at places like Woodcraft and Rockler, I see a lot of diamond plates and Shapton stones. Shaptons are great stones; I own a few myself. But they're not exceptional at feedback. They tend to be too hard for that, as they prioritize durability and cut speed over feel. They're better for those with lots of experience than for someone who's still learning. In fact, I don't see any good beginner stones with good feedback at these woodworking stores.
So is this why the sharpening jigs are so popular these days? To compensate for the difficult yet convenient whetstones we have access to? Not that there's anything wrong with that. Whatever works for you, obviously works and there are tradeoffs no matter which road you take. I'm just curious if this might explain the ubiquity of sharpening jigs among woodworkers, who probably sharpen several times a week, if not several times a day.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Richard Hutchings
