Looking For A Scary Sharp Tutorial

[Glen Blanchard]

Where can I find a step-by-step "meat and potatoes" article (or video) on the scary sharp system? I found an article on-line, but it reads more like a novelette than an instruction piece. I'm looking for just the basics without the cute narrative. :D

Thanks.

[Clint Jones]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yvJavgK6mo You dont have to use a grinder to start out you can just start out with a coarse grit like 80 or 120 to establish a bevel.

[Jon Toebbe]

That's a pretty good demonstration that you posted, Clint. Thanks for that! I love how the major woodworking magazines (and plenty of excellent woodworkers with a camera) are starting to post video tutorials online. It's been mentioned dozens of times here that written descriptions are nice, but what you really need is to see "it" (sharpening, sawing, etc.) demonstrated in person.

I'm a little surprised that he stopped at 320 grit, though I suppose the buffing wheel took care of the final polish. Hardboard would work for trying things out, but I'd want something a little harder underneath if you were planning to make this your primary sharpening setup. I tore through a couple of sheets of sandpaper when I was starting out learning how to sharpen freehand, but I didn't damage the marble tile I was backing it with at all.

Some (most?) folks like secondary bevel as well to speed things up. If you're going to try to learn freehand sharpening, I'd skip that -- a nice wide, flat primary makes for easy practice and good muscle memory.

[Glen Blanchard]

Klingspor sells a "sharpening starter set" that I am tempted to purchase. It only goes up to 1200 grit though. Would this suffice as my primary (read only) means of sharpening chisels? Is 1200 fine enough as a final step?

The following paragraph is from the Klingspor website......

The Sandpaper Sharpening Starter Kit contains 3 sheets of each grit: 80, 120, 320, 600, and 1200. Grits 80-320 are Aluminum Oxide heavyweight paper. Grits 600 and 1200 are Silicon Carbide Wet/Dry paper. All sheets have a sticky backing. The sheets measure 6" x 12".

[Tom Veatch]

Personally I believe 1200 is fine enough. But if you want to go finer, you can get much finer grits from places that supply finishing materials for auto body shops. I've taken it as far as 2000 grit, but I don't figure you gain much after you get a mirror finish.

[Wayne Wheeling]

Well, have been dabbling more with planes and chisels. Purchased a Lie-Nielson 60 1/2R Block Plane, a #5 Stanley and purchased a Lie-Nielson Bronze #4 today along with a 6pc set of Two-Cherries chisels in a Two-Cherries Leather pouch to go along with my Stanley chisels. Use a slow speed grinder and Sorby jigs for my turning tools, but went to Klingspor today and got a selection of different grit sandpaper and the Veritas MKII honing jig. Stopped by the Habitat Restore and they had 3 perfect pieces of glass. Just finished 2 of the Stanley chisels....Scary Sharp! Really does a good job. The guy at the store picked out my paper selection...pks of 5 sheets each in 7 grits.

[Will Blick]

to the OP.... sharpening is like woodworking, many different approaches.... you gotta find one that fits your style and budget....

As a general rule, the higher you go in grits, the sharper the edge becomes. This assumes good technique. At first, I was happy with 2k, but then learned how well, 8k does, then went to 15k shapton stones, now 30k shapton stones......

Every jump up in grit produces a noticeably sharper blade...sometimes it can be very useful, specially with difficult woods. I have never seen paper above ~2k grit... if you want to exceed this level, often you are forced to flat stones.

Then, of course, I had to step up to ~ 80k grit diamond paste....and gosh does that bevel shine :-) Sharpening is not conducive for those of us with OCD.

[Phillip Pattee]

This article from Fine Woodworking was my first introduction to the scary sharp method. It has a good comparison of wet stone, oil stone, and scary sharp. I sharpen my tools just like Dunbar does as described in this article. It works!

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/w00003.asp

[Mark Roderick]

Just to clarify one point, a 2000 grit sandpaper is roughly the equivalent of an 8000 grit waterstone.

[Lee Koepke]

Just to clarify one point, a 2000 grit sandpaper is roughly the equivalent of an 8000 grit waterstone.
i heard there is a 'chart' that shows the equivalencies. I have looked a bit (granted not TOO hard) for it, does someone have that info handy?

[Will Blick]

Mark, do you have any references regarding this conversion between sandpaper girt and waterstones?

Thanks

[Alejandro Balbis]

Hi,
2000 grit (CAMI, USA) is equivalent to a 2000-4000 water stone, the particle size is 6 microns. I have 3MM silicon carbide sand paper up to 2000, it is expensive but it is excellent and last longer than other cheaper brands. I have also the 0.5 micron paper that LeeValley sells, it is equivalent to a 15000 waterstone. I printed out the chart long time ago but I do not remember from where.
Alejandro