what are you sharpening your PM-V11s with?

[miguel bernardo]

Hi and thanks for reading! I will buy some PM-V11 blades for my veritas planes. My sharpenig setup consists of a DMT black and blue diamond stone, Shapton Pros 600 and 1000, Naniwa Chosera 2000 and Naniwa superstones 5000 and 8000 (it wasn´t planed to be a "multicultural" setup, i kept experimenting with different brands and ended up with these - in the beginning i was hoping to have just two stones, wishful thinking...). Will any of these be good for them? the superstones are a bit on the slow side....

thanks in advance,
Miguel.

[seth lowden]

DMT red, DMT green, Spyderco ultrafine, strop with CrO2 paste.

[Ryan Baker]

I use the same waterstones I use for most everything else (simple King waterstones). They work just fine. All of the things you listed will do the job just fine. You don't need anything special to sharpen PMV11.

[Stuart Tierney]

Any 'waterstone' will work.

Folks, don't be afraid of sharpening this steel. I've said it before and I'll say it again here, it's not scary stuff because it's not that 'hard'. You can file the stuff, so any abrasive you're currently using will work just fine.

What I've learned from my very limited use is this.

It seems to hold up very well, longer than A2 quite handily.

It sharpens to a good edge very easily, as easy as A2 at least. It takes a little more work to get a 'very good' edge, more than what an equivalent A2 blade needs but not much. I'd not like to coax that 'very good' edge out with anything that's marginal sharpening wise, either the gear used or the person doing the sharpening. It will not take a 'slice space/time' edge at all. Just won't do it, not with anything I have at my disposal (which is a heck of a lot more than you have, believe me). This is not a fatal flaw per se, but do know that you'll never win a "my blade's sharper than yours!" contest with PMV-11. Unless they've got the same steel...

So please, don't worry about sharpening it at all. It's easy, just like it says on the can.


These are my thoughts, yours may differ and I don't care.

(And no, I'm not buying any of it to actually use for my own amusement. Purely a work related expense.)

Stu.

[Mike Henderson]

I sharpen mine the same way I sharpen all my other chisels - and it works fine. No special equipment required.

Mike

[Derek Cohen]

The blades that are honed on a hollow (chisels and 25 degree BU plane blades) are treated the same way as any other blade - either Pro Shaptons or Sigma. Nothing special needed. I finish with a strop on plain leather and the edge is exceptionally sharp. No doubt this is due to the fine grain of the PM steel, unlike that of A2.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Curt Putnam]

Just got my PM-VII chisels. Also just got my Sigma Power Ceramics (the set Stu has on his home page). Decided to commit to good stones to go with my Veritas and Blue Spruce chisels. I just went with what Stu recommended. As he said, I'm not finding the steel to require anything special - which is very good indeed. When your irons arrive just start rubbing on your strop and then go to work.

[Stuart Tierney]

I finish with a strop on plain leather and the edge is exceptionally sharp. No doubt this is due to the fine grain of the PM steel, unlike that of A2.

Regards from Perth

Derek

You see, this is what I can't quite work out.

Everyone is telling me that the edge created is really, really, REALLY sharp, but the edge I get isn't that sharp. Sharp yes, sharp enough to do most any woodworking without too much trouble. Actually, no sharper than A2 is capable of, which is perfectly adequate in it's own right in most cases.

Maybe I'm getting too used to the steel from around here...

I'll set up a testing rig soon enough and find out for sure. I'm not expecting my opinion to change, other than becoming a verified test result.

Stu.

[Derek Cohen]

What can I say Stu - you suck at sharpening :)

Really. It's time you came over for a lesson, or two. I'll even throw in the beer.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[miguel bernardo]

OK, so i think i´m good then. Derek, if i ever pass by Perth, i´ll try to get a sharpening lesson, if it´s not possible... beer will suffice! Stu, BTW, i´m really loving my koyamaichi chisel, thanks for the effort on sending it to the other side of the world.

Thanks all!

[Tony Shea]

I recently got the 25* blade for use in my LV BU jack. I sharpened it to 28* for use of my shooting board and other end grain work. I must say that I feel it performs a little better than my original A2 blade on end grain. It does seem a touch sharper and does not need as much touch-up after some work shooting, which is what the claims were suggesting but had to be a bit skeptical.

I was able to get the blade super sharp off of my Shapton Pro stones with very little trouble. But this was putting a small micro-bevel on therefore should require very little work anyway.

I do agree Stu that they will not get as sharp as my Tsunesburo plane blades, but then again I have nothing else at my disposal that will either.

So far I am extremely impressed with the PM-V11. I also have a chisel in PM-V11 but have not had the need to put it to the test.

[David Weaver]

I had no issues with the iron out of the box using only a shapton 15k to polish the back and work a gradual microbevel on the stone. It feels just a little bit more gummy than A2, but it got as sharp as anything else I've put on the hone save old carbon steel or white steel. Consciously spending a little bit more time on the finish stone seems to run the smootz on the edge off just fine.

i haven't put enough miles on the iron to know much about its durability yet, but it doesn't sound like the jury is out on that. At the price, can't complain. Certainly not nearly as boogery on the stone as M2 or as the muji steel (which feels a lot like M2), and it doesn't load the stone like m2 does.