More Pleasant Chisel Back Flattening

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

I am in the process of flattening the backs on several chisels that I have had for, in some cases, a very long time, and flattening the backs is not all that much fun, as you all know. Currently I am working on an Extra Coarse DMT Dia-Sharp. It is too cold to work outside, so I am working on my desk.

The other day I was listening to Youtube while I worked on a chisel, and by chance I selected "Royal Marines-Colonel Bogey." The band is marching and has some infantry marching behind them, and they play the Colonel Bogey march.

Hey that made the flattening a whole lot more pleasant. I find my self keeping time to the March with the chisel on the plate part of the time. One time through the march is about 5 minutes, so each time through I stop to check progress.

After four to six times through the march I have had enough chisel back flattening for one evening.

The march is actually a pretty nice piece of music. The euphonium section has really nice counter melodies, and in one section the melody, through the piece.

Helps the flattening process be a lot more pleasant.

What do you all do to make those type of activities go faster and more pleasantly?

Regards,

Stew

[Jim Koepke]

It has been a long time since my last chisel flattening. Usually in the shop my music is playing from my iPod through the radio. It is a pretty eclectic mix.

426792

The light is reflecting off of a 4' long hunk of granite. With a strip of PSA backed abrasive paper it makes back flattening go pretty quickly. Some of my chisels got pretty warm going back and forth on that thing.

jtk

[Anuj Prateek]

I flattened bunch of Stanley (new) and Narex chisels on EC DMT stone. Did it while watching TV. I do it by counting. Something like I will keep flattening till I count to 500, and won't look at the back till then. If it's not flat then counting starts again.

After few evenings, screwed up DMT stone (it does not cut good anymore) and aching hands, I had all of them flat.

Now I use sandpaper on granite for initial flattening. I start at 220 and drop to 150 and even 80 if need be. I go up to 400 grit and sometimes higher if some cut piece is lying around. Then I switch to DMT F and EF. I flattened a 2" Narex and few plane blades this way, and it went considerably faster. I not flattening on DMT again (initial).

There is nothing that can make it pleasant, except reduction in time.

[Hilton Ralphs]

If the back is concave then you only need to flatten the first half inch or so.

[ken hatch]

First rule, no matter how much you want to put the cutters to work, is no more than one cutter a week. The second is, stop when tired/bored and go do something else. The third is be honest, sometimes a cutter needs grinding back, decide if you can live with a less than perfect back on that cutter until in the natural progression of use and sharpening the problem is fixed. If not, suck it up Bubba and see rule one and two or grind the bevel back.

"Red Dirt" radio on Pandora helps as does Sweet Maggie Dog at my feet.

ken

[Andrew Pitonyak]

I just fire up the radio and see what is playing. I have to admit, though, I usually use sandpaper rather than my diamond stones for this. I just purchased this thing, which comes with a nice stand, which gets my fingers away from the base

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00HXHKW9W

[steven c newman]

I'm usually done before the guitar solos....besides, the washer and dryer would just drown them out...

[mike stenson]

I'll put something on the stereo, maybe have a beer and talk at the dogs while I'm doing it. They always commiserate.

[Stew Denton]

Well Progress is being made.

I have switched to adhesive back sand paper on a granite flattening plate like Anju does. It is going faster, but still slow.

I use what one of the fellows from quite a while back suggested, Mirka Gold....good stuff. I was using 180 but bought some 120 and switched to that. It seems to hang in there quite a while before getting dull. I start out with light pressure, but as the sandpaper gets a bit duller increase the pressure, and finally end up with a lot of pressure. The sandpaper seems to keep cutting, using that progression, for quite a while. I think it is cheaper than going with the diamond plates, as the diamond plate gets dull too quickly, for the price.

Like Ken suggested, I tend to go at it about 1/2 hour at a shot. On Saturday I may have 3 or 4 sessions during the day. Progress is being made, but I have lots of chisels to do, chisels for carpentry (old Stanley 60s mostly), chisels for woodworking with a mallet, paring chisels, and now 3 mortising chisels.....but I am getting a closer little by little. At least I think I may be 2/3rds of the way done.

Stew

[ken hatch]

Well Progress is being made.

I have switched to adhesive back sand paper on a granite flattening plate like Anju does. It is going faster, but still slow.

I use what one of the fellows from quite a while back suggested, Mirka Gold....good stuff. I was using 180 but bought some 120 and switched to that. It seems to hang in there quite a while before getting dull. I start out with light pressure, but as the sandpaper gets a bit duller increase the pressure, and finally end up with a lot of pressure. The sandpaper seems to keep cutting, using that progression, for quite a while. I think it is cheaper than going with the diamond plates, as the diamond plate gets dull too quickly, for the price.

Like Ken suggested, I tend to go at it about 1/2 hour at a shot. On Saturday I may have 3 or 4 sessions during the day. Progress is being made, but I have lots of chisels to do, chisels for carpentry (old Stanley 60s mostly), chisels for woodworking with a mallet, paring chisels, and now 3 mortising chisels.....but I am getting a closer little by little. At least I think I may be 2/3rds of the way done.

Stew

Stew

Hang in there, even if it seems it will never get done. Smart to limit time at any one secession, it is real easy to get bored and/or careless and make more work for yourself.

ken

[steven c newman]

428068
A before...1-1/4 wide chisel, have all sorts of "issues"..
428069
Handle issues, collar issues, loose in the socket...and, who needed a cambered edge?
The after?
428070
Back flatten, handle fixed..
428071
A single 25 degree bevel, straight and square across.
428072
handle? usable...the edge?
428073
Pared away a bit of saw markings,,,also got a 1/4" wide cut on my finger, that I didn't even feel...
Honed to 2500 grit, then a clean strop...about a half hour, start to finish..counting the bandaid. Wound up working on 7 chisels that evening...first 6 took 40 minutes..
428074
Some needed a little more work, than the others...
428075
may work on the narrow ones later...

[lowell holmes]

I use a diamond hone.

[ken hatch]

Stew,

Here is a set I've been working on for several weeks. The ones that are bevel up in the box have been sharpened, bevel down are still waiting to have the backs flatten and sharpened.

428086

As I've said before, it is better to take time to do correctly. At the rate I'm working on these I'll be finished in 2 to 3 more weeks and then it will be just a visit to the stones when needed.

ken

[Eric Rathhaus]

I luv my Mirka ROS!

[Eric Rathhaus]

Stew - I'm slogging through a 2 3/8 plane iron rehab so I can feel your pain. I work from home so I try to take a break from my real job and go give the iron 200 strokes a couple of times per day. I'm repurposing some trizact sheets that aren't that large so 200 strokes doesn't amount to much.

[ken hatch]

I luv my Mirka ROS!

I can not think of many ways that would ruin a cutter faster. Of course I expect YMMV.

ken

[carey mitchell]

Hi All,

I am in the process of flattening the backs on several chisels that I have had for, in some cases, a very long time, and flattening the backs is not all that much fun, as you all know. Currently I am working on an Extra Coarse DMT Dia-Sharp. It is too cold to work outside, so I am working on my desk.

The other day I was listening to Youtube while I worked on a chisel, and by chance I selected "Royal Marines-Colonel Bogey." The band is marching and has some infantry marching behind them, and they play the Colonel Bogey march.

Hey that made the flattening a whole lot more pleasant. I find my self keeping time to the March with the chisel on the plate part of the time. One time through the march is about 5 minutes, so each time through I stop to check progress.

After four to six times through the march I have had enough chisel back flattening for one evening.

The march is actually a pretty nice piece of music. The euphonium section has really nice counter melodies, and in one section the melody, through the piece.

Helps the flattening process be a lot more pleasant.

What do you all do to make those type of activities go faster and more pleasantly?

Regards,

Stew


I still love the military marches, and have a couple of CD's (yeah, I still use CD's); they do tend to force me into a rhythm, whatever I am doing.

[Eric Rathhaus]

not for my irons. for other sanding needs

[steven c newman]

For those that do their sharpening in slow motion..."Bonnets au Poils"....from 1805......the same from 1914 is usually played way too fast.

Strop is usually best when "Grenadiers Du Parte" plays...Song lasts about the same amount of time as the strop work should.

200 strokes? YIKES...isn't that like the old "200 lashes" the old British Royal Navy dished out....as punishment ( usually a death sentence...)

[Doug Dawson]

I just fire up the radio and see what is playing.

If you put your music collection on shuffle play, make sure you don't have any Ramones or Pistols in there.

As I moved further and further away from town, the songs on the radio got slower and slower...