Metallurgical Chisel Photos.. After Sharpening

These are great, Yooper. When you are all done, maybe you could post a side-by side comparison of the same piece (and same magnification) from before and after sharpening and different methods of sharpening.

Thanks again!

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

Hey, just thought of something else…

When you are done with the chisels, (since you obviously are set up with the equipment) maybe you could take microscopic photographs of the surface of wood:

• From the lumber yard
• After being power planed
• After being cut with a high quality table saw blade
• After being hand planed
• After being scraped with a card scraper
• After being power sanded with a ROS
• After being hand sanded
• After Being “whetted” to raise the grain
• After Being Oiled or finished

Just an idea! Those comparisons would be interesting, I think.

-- Check out my new website! http://www.blakeweberwoodworking.com

I’ll have to see what I can come up with Blake. My scope is a specially designed metallurgical microscope and may not perform too well on most of those surfaces. I’ll have to do some experimenting and see if I can find a way to flood the area with enough light to pick up reflections.

Gimme a bit, I’m sure I can hammer something out. Glad ya like it!

-- Casey, Engineer, Escanaba, MI

You delivered…the next installment! Thanks – this is fun.

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

Great. great. A nice comparison. And we thought it was sharp. I’ve got a little jewelers Lupe that goes to 10X and it interesting to look at the edge with it.

-- What happens in the workshop stays in the workshop. No wait that doesn't sound right. Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com †

That’s what I use too – a loupe at 10x…so this is pretty good stuff…40, 100, and 400x

-- Dorje (pronounced "door-jay"), Seattle, WA

This is fascinating!

fascinating.

-- ~ Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)

I’m impressed by the results you got. Great images.

However, and please don’t take this as a negative, aren’t we just claiming how many angels can dance on the head of a needle?

As a great accompaniment to this series of metalurigic images would be to show, after sharpening to that exquisite level, what does the tip look like after you use the chisel to carve out a 1mm deep gouge out of hard maple. As the tip gets finer and finer, doesn’t the strength of the tip get reduced, to a point of diminishing returns? After 5 minutes of use with a chisel sharpened to 4000 grit, does the tip look much different than a chisel sharpened to 3000 grit used for a similar 5 minutes?

Once again, please don’t take this as a negative. I’m not disputing that higher grit (done properly of course) will yield sharper, more accurate, easier-to-use cutting tools. I’m just wondering if you get more than 5 minutes of “better cuts” by investing an extra 1/2 hour sharpening between uses…

-- Dekker - http://www.WoodworkDetails.com/Blog/MNagy/

I know what you mean Dekker, I have been wondering the same thing myself. At what point is it excessive, or even detrimental? I’m trying to work out a way to get a repeatable experiment doing almost exactly that. But, what I keep coming to, is we are all different, with different habits and tendencies when it comes to sharpening and using a chisel. So what may constitute a “perfect” edge for me with the longest lasting time may work horribly for you, just based on the way you may hold the chisel or some other intangible. Which is why I am also a bit reluctant to do said tests. If anything everyone likes cool photos. :)

-- Casey, Engineer, Escanaba, MI

The fact that you are an engineer has to say something about all this. It’s okay to fret a bit when you’re starting out and lord knows I’ve done my share of experimentation with sharpening. What I propose is that you sharpen as well as you can then press the sharpened tool into service. In working different woods you’ll discover that each species and cut will prefer a different level of sharpness. End grain will prefer a shallower bevel angle and razor sharpness that will not last long, i.e. more trips to the strop/polishing stone et al. A plane iron going after curly maple will need an average bevel angle and a steeper attack angle and razor sharpness to achieve a fine shavings and little to no tearout and it won’t last long.

Consider an “acid test” for your sharpening efforts. I use two. The first is the hair on the back of my fingers; when the freshly honed blade makes the little suckers pop off, I’m done. The second is on the end grain of a chunk of Southern Yellow Pine. The alternating soft and hard rings are a true test for your ability to whet an edge. If the hard ring breaks out instead of slicing through, you need more time on the stones.

Now that said, you need to become facile at maintaining an edge once you get good at making one. Speed is important in woodworking and multiple blades at the ready are a beautiful thing when you’ve got a bunch of shavings and chips to make. In other words, I’ll do anything to keep from resharpening in mid stream. I’ll even spend the $$$ for more than one instance of a given edge tool. If I’m in the middle of cleaning out a row of dovetails the last thing I want to do is stop and sharpen the chisel. Sometimes I have to ‘cause I didn’t resharpen/hone the other chisel either. Dang it. Not a problem though, because I have learned to get the edge back in trim pretty quick.

-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein