Questions tagged [sharpening]
When, why, how to sharpen what. E.g. How to sharpen a cross-cut saw?
72 questions
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Why can't I flatten the back of my mortice chisel?
The back of my mortice chisel is not completely flat. Specifically, the corners of the cutting edge are both slightly shallower than the rest of the back face, meaning they aren't honed to form a ...
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How to sharpen hand saw with grouped teeth
I recently inherited this saw, which needs a sharpen. Before I invest in the (large - the saw is 5tpi) file needed, is it possible to sharpen them? I can foresee at least 2 challenges.
First, normally ...
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How to re-establish a uniform bevel on a plane iron (grinding or honing?)
Per Robert Wearing’s advice in The Essential Woodworker (image pictured below), I decided to put a curved edge on my jack plane iron. I used my low-speed grinder to do so.
In doing so, I seem to have ...
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Honing a blade from sheet steel?
I need to make very specific blade for a wood working project, where I need to make a short of "pencil sharpener" for dowels of rosewood, and it requires I hone an edge on a piece of tool ...
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Plane/chisel sharpening technique
I’m looking to improve my sharpening technique when sharpening my hand plane blades and chisels. I use a Veritas honing jig and diamond stones and can get a nice edge that cleanly shaved the hairs on ...
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Unable to sharpen cabinet/card scraper
I am unable to sharpen a card scraper despite trying many times. I am using a Crown card scraper and burnisher. Most times I start by filing the edges, followed by whetstone, and then on to the ...
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Can you store a synthetic waterstone in water permanently? [closed]
Can you store a synthetic waterstone permanently in water? Will it degrade the stone?
When I was last doing woodwork classes the school had a water cooled rotary grind stone/wheel, and I remember that ...
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Sharpening stone identification
Can anyone tell me if this is a oil sharpening stone or water sharpening stone? It was my grandfathers, and I would like to put it into action, but not sure exactly how.
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Correct angle for a bull-nose rabbet plane (Record 76) blade
I have a Record 76 rabbet plane.
The plane is bevel side up, and the primary bevels as ground by the manufacturer appear to be 45° or close to it. (If I apply pressure to the bevel whilst bevel side ...
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Is there an advantage to removing the guard on a grinder with a CBN wheel?
I've been reading about CBN "diamond" wheels (*) recently which apparently are great for sharpening woodworking tools.
In comparison to traditional grinding wheels which apparently are ...
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Can I use glasses-cleaning leather to make a strop?
I am having difficulties finding some scrap piece of leather in order to make myself a strop in order to aid the sharpening process for my plane blades and chisels.
I was thinking to use this kind of ...
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Are sharpening jigs reasonably universal? [closed]
I'm considering buying a new sharpening system, either the Axminster Ultimate Edge Reverse or a Sorby Pro-Edge.
And I'm wondering about sharpening jigs, I've got chisels and woodturning tools, but I'...
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When sharpening 3/8" chainsaw chains, do you use the same file for 3/8" low-profile as you'd use for regular?
I'm in a bad spot because I got a "5/32 file & file-guide" kit but it doesn't seem to 'fit well' with any of my chains (all 5/32", some low-profile some regular)
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How to cleanup diamond plate efficiently?
I'm using diamond plates for sharpening bench chisels, and plane irons, and It's been difficult to keep them clean and performing to expectations. The instructions that come with the plates mention ...
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How to set up a Veritas Basic Grinding jig with short chisels
Problem
I need to regrind new bevels on some old worn-out chisels, without
using free-hand techniques, which I know how to do already. After
some belabored research on grinding jigs, I purchased a ...
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Lathes and cutting machines: sharpness versus hardness
As a primary school student I took woodworking classes and recall the teacher sharpening the gouges and chisels that we used on the lathe. I use the word sharpening but that is, perhaps an assumption. ...
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Eclipse style honing guide changing blade geometry & preventing tight mouth setting on planes
I find it much easier to get repeatable sharpening results with a honing guide, but I have noticed that the plane blades I sharpen with my Eclipse style guide are ending up with a different geometry ...
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How to clean sharpening stone in wood case?
I've got an oil stone from my grandpa that is glued into a wood case, I use it to sharpen chisels and plane irons. The stone has absorbed tons of oil and I'd like to clean it to find out the original ...
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How to prevent plane from clogging?
I've sharpened an old blade from a smoothing plane by hand, using sandpaper and no jig. It was very dull, so I'm not sure the angle was ok before. Now I'm getting these shavings that curl up too fast ...
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How do I clean resin residue from router bits
Routing chipboard and pine and other conifer woods a router bit of mine built up residue. I managed to clean some of it with acetone and mineral spirits but still there was left.
The bit looks and ...
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Sharpening Stones for Chisels and Planes (the 1000th time)
A form of this question has, no doubt, been asked a 1,000 times, but I need some specific guidance.
As and early Father's Day present, my wife bought me a Veritas Mk. II Honing Guide. Maybe this ...
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How often should I sharpen?
I find many different suggestions for length of time between sharpening, from before and after every whittling session to once every 2-3 years. I assume that many of these suggestions are talking ...
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Can I fix this whetstone?
I have a whetstone that I was given, but it has very shallow dips in its surface; it is no longer level. Can I fix it, or should I just get a new one? is there a way to level a whetstone again?
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Can all whetstones be cleaned?
I got a new (new to me, appears very old) whetstone today, and was told generally how to use it. I need to sharpen my son's knife, who at 9 years old has much more woodworking (whittling) experience ...
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Whittling knife sharpening with Kennametal sharpening stone
So I have this old Kennametal Sharpening Stone shown here:
I want to sharpen this dull edge shown here:
It was caused from learning mistakes which I am still doing, but would like a sharp knife, so ...
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What's a quick, easy home-made honing guide?
What's a quick, easy, home-made honing guide for sharpening blades for e.g. a plane?
I'm thinking for a 25 degree surface, just cut a block of wood to 25 degrees on a mitre-saw and then screw the ...
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Sharpening - grit progression
When sharpening tools such as chisels and plane irons, I do little and often, stopping work, 20-30 strokes or so on a 3000 grit water stone (this is enough to get a burr the full width of the blade), ...
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How to properly deburr a chisel
I'm struggling getting my chisels as sharp as I want them to. For example, they "catch" on almost all woods and by no means cut any hairs from my arm.
I've bought the plans and built John Heinz's ...
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Is my "extra fine" diamond sharpening stone coarser than it should be, or am I crazy?
I have always had very unsatisfactory results from the "extra fine" side of my diamond stone (DMT Duosharp Fine/Extra Fine w/ Hardcoat, W8EF-H-WB.) It is supposedly "1200 mesh / 9 micron" (green in ...
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Can I get away with using bonded leather for a strop?
I had been saving some leathers swatches for use on a strop for when I finally get off my behind and start sharpening my tools. I apparently didn't notice that I had been saving bonded leather instead ...
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Is the "paper test" actually relevant to sharpening chisels and planes?
It is pretty common to see references to the "paper test" for checking for sharpness of an edge -- the idea that you should be able to lightly rest the blade against the edge of a piece of paper and ...
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Does anyone use diamond files to touch up/sharpen circular saw blades?
I am tooling up to sharpen circular saw blades, besides purchasing a good power machine I wanted to purchase some quality diamond files for touch-up and perhaps even sharpening the entire blade,...
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Lansky System, Help!
I bought this Lansky system. In the instructions it says that Arkansas stones need to be oiled while using. Diamonds need to be cleaned with water and others may need a drop of oil or two after use to ...
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Is there such a thing as a woodworking chisel with a high-speed steel tip?
I do metalworking in addition to woodworking (as a hobbyist in both cases).
As I was sharpening my chisels, I was thinking I would like it if the edges held up a bit longer. Reflecting on that a bit ...
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How many times can I sharpen a planer blade?
When time comes around I will need to sharpen the planer blade. I was wanting to know how many times I could sharpen these blades before it becomes 'accurate'. Meaning, as I sharpen the blade X times ...
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My new 13" planer [closed]
I had some questions about my new planer I got as a gift.
1) Sharpening the blade How many times could I sharpen the blade before it becomes inaccurate. I was thinking once, maybe twice. But I a ...
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Sander in lieu of grindstone?
Odd thought just went by:
There are sandpaper-based sharpening systems ("scary sharp" and it's cousins), generally using fine wet/dry sandpaper on a flat surface like plate glass.
There are ...
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How can I properly sharpen my knives with power tools?
I have drawers full of knives and blades that have never been as sharp as when they came from the factory. I have some whetstones, Lansky sharpeners, and leather strops. I have tried to use those ...
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What are recommended angles for different wood-turning tools
I am going to make a jig for sharpening my lathe tools and I want to mark on the jig where each tool should be sharpened to. Like the roughing gouge to the skew and stuff. So for each of these ...
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6" or 8" bench grinder
I am looking to sharpen drill bits, wood turning tools and what ever else you would sharpen in the wood shop. I am told that a 6" is okay but should really get a 8". I am looking at Ryobi brand bench ...
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First two backsaws - what to choose/buy?
I'm a beginner, I've recently taken up woodworking as a hobby.
I have a hardpoint tenon saw that I'm just not getting on with. It sticks a lot in the (primarily soft) wood I'm working with. I ...
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When sharpening, how do I assess what grit to start on?
My question is about sharpening edge tools such as plane irons or chisels.
How do I establish, when looking at a tool, what grit to start the sharpening process on? It's clearly always possible to ...
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How long does it take to sharpen a saw blade?
To give some context: my cheap, £10 tenon saw that I've used for nearly everything for the last 2 or 3 years is showing signs of becoming dull. As it's the usual hardpoint type, I have read that it ...
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Tap magic cutting fluid
Is there anything in Tap Magic cutting fluid that suggests that I should avoid using it on my Arkansas sharpening stone?
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What is the proper way to sharpen a round plug cutter
I do not know how I should sharpen this bit. Do I sharpen what I have circled in black black with sand paper glued to a piece of wood? Or should I put it in my drill and sand the outside? I can very ...
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How can I identify sharpening stones?
I got some sharpening stones from grandfathers shop. Not many though. Some small ones for doing something like a pocket knife. Green with a gritty. Some red ones of same size and texture. A larger ...
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How can I sharpen a reciprocating saw blade?
Can I and how do I sharpen reciprocating saw, or Sawzall (as some people call it) blades?
I have some that go dull and I want to know if I can't simply sharpen them instead of them going to waste. ...
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How to properly sharpen a Forstner bit?
I need to sharpen some Forster bits, which are made of steel. What is best to be used and is there a proper way of doing it? Some people use sandpaper and others say diamond. Could I use the sandpaper ...
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How do I sharpen curved tools like gouges?
My uncle gave me a set or carving gouges and chisels that he was not going to use anymore. They need to be cleaned as they have a little bit of rust on them.
More importantly they look like they ...
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Can I sharpen a carbide tool with sandpaper?
I have some router-bits that are getting dull and need to be sharpened. I have 220, 400, and 600 grit sandpaper that I could use to give a sharp edge (if possible). If I need to get higher grit ...
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