Sharpening with Waterstones

[Brett Bobo]

I just switched from sharpening with sandpaper to the world of waterstones, with which I'm getting good results. I have the set of Norton waterstones, minus the 220 stone, so typically, how many passes should be made on each stone, 1000, 4000, and 8000? Some of the plane blades I'm sharpening haven't seen sharp in a while but generally speaking, they're not in bad enough shape to require grinding, just a little work with 80 grit sandpaper does the job well enough.

Also, how wet do the stones need to stay while sharpening? How do you store your stones for weekend-type use, e.g. submerged in water, wrapped in a damp cloth, etc.? How frequent do you re-flatten the stones, such as every other sharpening?

If anyone would like to share some photos, I'd be interested in seeing a setup or station for using the waterstones to control the water and to hold the stones.

Thanks in advance,
Brett

[Jim Koepke]

The first one is always the most.

Do not think in the way of formulas as to how many strokes on each stone. Instead work on each stone until the blade isn't going to have any more improvement from that stone.

Hold the blade so the line of the edge is under a light and oriented left to right. Keep the edge on this axis and rotate the blade. If you see any light reflected from the edge, it still needs work. Do this with a dull blade so that you can see the edge diminish as you work it. Also note that if you are pulling a burr, it needs to be removed to be able to clearly judge the edge visually.

My blades are usually sharpened before they get real dull. Usually just a bit of touch up on the 4000 and a little less on the 8000 as long as they do not have a nick. I also use a leather strop on my bench to touch up chisel and gouge blades.

My stones are usually flattened when a blade is not moving the water over its full width. For this a few passes on the back side gets it wet, then watch the water on the back side of the blade as the blade is being honed. You may also see places on the stone where the water remains due to low spots.

When living in a warmer climate my stones would stay in a tub of water. Now that my shop sometimes gets below freezing they are kept dry. My shop has a small bench that is only used for sharpening. There is a rubber matt there to keep the water in one place. It is an automotive floor matt that was bought at Target. We looked at kitchen, bath and automotive for the cheapest matt and automotive won the day.

My 8000 stone does not need soaking. The 1000 and the 4000 require about 5 minutes submerged to work well. An old water bottle has a very small hole drilled in the cap and is usually full of water to keep the stones wet. I like to keep them very wet.

Others will surely have different opinions on this. As long as it works, something must be getting done correctly.

jtk

[Johnny Kleso]

Always use your eyes to see if its sharp..
If you have an eye loupe or head set use it.

When sharpening you have the cutting edge down and the back up..
Before sharpening the edge sharpen the back..
When sharpening the edge you will see a feathered edge form (some call it a wire edge) very very thin metal hanging on the intersection of the two sides..

When you see this you know your ready to remove the feather, I do 5 strokes back 5 strokes edge 3-4 times till I can't see the feather..
Then I switch stones..

When you switch you might not see the feathered edge again unless you remove more metal than you need to but by eye check your scratch pattern to see if you can tell the difference in finish of the stones edge.. When you think the edge is good enough do the 5n5 again before switching stones..


Also always finish with a 5n5 method..

PS: 5n5 works for me see what number of strokes works for you or the number of sets might be higher or lower..

[Chris True]

The number of strokes varies as the time between re-grinding becomes longer and the micro bevel gets wider. I have a 1,000 / 6,000 combo stone + an 8,000 Norton. A fresh blade with a 25 degree primary can take as little as 10 strokes on the 1,000 @ 30 degree's to feel the burr on the back. Once you feel the burr you are done, 10 or 15 strokes on each higher grit then a little work on the back on the 8K and the job is done. Total time a minute or two. As that micro bevel gets wider it takes longer. When it starts taking too long re-grind the primary...

[Jim Barrett]

As Chris mentioned...once you feel a burr all the way across the blade you are done. Now the finer the stone the smaller the burr will be....

Jim

[Gary Hodgin]

Waterstones get out of flat quickly. I check them in between sharpening by placing pencil marks along the stone for reference and then flatten on a granite surface with 400g-600g wet/dry paper. (Be sure to wash the stone throughly after flattening on wet/dry paper or else you stone could become contaminated with the grit off the paper.) I have also used a DMT diamond stone to flatten and check for flatness.
Try to use as much of the stone as you can when sharpening so the wear will even out as much as possible. In addition to better performance, checking frequently seems to save time because it takes a while to flatten a stone that's significantly out of flat.

[Joe A Faulkner]

... When living in a warmer climate my stones would stay in a tub of water. Others will surely have different opinions on this. As long as it works, something must be getting done correctly. ...


You might check the instructions that came with your Norton stones. I purchased a few Norton stones recently and the instructions state that these stones should not be stored in a water bath.

[Johnny Kleso]

PS: For Water control and MS control I use a large sheet of Buna Rubber about 1/8"x 16" x 36" I lay this on top of my work bench..
I bought mine at eBay, its pretty easy to find rubber sheets there..

The rubber works well as a holder and stops stones from sliding..

[Terry Beadle]

As stated above, it's not the number of strokes... it's the burr that's most important. If you've created the burr, you've made the cutting edge as sharp as it can be and it's ready for the next level of stone. If the final stone is an 8000 grit, you don't need to strop but if it's 6000 or less, a strop will help.

I use spray bottles of empty 409 or such to spray the stones both when first prepped and while flattening or restoreing cutting surface for the naga stone. Frank Klause uses a bit of rag nailed to the end of a stick. He dips it in a water bowl or tank, and applies it to the water stone surface. Simple.

I highly recommend one of those office desk lamps that have a magnifying ring. Then buy some of those $2 glasses from the Dollar store, mag 2+. That will give you very good vision of the cutting edge and you'll be able to spot the burr on the higher grit stones level.

Flatten more often than you think. Use the naga on 4000 grit and above stones to keep the surface cutting clean. Spray the water and don't let the cutting surface of the stone get too dry.

Water stones work great.

Strokes are generally made parallel to the blade but there's benefit from a some strokes horizontal to the blade ( on the bevel ). Stanley, the Japanese master, has a horizontal blade sharpening jig that demonstrates this technique...but I think goes a little too far. He even advises a exceedingly lite stroke on the very tip of the cutting edge 90 degrees to the body of the blade. This kind of stroke makes the saw tooth effect be reduced. He then proceeds to do the final honing. Even so, I'd get quite a bit of practice at water stone use before experimenting with that technique.

David Charlesworth demonstrates the use of parallel strokes alternated with horizontal strokes to give you great visual feedback when preparing the flat back. His video on blade preparation for planes as well as his other one on preparing chisels is excellent IMO.

Best of all....enjoy the shavings and the reward of a truely sharp edge tool in action !