Sharpening with King Stones: Advice Needed

[Jim Foster]

I use King water stones, 800, 1200, 6000. I was sharpening the blade for my shoulder plane last night for the first time in a pretty long time and was quickly reminded of the challenge I have when using the King stones. (could be any water-stone for all I know, so I think my challenge is more about technique than brand.) My shoulder plane blade is not hollow ground, and I tend to hold the bevel against the stone with two thumbs and use my fingers to help support the main blade as I pull and push the blade across the stone. I tend to get a lot of chatter, and to fix this, I end up sliding the blade sideways, or close to sideways across the stone. This works, but I can't imagine everyone gets chatter and uses sideways motion to sharpen with King water-stones.

This also happens with hollow ground bevels, but not quite as much. So far I've hand-held when sharpening and register the bevel against the stone and apply whatever pressure seems to work for the given plane blade or chisel. I'm considering using one of the fixtures that rolls over the stone so I can use secondary bevels more accurately, but so far, I use a single bevel and sharpen as described.

My stones are soakers, and sit in boxes filled with water when not in use. I use a DMT stone to flatten them. Maybe I need to get a more pronounced slurry before sharpening? Any advice will be appreciated.

[Chris Vandiver]

You don't need to(or want to) soak your King 6000. Just put a little water(or a wet paper towel) on top of the stone while your using your 800 and 1200 stones. This will be enough of a soak for your finish stones.

Technique is your problem, not the stones. Try using your index fingers down low on the blade instead of your thumbs(the term "all thumbs" comes to mind here:)). The blade should be slightly skewed to the stone, for stability. The narrower the blade, the closer you will come to side sharpening. When sharpening with the blade skewed to the stone. the leading edge tends to wear more than the trailing edge causing the cutting edge to become out of square. Slightly more pressure on the trailing edge compensates for this. Shoulder plane blades are good candidates for a sharpening jig.

[David Weaver]

If I were in your shoes trying to sharpen the entire flat bevel, I would do the flat bevel with the 800 stone and move to the 6000 (slurry or not, doesn't matter), lift the back end of the iron about 2 more degrees and just do two pull strokes (not a lot of strokes, because you'll just have to do more work the next time with the 800 stone), and then work the back of the iron to your satisfaction. Lifting the handle on the fine stone will alleviate skipping, and alleviate you from polishing a lot of the iron that never touches the wood.

It should take about 1/3rd as long or less and you'll have no skipping.

You definitely don't need new stones. I had exactly the same set of stones when I started, and the very first edge was hair shaving.

I never soaked the finisher (it will slurry by itself if you do) of that set, only the red stones.

[Ryan Baker]

For now, I am going to recommend that you DO contiinue to sharpen the entire bevel (unless you switch to using a jig -- in which case do whatever you want). Working the larger surface makes it much easier to maintain the angle until you have more experience. It may take slightly longer, but it is still very fast to sharpen the whole bevel ... especially for a shoulder plane iron which isn't that big to start with.

Your description of how you are holding the iron makes it sound like you have it oriented with the cutting edge of the plane toward you. You may find it easier to turn it around the other way. Put your thumbs under the back side of the iron. Use your fingers on top over the bevel. Lock your grip on the iron and move your whole body back and forth instead of trying to do all the motion with your arms. That will make it easier to keep the angle consistent. Don't push too hard. Don't have too much water on the stone -- it can hydroplane over the stone. If the chatter is only when pushing into the edge, you are probably lifting up a bit and having it dig in.

Work slowly at first, checking that you are keeping the bevel flat each time you change direction. (This is where it helps to work the whole bevel for now. You can feel whether it is on the bevel or tipped.) If you come off the bevel, you aren't keeping your hold constant enough. Once you are good at maintaining the angle on the full bevel, you will find it easier to get good results when you lift it up a few degrees and work on a secondary bevel. Keep practicing.

[Jim Koepke]

With flat stones and a flat bevel you may be experiencing stiction. This is static friction. The surface tension of the water is acting on the two flat surfaces to keep them together. When my stones are freshly flattened and a flat back is placed on the stone, the stone can be lifted by lifting the blade. This only happens on my blades with a large area of bevel. My solution for these is to lift a little and make a secondary bevel.

On my shoulder plane blade, my solution is to go slow. My right hand holds the "tang" of the blade while one or two fingers on my left hand is applying light pressure toward the bevel of the blade.

A wetting agent like dishwashing soap in the water may help, though it may not be a good idea on some stones. My experience with wetting agents has never been with sharpening stones. Maybe someone else has used it on water stones.

jtk

[Harold Burrell]

You don't need to(or want to) soak your King 6000.

Really? Does that apply to anything above 6000 as well?

What about other brand stones???

[Jim Foster]

Thanks guys, I will work on trying the suggestions offered.

[Ryan Baker]

Really? Does that apply to anything above 6000 as well?

What about other brand stones???

Generally yes, you don't want/need to soak polishing stones 6000 and above. But that doesn't apply to all types of stones. For example, Stu recommends soaking the Sigma stones, even the 6000 and 13000.

[Ryan Baker]

With flat stones and a flat bevel you may be experiencing stiction.

I agree about the stiction. Stiction is more of a problem on the finer stones when the surface is polished. If you are having the chattering even on pull strokes, then stiction may be a problem. A drop of dish soap might indeed help. I sharpen on King stones regularly and don't really have any trouble with stiction though (except for the diamond levelling stone).

[Stuart Tierney]

Generally yes, you don't want/need to soak polishing stones 6000 and above. But that doesn't apply to all types of stones. For example, Stu recommends soaking the Sigma stones, even the 6000 and 13000.

Actually, you can soak the finer Sigma stones, but it's not at all essential and I find myself using them drier and drier as time goes one.

To a point, I'm regularly using them without any water anywhere near them. Including the #1000 range stones.


Nice to have that kind of flexibility in one's sharpening gear. ;)


As for the King #6000, I find it's a little nicer when it's been wet for a few minutes, just so the surface takes on a consistent appearance instead of the splotchy half-soaked look. Completely soaking, never done that and not sure I'd want to either.

Stu.