Chisel honing angle

[Jessica de Boer]

I sharpen my oire nomis freehand and keep the angle at 32 degrees. Some are a smidgeon higher but never lower. My atsu nomis have an angle of 34 degrees because they are meant for hard, heavy work. At these angles they don't chip and hold their edge for a long time. My usu nomi has an angle of 26 degrees.

[John C Cox]

Most likely - the average person will find that the vast majority of their chisels will end up around the same angle when doing similar work. You just have to experiment with larger or smaller bevel angles until you find what works in your hands. The reason it always seems to hone in around the same angle in the same person's hands is that the range of alloys and hardness which work right and sharpen well as a chisel is fairly small....

For me - that's right around 30 degrees for the vast bulk of what I do.. That's my "magic number"... For Stew and many others here - it's 25 degrees... And for others - it's up at 35 degrees... That's OK.... Your magic number depends on how you sharpen, the wood you work, the type of work you do, how you do the work, and such.....

The point isn't the number - it's the results.

The main caveat here, though, is that you have to have good steel that's properly heat treated.... If the edge rolls and rolls - as you keep chasing it up and up.... Well.... It might be the steel..... And if the steel chips and crumbles as you continue to chase it up and up - well... Maybe the steel just can't take your sharpening technique or maybe it's bad.... The point is - good steel will hit the magic point and it will be fine once you pass that critical angle.... Bad steel won't.

[Luke Dupont]

I don't measure angles precisely, but I sharpen most of my tools at around 25 degrees. If they start to chip, I bump that up a few degrees, or put a small temporary microbevel (if, for example, I'm doing a bunch of mortising). 30 degrees I find a bit too high for paring, so I regrind all of my tools lower than that when I get them. I use one set of chisels for everything, so being able to get the angle low enough to pare well but high enough to chop well is important. I do more paring than chopping though, being that I'm in an apartment.

Western tools I sharpen with a convex bevel ending at my prescribed angle (usually 25).. Japanese tools I tend to sharpen flat, as I can't really get a consistent convex bevel due to the differences in hardness -- which incidentally makes it easier to sharpen them flat anyway. I generally don't use micro bevels.

[Chris Parks]

Hollow grind at 25 degrees, put chisel on stone, lift slightly and go at it. i haven't got a clue what the angle is but it works for me and I doubt any two chisels have exactly the same angle on them.

[David Eisenhauer]

Exactly Chris and oh so easy to do a quick touchup and back to work.

[Chris Parks]

I know sharpening threads have a way of taking off so I won't add any more except to say that I find all the precision that is generally quoted to be slightly bemusing. I wouldn't criticise anyone for it as I used to do the same but I find the way I do it now to be very fast and speed in sharpening is the whole point to me and for others it is the precision that works for them. Having sampled both ways I can detect no difference in chisel/blade performance so speed wins.

[Blair Swanson]

Chris, I agree with your point & see the logic. But for me free hand sharpening of a Gyuto knife, for example, is a tad more forgiving, in that you aren't paring or planing hardwood with it. For those (like myself) who must rely on a honing guide, exactness is more or less inherent in the process. If I freehand a chisel edge or plane iron - forget it. On the other side of the precision that you allude to, is angle of cut, which I tend to agree that it boils down to experience of tool application ( skill developed with repetition) . A good musician can make music with chopsticks.

Blair.

[Jim Koepke]

I know sharpening threads have a way of taking off so I won't add any more except to say that I find all the precision that is generally quoted to be slightly bemusing.

What precision? My guess is what is taking place is repetition of what was done before with variation thrown in when done freehand.

i haven't got a clue what the angle is but it works for me and I doubt any two chisels have exactly the same angle on them.

My guess is my parers might vary by as much as, if not more than, 5º through the set.

jtk