sharpening question

[Ken Miller]

I'm looking for opinions on sharpening chisels and plane blades using different grits of paper. I believe its woodworkers supply who sells a piece of granite for which you wet the paper and it sticks to it enabling you to sharpen your tools. Has anyone used this method? Can anyone give me reasons as to why this wouldn't be a good idea? For someone who doesn't need to do a lot of sharpening, it seems like a much more cost efficient method than purchasing multiple stones. Am I wrong? Will the granite stay flat?
thanks in advance, Ken.

[Tom LaRussa]

I'm looking for opinions on sharpening chisels and plane blades using different grits of paper. I believe its woodworkers supply who sells a piece of granite for which you wet the paper and it sticks to it enabling you to sharpen your tools. Has anyone used this method? Can anyone give me reasons as to why this wouldn't be a good idea? For someone who doesn't need to do a lot of sharpening, it seems like a much more cost efficient method than purchasing multiple stones. Am I wrong? Will the granite stay flat?
thanks in advance, Ken.
Ken,

There have been several threads on topics related to this subject in the Neanderthal Haven section of SMC during the past couple weeks. Try these for starters:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12691

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12080
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12540
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12741

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=12646

HTH,

Tom

[Steve Cox]

I missed the threads earlier but since I use a similar method I'll throw in my 2 cents. I bought a 1' x 3' piece of 1/4" float glass a few years ago to use as my sharpening bed. That was the minimum order for the glass. I generally use wet/dry sandpaper I get from an auto paint store near my house. Early on, I used sandpaper for everything from 60 grit to 4000 grit. I found that sandpaper worked great for the finer grits but it wore out too fast on the coarser ones. I wasn't saving any money on coarse sandpaper. I wound up getting a DMT duo-sharp diamond stone in the x-coarse/coarse grit and using that for my initial sharpening. I still use sandpaper for the finer grits and find it works very well. I will probably get another DMT to use for medium and fine grits and then use sandpaper only for the grits above where the DMT goes. Overall, I find it an excellent method to sharpen and it lets you get started with a minimum investment. You also won't have much problem with dishing like you get with waterstones. Granite should work just as well as glass. I like the longer glass plate I have because it gives me an area to lap the soles of my planes.

[Bob Smalser]

It's a great way to get started for the first few years, but needlessly expensive in the long run.

I'd argue that today you don't need expensive float glass or granite, either....plain old heavy plate glass from your local glass shop is plenty flat.

Long before anybody ever coined a term for it, less-affluent carpenters used wet-or-dry paper to sharpen with using all manner of scrap substrates that were hard and flat....the jointer table works just fine, too....if you degrease it, you may find the paper sticks sufficiently you don't need spray adhesive.

Even those with other primary sharpening systems go back to the wet-or-dry paper on the jointer table when it's time to flatten plane soles or sharpen planer knives.

I'd forget about any grits finer than 600, tho...too spendy...you can strop on leather loaded with polishing rouge to get the same effect.

[Steve Cox]

Bob, I agree with everything you said until you got to the part about the strop:). In my experience I find that using a strop and rouge has a tendency to round my edges. I'm sure it's just my technique:o but I think it would be easier to go with a finer grit on a solid surface for a beginner. How fine a grit to use is entirely dependent on the tool, the wood, and how smooth and precise you want it to be. When I'm trying to plane quilted maple I appreciate 4000 grit paper. Then again, planing quilted maple really just makes me a masochist:D . I have several years of formal training in woodworking. My first instructor used scary sharp and jigs. My second two started with a bench grinder with the blades held freehand (hands resting on the rests not the blade) and wouldn't be caught dead with "training wheels" (jigs). For my next two, one uses oil stones and one uses a hand powered grinding wheel and waterstones. Neither use jigs. From all this, I use diamond stone/ scary sharp with jigs. Thing is, all of them are able to do amazing woodworking with really sharp tools. Point is, just about any method used properly will get you excellent results once you figure out how to use it properly. I have used waterstones and absolutely hated them. I can't stand the dish that they get all too fast imho. Others think that is no big deal and get great results with them. Anyway, I've rambled on too long. Hope this helps someone get sharper tools without thinking they have to spend the big bucks.

[Bob Smalser]

OK...but for the price of that fancy, fine-grit auto body paper over his first year or so he can buy one heck of a good fine stone...either novaculite or water....

...and still use the strop.

[Dean Baumgartner]

OK...but for the price of that fancy, fine-grit auto body paper over his first year or so he can buy one heck of a good fine stone...either novaculite or water....

...and still use the strop.


Bob,
I had one of the posts in the Neander section. I made my first attempt at the scary sharp thing. The sandpaper I bought was 2 sheets each from 220 to 1000. I used about 1/16 of each sheet and was able to do a plane iron and chisel. The paper is still good on all grits. Probably can get another couple of chisels from it. Total cost for sandpaper was $2.50. I know the finer papers get more expensive but up through 1000 was fairly in-expensive per tool sharpened. The key to getting better life out of the sand paper is to keep it clean. I blew it off with compressed air after every 10 or 15 strokes. I've done oil stones and water stones and for the little cost of sandpaper versus the time taken to dress stones or re-work tools that aren't flat becaus of dished stones I'll never go back.


Just my opinion.

Dean

[Lee Schierer]

I became a convert to the "Scary Sharp" method a few years ago. At a Five Barns picnic, there were several hunks of 3/8" plate glass being given out and I grabbed one. I invested in a Veritas sharpening jig and also about $6.00 in sandpapers up to 2000 grit and a can of spray adhesive. I attacked an old hand plane iron just to see what I could do. It took about 30 minutes to go from dull to super sharp. I get shavings thin enough to read through. The plane sounds like tearing paper and it goes across the surface. I was hooked. Ever hand tool with a cutting edge in my shop has been sharpened with this method. I use my hand tools now more than ever. As far as investment goes, I think I've spent less than $10 on sandpaper.

[JayStPeter]

I use scary sharp and am planning on getting some stones. It's not that it is overly expensive. It's just a hassle. I think it cost around $25 to get started as the glass place gave me a pretty good size piece for free from their trash pile.

It's a hassle for 2 reasons. First, I seem to run out of one grit or another as I usually buy it in small quantities. Also, keeping a large(ish) piece of glass around in the shop is a pain as you need someplace to put it where it won't get broken. In my case, that usually means store it ouside the shop somewhere :cool:

My current plan is to get a couple DMT stones and a couple finer grit Shaptons. I'd rather deal with glass/paper than water baths etc.

Jay