So, how do I sharpen chisles and plane blades and what not? I mean with an oil stone not a bench grinder. walk me through the WHOLE process.
“I’d rather be a hammer than a nail”
So, how do I sharpen chisles and plane blades and what not? I mean with an oil stone not a bench grinder. walk me through the WHOLE process.
“I’d rather be a hammer than a nail”
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Replies
Go to the FWW site. There's a ton of articles and videos on the subject.
Start with the Lee Valley site, take money for PSA paper, a piece of plate glass, and a jig. Forget oil stones: go with water stones and grit-paper.
Phill Giles
The Unionville Woodwright
Ever seen slab granite & polishing compound used?
Now that's an edge.
I'm building a turntable to spin about 50rpm's to set up the no brainer method.
Unless it's a filet knife & a steel I suck at free handing an edge---- I need jigs ;-)
"Why do you hurt me when I do bad things to you?" My youngest son to his older brother
Another vote for Lee Valley. There are books, supplies, and videos from the founder of the company. I attended a few of his sharpening seminars. He is a serious sharpening nerd. My kitchen knives and block plane have never been the same since.
Scott.
Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.â€
Chisels and planes no sweat but what about all my tinsnips? Thought I would be really cool and use some 80 grit on my little Makita and dress things up. Bends tin as well as before. Even tightened up the shears so I could barely work them--still a crappy cut. Thought I had the angle real close too! Ideas? Tyr
I have a huge Ghurka knife--something about 30" long and weighs a couple pounds; I sharpen it by clamping it in a vice (wood inserts to protect blade a bit) and use my belt sander with more like 120 grit. Works well for what I need--I use the knife as a machete for cutting brush.
For your purposes, 80 grit may be too course and/or you may not have matched the curve of the blades quite right--seems like my shears have a constantly changing bevel. Anyway, I'd try successive lesser grits--first 120, then 220 and possibly down to wet sanding paper--the black stuff. See if that helps.
Boy that sure seems like fine grit. When I weld up steel security doors 80 grit is what the face of the door is finished with before painting. I have some 220 and 440 wet/dry sandpaper that I could try on the snips because my old way obviously wasn't working. I'll try the mill file too (a lot easier to carry and use on the job). Tyr
Maybe they are too fine--one poster said he left serrations in the blades on purpose so they'd "grab" the sheet metal when cutting. Maybe you just didn't get the bevel quite right.
I'll admit I winged the angle but after 30 years of layout, fabrication and tool use and just needing to dress up the angle (cutting edge) I was surprised. Done similar work on just about every other cutting edge. Old dog needs a new trick I guess. Tyr
I use a fine mill-file on my various snips. File across the edge to leave a barely visible serrated edge that will grab the metal/material as it's being sheared. Same technique, but smaller serrations, on scissors, a finer edge is not as effective,I use the same file to rough-sharpen a fine edge, it has worked out a lot better for me than trying to use a grinder. Using files, I can actually shape a good edge on a turning knife better than I ever could on the horizontal "white" slow grinder. For rougher work, like a mower blade, I've had really good luck with the Dremel.
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Phill Giles<!----><!---->
The Unionville Woodwright<!----><!---->
Sorry, no ideas. I have no experience sharpening snips. I'll check the book to see if there is any advice.Scott.Always remember those first immortal words that Adam said to Eve, “You’d better stand back, I don’t know how big this thing’s going to get.â€
When I was doing a ton of copper cutting, I tried almost everything to sharpen Aviaton snips to no avail. Just bought new snips every month or so.
Duckbills and Malco with the blade that removes can be done easy..just flatten the back and clean any wire edge off the bevel ,oil lightly and snug up the bolt till it is operable without yer hand having to work too hard to open the jaws.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
Do you prefer aviation snips to the old fashioned large handled tin ships for cutting sheet metal? I find that they're two different animals in some ways and I use the aviations because it's what I started with.
There are those tin snips that have replaceable blades, and I have a pair.Somewhere.
For 90% of the cutting on roof panels, drip edge, gutters and misc. cutting chores, the Avs are the "go to" guys..red handled.
The greens are absolutly important for some cuts, certain angles that the reds just wont do, without wadding up the cut. I never have a need for yellows.
Speaking Av's, the Wiss are so far the best in the long haul..I've tried them all Malco, Klien and some off names..I'll stick with Wiss..they have a fine nose for snipping.
I use the Malco biggies for long straight cuts ,say anything over 12" or so..more leverage, less pumping of the handles. I recently found a pr. of really old duckbills at a flea market for 5 bucks. suprisingly sharp, a spring return ( slight but there at least) and resharpenable..I never took them out on site, they stayed in the shop for use, and they look cool, all shiney and solid steel.
I'm bending up a lot of galvanized, and ripping long cuts, I have decided to use the drill powered Turbo-shears, and also the DeWalt swivelhead center cutting...scoreing and snapping galv. on a brake is no fun..worse than copper, which is worse than alum.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
Damn! If I'd known you back in '89, I would have given you Grandpa's treadle shear and his old shop break both from the 40's and Lordy were they made well. They weighed a ton. He had a bunch of other tin knocker tools and where are they now? He did fabrication out of his own shop for a silo company in upstate NY. My uncle who was the executor didn't know what to do with all that stuff and I have no idea what ultimately became of it. He lived to be quite an old man, 97. Once, back in the 70's I was up on the barn roof with him patching things up, my Ma stood down on the ground and yelled at him to "get off that roof, you're going to fall off and die!"
He looked at her, took his pipe out of his mouth and pointed it at her, tipped back his dirty fedora and told her that he didn't give a damn and it didn't matter, he was doing what he loved. We went back to work.
He taught me many things probably the biggest was to feel good about good days work. I loved the old guy.
I suspect that the Wiss and the Record brand snips come off the same line, but even if they don't, they're equal. I use Rubbermaid super-hard scissors for more delicate work and kitchen shears for cutting light materials
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Phill Giles<!----><!---->
The Unionville Woodwright<!----><!---->
just some briefs for now Andy -
I use both.
When a tool is just slightly dulled, the oil stone will tune it up, but when it goes really dull or has been on the oilstone several times already, you need to take more metal off it than a stone is practical for, so it gets to meet the bench grinder. I also have an expensive Makita waterstone system.
For the light tune up, the idea of the oil ( or waterr with a waterstone) is to float the metal particles away so there is a cutting edge hitting the metal of the tool. Without enough oil, the metal particles gum up the surface and you are not removing anything to create a sharp edge.
Holding the right angle is important too. Do you have a guide?
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I have the Makita with two slightly used stones for it. Anybody want it? It's practicably brand new.
It's a quiet wet slow moving disk. I have the guide also.
Since I have one, IO don't need another but I wil recommend it highly for anyone. I can do my planner blades 12" long on it, but I think it can handle them up to 15". All my guys like to let me do their chisels when I tell them I plan to sharpen that night, and my wife's clients send their kitchen knives home for me to sharpen on it.Hey Andy - there's a thought for you to earn some money. Every old woman in the neighborhood will be paying you to take care of their kitchen knives for them...before you know it, you'll be investing in sawsharpening equipment and you'll be so busy, you'll never see any carpentry again....
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I'd take that if ya name a #, If it'll do planer knives.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
"http://www.woodworking.com/wwtimes_Makita.cfmI think I paid close to four hundred for mine way back when they came out. Retail down less than three bills now with one stone.Mine is black though...gets that way with metal;)
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I've ye tto track down a decent sharpening shop round here for the things I prefer to send out. Planer/jointer knives being one of those things.
I'd like to be able to get a nice straight edge with out resorting to mail order sharpening.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
when a chisle is really dull, you would need to take so myuch metal off to get it sharp that it would take a few days with an oilstone. Grinding and honing are t6wo different parts of sharpening. grinding essentially takes metal down and creates the shape/angle you need right to the edge.
Then honing makes it polished sharp.
If you don't have a sharpening system or bench grinder, you can use a belt sander if you can clamp in place upside down. Go careful and keep burying the tool in water every few seconds so you don't over heat the edge.
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"keep burying the tool in water every few seconds so you don't over heat the edge."
The story of my life - overheated edges.
What's the deal with cooling the tool in oil instead of water? Waz that do?
oil vs water for cooling depends on the alloy of the steel. The more porous metals should be quenched/cooled with oil to prevent the infusion of water into the material creating internal corrosion issues. I think that for most good chisels this isn't an issue and water is fine.
Andy: I use a guide like the one linked here http://www.amazon.com/VICE-TYPE-HONING-GUIDE/dp/B000H6FSL8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=hi&qid=1199972717&sr=1-1 and a tool that consitently sets the depth the chisels are set into the guide. I found the guide instructions in a book that I can't remember the name of.
Pete, Hijack alert!! What do you think of Wachovia taking over AG Edwards?
With me now being gone for over 2 years, it doesn't have the same effect.
But it's a bit sad, considering the kool-aid they fed us years ago, about being a family, etc. I'm not getting as big of discounts now as I did before.
OTOH, Got myself about a 6 figger capital gain from the ESPP and other stock accumulation plans during the time. And more research pours in for the clients now.
In the bigger picture, it probably doesn't matter, the price of brokering was going up and those of us that tried to hold it back were getting squeezed. But with the entitlement attitude of clients caused by unrealistic business plans of the discounters (notice they're getting fewer and fewer? ETrade about went under a few months back without a $2B infusion.), it wasn't as nice as a career it used to be.
Us guys are better off letting the gurls earn the pay.
When they found out how smart them gurls were following giving them the vote, instead of our downfall, we earned the right to stay home and cook, too! (and watch Oprah, and play BT.)
>Us guys are better off letting the gurls earn the pay.<
Ditto that! I still do something though to create $$ if not just for my self esteem.
My guy owns a group that consist of hi & his sons and a very good secretary. They have promptly moved to Raymond James and I'm ging to follow him since a lot of the good earnings were their ideas (mixes that got me 13% last year). AG's money market int rate dropped a 1% a few months ago. RayJas is a 1% higher. Not that big of a deal since I don't use mmkts for much but still a sign of things corporate. He's figuring RayJas wil be bought sometime prior to me retiring but they've started plans to make themsleves an indie boutique when that occurs so supposedly I'll only have to shift 1 more time. RayJas is making it easy for me by reimbursing fees (non-taxed) incurred at AG when I close them to move. Not sure the legal aspect of how they do it but that's their job.
"RayJas is making it easy for me by reimbursing fees (non-taxed) incurred at AG when I close them to move. Not sure the legal aspect of how they do it but that's their job."
That's called negotiating. Practically any brokerage firm will do so upon request. Hardly any do so because they don't know they can. Becasue many times that fee comes out of the brokers pocket. However, if a branch has an aggressive manager, he'll pick up more of it.
I'm impressed you were able to do so.
The one piece of work that really stands out to me from AGE was/is their DSIP list and stocks ranked within. All selections based upon the underlying characteristic of having a history of increasing dividends coupled with the likelyhood and degree of continuation.
The second was their knowledge into REIT's. I've talked to many analysts. Most were overblown egos riding a wave. These REIT guys blew me away with what they knew and before others knew. They helped me make a lot of money for my clients.
I used to work for a firm that was bought up by Raymond James after I left to go to AGE. Good people. They emphasized the client from day one. Only thing I could criticize them for is spending corporate money on naming a stadium. That should go towards a more effective and appropriate employee motivation program. But, hey, wadda I know? Maybe it works for them?
Interesting story my FA relayed was that when the Wachovia take over was announced he had 10 groups invinting him to join them. 7 weren't interested in doing his clients any favors. Not sure how the other 3 shook out but RayJas is making it a pretty sweet deal for us. It'll be along time before we can take anything from our accounts without a tax penalty and the check they're reimbursing us with will be tax free. Time for a nice dinner.
When I entered AG I was doing so since the FA was a friend but I had a chance to look at RayJas a bit this past week. Having worked for a company that has lost site of the real customer and focuses too much on Wall Streets opinion I had to ask who was their primary customer. Supposedcly it's me and I pretty much believe that coming from him.
Oil vs water is primarily a concern when quenching hot steel to develop hardness. Some steels are best quenched in water, others in oil. May be other alternatives, but those are beyond my ken.
Water boils at 212°, so that's effectively an upper temp limit on the quenching medium for water. Oil can get much hotter, so it cools the steel more slowly. Less temperature shock.
For keeping an edge cool while sharpening, there shouldn't be much difference between oil and water -- if the tool is hot enough for the difference to matter, you've probably already mucked up the temper.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
I'm glad you guys answered that. I had known that oil was used in tempering/ quenching in the manufacture process, but never heard of using oit o cool AFAIK for sharpenning where the primary purpose is to keep the metal from getting to hot in the first place.I guess I had always just used water because I use a water stone to sharpen in the shop so I dab into the reservoir there. Actually I use windshield wiper fluid because it does not freeze and it keeps the stones clean.For honing on the job, I use an oilstone.
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Has anyone tried this. $99 Work Sharp. You sharpen chisels from underside of slotted wheel and you can see the aircooled blade as it is ground. You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
Never heard of air cooled before, but the main reason for the fluid is to wash away metal particles. The type of stone this uses must be more of a grinder material and not up to fine work.
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"The type of stone this uses must be more of a grinder material and not up to fine work."
Sandpaper. Think "scary sharp" under power. The tool is supposed to be kept cool by contact with the air-cooled tool rest. The unit is too small to do anything but chisels unless you sharpen from above like with any other turntable sharpening machine.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
It must be awfully slow for that sort of cooling to work then
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Dunno. Those who own them seem satisfied with the limited job they do.
There's some videos on their site that look good -- pretty fast to put an edge on a chisel. http://www.worksharptools.com/ (But you're on dial-up, IIRC, so probably not worth the time to watch 'em.)
But I realized long ago that forever chasing the "best" sharpening system is tilting at windmills. Pick one; get good with it. That's good enough, and then some, for woodworking.
I've seen old-timers pull what looks like an old piece of rock out of their pockets, spit on it, touch up their tool with it, and proceed to work wonders.
$$$ generally can't beat skill. But skill takes time.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
I blew over $400 on the Veritas MKII sharpener.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=48435&cat=1,43072
Well worth it. I look forward to dulling chisels just so I can sharpen them again. Before I was using japanese water stones, which was sort of a zen like meditation exercise, but just don't have the time.
The abrasive wheel on the MKII ( psa sandpaper on an Al platter) does not get hot, but the tools will if you have to do a lot of grinding.
So what is the diff. between an oil stone and a water stone?b
"I'd rather be a hammer than a nail"
Forget all the oilstones, they cut too slow and are too messy, besides being brittle. Waterstones are too soft (and too expensive) for the average Joe, like me. get yourself a double sided diamond stone, coarse on one side and fine on the other. Trust me, spend the 80 or 90 bucks, they last forever. Take out the nicks on the coarse side (or hollow it out with a grinder) and then hit it on the fine side. If you want to shave with it, touch it on a buffing wheel loaded with jeweler's rouge for about a second... I've taught countless 7th graders how to do it. It's the best and fastest way that I found.
-Aaron
Basically, an oil stone uses oil as the lubricant; water stones use water.
Both can be either natural stones, or man-made.
I've used pretty much everything out there over the years- started on oil stones, went to Japanese water stones, tried the scary sharp sandpaper method, diamond stones.
Now I use Shapton stones. They seem to have the best "feel" while sharpening. I can actually tell how the tool is doing while sharpening.
Has somewhat to do with the mineral structure of the stone. I think water is far better for a powered stone system, because of the constant water flow washing off grit and metal while cooling.But I like the feel of my oilstones for light honing.
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That's one reason I like the Shaptons.
they cut as fast as any waterstone I've tried, but feel like an oil stone. Plus I'm not getting oil on my clothes, and anything else close.
they're not cheap, but I figure they'll last the rest of my life. After that, I don't care how long they last.
Actually, the blade is supposed to be cooled by contact with the tool rest (aluminum?), which is air cooled.
There was a lot of talk about this over in Knots a couple of months ago. The discussion seemed to lean towards "good tool for sharpening chisels, but too small for anything like plane blades."
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
I have the Worksharp and it works fine for me. The thing I like about it is it is portable and easy to use. I do remodeling so I need something that I can keep in the truck and put to use quickly when needed. It came with two sharpening wheels, one is slotted and one is solid.The wheels have two sides, so you are able to flip them over giving you four different grits at a time. They also have a glass wheel, but I havent bought one or tried it yet. If you use the course grit it will quickly take the nicks out and put a nice bevel on too. You then progress to the finer grits accordingly. It is good for my needs, if you want the razor sharp or scary sharp you will probably need to do some additional honing with a stone or glass.
As Piffin said, when you're grinding, you have to be very careful not to overheat the edge because then you will lose the temper of the steel. You can tell that you have done that if the steel turns or starts to turn a dark black & blue. If that happens, then you have to grind past that bad tempered part and get back to the good white part of the steel. I found the best tool for the grinding is a water wheel. They're a bit slower, but you can hold the tool on the wheel until you're done and not lose the angle that you're grinding at
Got a little clamp with a roller attached I bought years ago. You clamp the chisel or plane iron in it the proper distance for a 25-30 degree taper, and roll it backwards over the stone or glass with sandpaper on it. Works great, and I think you can get them at Woodcraft or Rockler. 'Bout $10 IIRC.
Despite the general tendency of many posters to claim that there is one, and only one, proper way to sharpen tools, there are many. Most common, in no particular order, are: Stones (water or oil); various types of powered grinders/sanders (water cooled or dry, "stone" or abrasive grit, or even cardboard with grit); "sandpaper" on a hard, flat surface like glass ("scary sharp"); abrasive powders on a hard, flat surface; and, my own personal current method of choice, diamond "stones", occasionally followed by stropping or polishing. You may also, depending on the intended use of the tool, choose to sharpen with a flat bevel, hollow bevel or convex bevel (e.g., on some gouges). You may further choose to incorporate primary and secondary bevels.
With any of these methods, one may choose to employ any number of various jigs or rests to hold the tool at a chosen angle to the sharpening medium -- the angle varies depending on the tool, the steel and the intended use. When combined, there are literally thousands of ways to sharpen a tool to an acceptable degree for woodworking.
In short, you'd need at least a large book, possible several, to explain the whole process of sharpening. Here's one I recommend starting with:
http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Guide-Sharpening-Leonard-Lee/dp/1561581259
Bottom line: all these methods work. Contrary to the beliefs of some, you generally don't need an electron microscope to verify that your edge is as sharp as the laws of physics will permit. Not for working wood, anyway. ;-) Each method will work best when perfected by the individual user through practice. My advice is to pick any sharpening method and then learn how to do it well -- there is a learning curve for each of the methods. Then, don't worry when someone tells you "you are doing it wrong". Just say "I know", smile and carry on.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Thats a great topic Andy. Cutting tools are one of the most important tools of the trade and very few people in the trades give it much thought, to their detriment.
Bob's next test date: 12/10/07
Scary sharp system....sandpaper on glass. I ordered the video from FWW and now use it all the time. Lots of discussion on Knots.You get out of life what you put into it......minus taxes.
Marv
had time to get a pic. The roller guide clamps to the chisel and the depth tool is used to consistently set the chisel (or plane blade) to the same depth everytime. Variations of where the roller guide is clamped will adversely affect the sharpening process by changing the angle. If I ever stumble across a guide with a wider roller I'll buy it.
"If I ever stumble across a guide with a wider roller I'll buy it. "
The Veritas Mk. 2 guide has a wider roller:
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=51868&cat=1,43072,43078&ap=1
It also has an optional barrel-shaped roller to allow you to dub the corners.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Thanks Mike!
That's pretty steeply priced. Ouch! but not that big of a deal when you figure it's a once in a lifetime purchase.
Sure thing.
I have one that I use when I need to re-bevel something. Works pretty well for that. Otherwise, I just do it freehand.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
John,
I have the Lee Valley sharpening guide and it has a very wide roller. It's so expensive because you can do so much more with it that all the others made. Plus it's very well made. It's got a system by which you can set your blade to the depth you want for the proper angle, then you have a part that attaches onto it which totally squares the knife blade up to the wide roller and thus to the stone, so that you come away with a perfectly squared edge on your chisels and plane knives. It also has depth stops on this device so it takes the guess work out of setting the correct angle.Lastly it has 3 different angle settings you can do on a blade without ever unclamping the blade. This is for the purpose of getting a secondary bevel which I do on all my tools.Like Shep, I have used just about every way to sharpen from using files to a belt sander. I have a grinder, a water wheel, a full set of Japanese waterstones the Naguara stone to polish on the 10,000 grit, four grades of diamond stones, and a huge piece of 1/4" glass along with all the wet or dry paper in the world.I'm saving my pennies for the best system I have found and that is the Tormek. It does everything including flatten the backs. With all the attachments I need I figure it will run me almost a grand. I want something that cranks out the stuff fast. I have done my Zen over all the stones and paper and glass and oil and water.
I just want something that's fast and dependable. I have used the Tormek, and I will have the Tormek.Obsessed? Hmmmm....When I find Eldorado, I will call all of you home.
Thanks Jer, it's on my list of Must Haves now. Seems like I should be able to use my old depth stop to maintain the angle already set on them. No? Not that I don't want to use the one provided by Lee Valley but minor differences between the depths add a lot of time to the first use of the system.
When I read your posts, I keep thinking we were separated at birth. We do things much the same way. <G>
I had a Tormek for a couple of years. Yes, it sharpens well. But its S-L-O-W. Especially when you need to remove nicks and chips from your tool edges. Maybe its my increasingly decreasing attention span, but I'd get bored doing any heavy sharpening. And I generally like sharpening.
I sold the Tormek, and bought a Baldor 7" low speed grinder. I have it set up with the Oneway Wolverine sharpening system, with a coarse and fine grinding wheel.
I can grind out nicks quickly, or use the fine wheel to put an edge on my turning tools.
Just my two cents. The Tormek is a fine machine. IMO, too slow for me.
I looked at the Tormek way back when I bought the Makita and was impressed, but IIRC, it won't do wide stuff like planner blades. is that right?
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Piffin ,
My Tormek will do wide planner blades (up to 20 inches) but Don't buy it for that.
I found that carefull sharpening of my blades at best I could get was about half of what the printers service company could get them to last for.
PLus I always removed more material they they did no matter how carefull I was. So They get dull twice as fast and last less time before needing replacement
Every major city has a printers service company.. the blades they use to scrape ink off have to be a lot sharper than blades that are just used in woodworking.. Our best efforts don't approach what they do daily..
It's cheap too! Often the place you take your sawblades to be resharpened won't even do them but send the blades out to a printers service company and add a proft to what they charge..
good tip to keep in mind.
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Hey, I never knew that about the printers. Thanks Frenchy!
Used to send Zamboni blades to those guys for sharpening. Nothing but 7' long planer of jointer knives.
I was told at the time that the blades were actually made out of worn out printers knives.
They can't get your Goat if you don't tell them where it is hidden.
I had a pool shootin partner that worked in a Hosp. Lab. He gave me Microtome knives..they'd freeze an eyeball and slice it really,really thin to microscope slide viewing.
These were super hard and razor sharp..So I tracked down the guys that sharpened them , by a sticker on the wood box they were stored in. Some kinda super chromium steel and cotton packing treated for rust preventing.
Anyway..they sent me some of that micro finishing film , mylar backed with diamond dust..two grits, one yellow colored and one green..I never did know which was fine and which was coarse..LOL, they both were superfine like in the millionths of a MM ..
I made a few handled knives outta the blades for skiving leather pouch boards on pipeorgans..lost two blanks over the yrs and still have one in my go bag.
Funny tho' working in a church restoring an organ and having a ppastor standing nearby and asking the guy next to you to " Hand me the eyeball slicer"..LOL..now that gets some strange looks.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
"Success is not spontaneous combustion, you have to set yourself on Fire"
Andy,
get the rough nicks and gouges out on a bench grinder. Be careful if you get the edge hot it will get soft.. bench grinders turn too fast to do the job steady so you have to make a pass and lift it off and cool it down, then make another pass and lift it off and cool it down.
The angle you use should be the same angle on the original blade. Don't make it steeper. Don't make it more shallow.
Once you have that roughed in, then is time to get a piece of glass a little motor oil and some wet or dry sand paper in every grit starting at 220 and ending up around 4000.
One sheet of each is all you'll ever need and if you have a resealable plastic bag to put this whole thing in it will last you your lifetime..
This is called the scary sharp method because it's scary just how fast and how sharp you can make things.
We're talking about shaving frogs hair finely!
start with 220 grit sand paper and "glue" it to the glass using the car oil.. add a few drops onto the sand paper.
It's nice to have something that will hold the blade at the correct angle. Plane irons for example are at 30 degrees typically so a 30 degree wooden wedge works wonders..
Sand back and forth a few times untill the whole edge is a uniform color. You are now done all except the final polishing.. it's the polishing that get it sharp so don't skip a step..
Peel off the first piece of wet or dry paper put it in your sealable bag. Now, grab the next grit and glue it down with the auto oil add a little again where you'll be sharpening.. repeat the previous step. You'll note that it takes a lot less sanding to get the edge a uniform color..
Go through each grit untill you've done each one..
Now pluck a hair from the frogs leg of your choice. You'll note that blonde frogs have the finest hair. You should be able to shave 12 slices off a fine frog leg hair..
Using that edge will be actaully sensual! Control your excitement please. This is a family magazine ;-)
Another recommendation for lee Valley. The companys founder, leonard Lee, has a book and a video. Both are excellent. The book is highly detailed. The video is great too, just more basic than the book
Andy.one thing that no one touched on yet; it is a lot easier to keep a sharp edge by frequently honing it instead of waiting until the tool gets really dull and has to be ground.
Try this:
http://www.shavings.net/SCARY.HTM
Freehand on graded Arkansas stones using good muscle memory developed from hours and hours of practice. Fast, simple and inexpensive.