Dave Houseal
12-06-2010, 10:29 AM
Sometime in the last few weeks, I read another sharpening thread, and somebody in the thread suggested sharpening freehand as the way to go, and said it isn't nearly as difficult as you might think.
So to whomever offered up that bit of advise, I'd like to say thank you! Going guide free was a pleasure.
Sunday afternoon I ditched my Mk II honing guide and went free hand. It actually wasn't that hard to do. It took a little getting used to but I quickly realized that you can pretty much feel when you have the right angle in the way the edge slides across the stone.
It was sooo much faster. And I feel like I may have even got a better edge than with the guide as especially in my final honing I was able to quickly go back and forth between a few light strokes on the bevel and then a few light laps for the back.
I found that the plane irons were a little more difficult then the chisels, but I started to feel more comfortable as I went.
I'll probably hold onto my guide for now as I could see it being useful to kind of reset my angles as I may drift a bit over time. However I am hoping I'll be a little quicker to touch up my edges knowing it doesn't have to be quite the production that I'm used to.
So to whomever offered up that bit of advise, I'd like to say thank you! Going guide free was a pleasure.
Sunday afternoon I ditched my Mk II honing guide and went free hand. It actually wasn't that hard to do. It took a little getting used to but I quickly realized that you can pretty much feel when you have the right angle in the way the edge slides across the stone.
It was sooo much faster. And I feel like I may have even got a better edge than with the guide as especially in my final honing I was able to quickly go back and forth between a few light strokes on the bevel and then a few light laps for the back.
I found that the plane irons were a little more difficult then the chisels, but I started to feel more comfortable as I went.
I'll probably hold onto my guide for now as I could see it being useful to kind of reset my angles as I may drift a bit over time. However I am hoping I'll be a little quicker to touch up my edges knowing it doesn't have to be quite the production that I'm used to.