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Thread: Where are you with the unicorn sharpening method?

  1. #16
    I find the unicorn method generally much faster than your approach. Ten strokes or so freehand on 1200 grit film until I get a burr, take the burr off with 5000 grit film, buff on the wheel, and finish with a few strokes on the back again on the strop. Derek is right that after a number of honings you need to recreate the geometry but once you do, it's the same procedure. I don't have lots of experience with hand tools, and I've struggled to get consistent results free hand. Now I just use a jig to set the geometry on a coarse film. Adding in the time for setting up the jig, I find for chisels it' a much faster process for me.

  2. Unicorn sharpening? How do people come up with these silly names? A few years from now someone else will come up with the best way ever and everyone will praise it. And then, a few years later the same thing happens all over again. As for me, I will keep sharpening as I have always done. I gets me the result I want quickly and efficiently.

  3. #18
    Agreed, I had to look it up

  4. #19
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elise Anna Boer View Post
    Unicorn sharpening? How do people come up with these silly names? A few years from now someone else will come up with the best way ever and everyone will praise it. And then, a few years later the same thing happens all over again. As for me, I will keep sharpening as I have always done. I gets me the result I want quickly and efficiently.
    Next will be the Phoenix sharpening system which is the same as this that someone has resurrected from the flames of the past.

    Then maybe the Griffin system.

    Then there could be the Serpent system where we use snake and lizard skin for stropping.

    This could evolve into a discussion about how 'snake oil' is the best for use on oilstones.

    Finally back to the Dragon system where we drag our edges on a stone.



    jtk
    Last edited by Jim Koepke; 07-05-2021 at 12:55 AM.
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  5. #20
    Sharpening can be either a quick and easy movement to enable you to get the results you need from an edge tool or it can become a semi-religious fetish. I vote for the former rather than the latter which is why I tend to be reticent to take part in any sharpening threads. YMMV
    Dave Anderson

    Chester, NH

  6. #21
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elise Anna Boer View Post
    Unicorn sharpening? How do people come up with these silly names? A few years from now someone else will come up with the best way ever and everyone will praise it. And then, a few years later the same thing happens all over again. As for me, I will keep sharpening as I have always done. I gets me the result I want quickly and efficiently.
    Oh, you should have been around when A2 tool steel made almost everybody swoon, or when backorders for Clark & Williams single-iron planes (who needs a cap iron?) practically put the firm out of business. And then somebody happened to remember that planes come with a cap iron. And then Hock 01, Hock cryo A2, Lee Valley's PM-V11, then comes the ruler trick, then the Grimsdale Method, which is the same as Paul Sellers' Method, and now comes grinding low and steepening at the very tip on a buffer.

    So, yeah, your instincts are dead on. I'd say wake me up when it's over, but it's never over.
    Last edited by Charles Guest; 07-04-2021 at 8:42 PM.

  7. #22
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    Before a few here decide to throw the baby out with the bathwater, set the mocking tone aside and understand that the Unicorn Method is different from other sharpening strategies, is useful, and has a place alongside other methods.

    What the Unicorn Method is not: it is not a new way of sharpening for all. It is not about speedier sharpening. It is not about sharper than sharp. It is not the new Nirvana. As I mentioned in my earlier post, it is to be used selectively.

    What the Unicorn Method is: the strategy is to add a “nano” - even smaller than micro - tertiary bevel of around 45 degrees. The aim here is to create a more durable edge for those blades where the steel is soft and folds too quickly. Or, if you wish to beef up the sharp end of a bevel deliberately kept low for easier entry, such as a chisel paring only. The high nano tertiary angle does this.

    It is possible to do so without resorting to a power strop, that is, by using stones. David Weaver, who first posted the method, described how he used a soft loose cloth wheel as he found this quick and reliable. I concur - it is easy to overdo the tertiary nano bevel on a hard strop. Another “not”: it is not created on a hard strop, such as a leather wheel. A leather wheel is too aggressive. A soft cloth wheel is delicate.

    A similar method was described to me about 15 years ago by Harrelson Stanley, when we were discussing side sharpening. He referred to this a “jointing the blade”, which involved delicately making a single side stroke with the blade held near vertical. This was done after honing, and not as a preparatory step.

    The Unicorn Method was named after that mythical animal, because it is seems to be a myth that one can get a long lasting sharp edge together with ease of sharpening. The method is designed for cheap or soft steel, especially chisels. It is not to replace sharpening methods generally.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  8. #23
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    How about we Ruler Trick a PM-V11 Grimsdale'd bevel, finish it off with a Unicorn Tip or perhaps the Harrelson Swipe and top it all off with a K&K cap iron setting.

    All trademarked, of course.
    Last edited by Charles Guest; 07-05-2021 at 5:24 AM.

  9. #24
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    Quote Originally Posted by Charles Guest View Post
    How about we Ruler Trick a PM-V11 Grimsdale'd bevel, finished it off with a Unicorn Tip or perhaps the Harrelson Swipe and top it all off with a K&K cap iron setting.

    All trademarked, of course.
    This is why my main argument about sharpening for beginners is they should start with a single bevel whether with a hollow grind or a flat grind.

    It is very easy to diagnose what might have gone wrong when one keeps it simple.

    With half a dozen different tricks, tips or swipes, where does one start correcting if the blade still isn't sharp?

    My philosophy is to learn to consistently get to sharp first, then play with the modifiers.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  10. #25
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    You are being sucked in, Jim. Charles is just stirring.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  11. #26
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    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Koepke View Post
    This is why my main argument about sharpening for beginners is they should start with a single bevel whether with a hollow grind or a flat grind.

    It is very easy to diagnose what might have gone wrong when one keeps it simple.

    With half a dozen different tricks, tips or swipes, where does one start correcting if the blade still isn't sharp?

    My philosophy is to learn to consistently get to sharp first, then play with the modifiers.

    jtk

    I agree and hope that my admittedly weak attempt at parody/satire might illustrate points you're making. At some juncture it does all seem to become self-parodying, but others will disagree if it does at all, or if it does, when.

    A lot of these techniques are just variations on a theme, virtually none are new, some more effective than others, some incompatible with others. It all just becomes a muddle to pudd'n brained guys like me. I'm sure there's a protocol for when and when not to deploy all of these little trucs (pardon moi), and it makes perfect sense to more than a few people. As it turns out, I am not one of them. I thought I was once. But I was wrong. Moral: take anything I say with a grain of Gros Sel De Guerande.
    Last edited by Charles Guest; 07-05-2021 at 6:26 AM.

  12. I remember when everyone raved about Lie Nielsen A2 chisels so I bought one out of curiosity. That was money down the drain

  13. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elise Anna Boer View Post
    I remember when everyone raved about Lie Nielsen A2 chisels so I bought one out of curiosity. That was money down the drain
    They’ve worked just fine for me for more than a decade. Don’t blame the tool. Examine the technique.

  14. #29
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    Quote Originally Posted by Elise Anna Boer View Post
    I remember when everyone raved about Lie Nielsen A2 chisels so I bought one out of curiosity. That was money down the drain
    While not my first choice, there is little wrong with LN, LV and Blue Spruce A2 steel.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  15. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Derek Cohen View Post
    Before a few here decide to throw the baby out with the bathwater, set the mocking tone aside and understand that the Unicorn Method is different from other sharpening strategies, is useful, and has a place alongside other methods.

    What the Unicorn Method is not: it is not a new way of sharpening for all. It is not about speedier sharpening. It is not about sharper than sharp. It is not the new Nirvana. As I mentioned in my earlier post, it is to be used selectively.

    What the Unicorn Method is: the strategy is to add a “nano” - even smaller than micro - tertiary bevel of around 45 degrees. The aim here is to create a more durable edge for those blades where the steel is soft and folds too quickly. Or, if you wish to beef up the sharp end of a bevel deliberately kept low for easier entry, such as a chisel paring only. The high nano tertiary angle does this.

    It is possible to do so without resorting to a power strop, that is, by using stones. David Weaver, who first posted the method, described how he used a soft loose cloth wheel as he found this quick and reliable. I concur - it is easy to overdo the tertiary nano bevel on a hard strop. Another “not”: it is not created on a hard strop, such as a leather wheel. A leather wheel is too aggressive. A soft cloth wheel is delicate.

    A similar method was described to me about 15 years ago by Harrelson Stanley, when we were discussing side sharpening. He referred to this a “jointing the blade”, which involved delicately making a single side stroke with the blade held near vertical. This was done after honing, and not as a preparatory step.

    The Unicorn Method was named after that mythical animal, because it is seems to be a myth that one can get a long lasting sharp edge together with ease of sharpening. The method is designed for cheap or soft steel, especially chisels. It is not to replace sharpening methods generally.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    Thank you for writing this. I had already come to the conclusion that Unicorning was going to confined to my older, yard sale type chisels and possibly my Sorby registered and Narec mortise chisels. My Blue Spruce paring and Veritas PM-V11 chisels will stay on the Sigma Power Select II stones from Stu.

    Given the not always pleasing results about which I have read, my plane blades will stay on the stones until I have more experience and understanding with the method.

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