Sharpening station

You’ve got my vote. I use water stones and diamond stones. I also use a hard buffing wheel, which works good for just touching up an edge.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

My sharpening station is just a small bench. Here’s a blog I did when I built it. I’ve been using it for a few months now and I really like it. I mostly use waterstones, but I do have grinder I use occasionally. It’s on it’s own base and sits in the corner most of the time. I have to have a pretty big nick or want to change the primary bevel before I pull it out.

-- Mike - http://inquisitivewoodworker.blogspot.com/

Mike and Tim – do you have a box or someway to hold your stones in place while you work?

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

If you look at my blog and go to the last entry. The last picture is a bench hook I made to hold my stones while sharpening. The top wooden stop is at a slight angle. The stone is slid in and gets wedged in place. It works really well. The smooth tile I put on the top of the board causes the stone to stick to the top, from the surface tension of the water. It’s incredible how much it sticks. Sometimes I have to really pull to get it to pop off.

-- Mike - http://inquisitivewoodworker.blogspot.com/

If you get water stones make sure you get one big diamond stone to flatten them.

-- Gary, East TX -- The longest journey begins with a single step.

If you look at my shop photos the last one is my sharpening, clamp, crap and junk station <laugh> It is the part of the shop I have not gotten to yet to fix up. Maybe this summer I will find the time (and drive) to make something there that will better organize that mess.

-- "so much to learn and so little time"..

Norton makes a surfacing stone for the water stones that is cheaper, and works better than using a diamond stone. Lee valley carries them.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=55067&cat=1,43072,43071&ap=1(Surfacing stone)

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

I have the Norton surfacing stone and a DMT stone. I really don’t care for the Norton surfacing stone. It will flatten the stones, but it seems too course for me and it removes the slurry that is so helpful when sharpening. The DMT stone works quickly and leaves a nice slurry on the stone. I do use Norton water stones and just love them, just not their surfacing stone. Just my opinion.

-- Mike - http://inquisitivewoodworker.blogspot.com/

Hummm – maybe I’ll have to try both flattening stones. What about flattening the stones on a granite surface with wet dry paper? Does that work ok?

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Mike, get yourself a Nagura stone. It will make all the slurry you want.

-- Tim -- http://tmuli.com

I flatten my waterstones on wet/dry sandpaper and a $30 granite lapping plate from Woodcraft. That stone is a great surface to have on your sharpening station—it’s dead flat, so it makes setting bevel angles on a jig very easy.

I have a very simple sharpening station which I built largely with some construction lumber laying around the garage. I dried and dimensioned it and Dominoed everything together—took me less than a day. I’ll try to take pics today.

I’ve got a granite lapping plate from Woodcraft and some paper. Will let you know how it turns out. Thanks for all the input.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

I used sandpaper and float glass for awhile. It worked well, but it was a little more messy than I liked. I think you will do well with granite stone.

-- Mike - http://inquisitivewoodworker.blogspot.com/

I use the norton flating stone and it works well for me.

-- WOOD/DON (...one has the right to ones opinion but not the right to ones own facts...)

If you want perfect edges, quickly, repeatably, with minimal grinding, then you definitely should consider a Tormek. Expensive yes, but worth there weight in gold, the best edge you will ever get without a doubt.

The best thing is you can sharpen all you Mortice, dovetail, carving chisels and gouges, its even expandable at your own rate to take planer & jointer blades.

Good luck in whatever you decide.

-- Tony - All things are possible, just some things are more difficult than others! - SKYPE: Heron2005 (http://www.poydatjatuolit.fi)

After attending classes in sharpening and handplanes at Highland Woodworking in Atlanta, I have purchased a set of waterstones, 800, 1200, 4000, 8000, the nagura stone, and the Veritas MkII honing guide. Since waterstones can be a little messy, I first roll out a small sheet of neoprene rubber on my workbench. This is all the sharpening stuff that you need. Waterstones can be flattened by rubbing two of them together, or rubbing them against a diamond stone.

For flattening a plane iron or the back of a chisel, I use wet/dry abrasive paper on a 3/8” thick sheet of glass. I have paper in 220, 320, 400, 600, and 1200 grits.

The Tormek will “hollow grind” the bevel in your blade. This is OK, but you will still need to finish hone and de-burr your plane iron or chisel on an 8000 waterstone.

-- "Heaven is North of the Bridge"

Iowa – I’ve heard people say they flatten two stones against each other. But doesn’t this transfer grit from one to the other? I thought that was a no no.

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Betsy:

Our instructor demonstrated by using a pencil to draw a grid on a wet 8000 stone and then rubbing it against a wet 6000 stone. We could actually see where the gridwork was disappearing, and how the stones were flattening each other. He said that we could also use a diamond stone, but this is added expense.

-- "Heaven is North of the Bridge"

So you’d do 8000/6000; 6000/4000; 1000/800???

-- Betsy - GO BUCKS!

Betsy,

I built this one for LOML (Love of My Life) – BUT, please be forewarned, it does have a grinder on it; it is posted in my Projects page :

-- Al Navas, St Joseph, MO, http://sandal-woodsblog.com

Betsy:

My wetstones are combination style 800/4000 and 1200/8000. The Japanese grit system is not the same as the sandpaper grade numbers that we are accustomed to. I have a diamond stone, so I will probably use it for flattening.

It is also handy to have an assortment of wet/dry sandpaper, which you can use on a glass plate. This is the best way to begin the sharpening of a new or very dull chisel or plane iron. Then, after working from 220 up to 400 or 600, you can finish on the waterstones. The final stone to use is the 8000, with a wet slurry on the surface from the nagura stone. This will give you a chisel or plane iron that can slice paper and is actually dangerous to handle.

I also need to mention again the Veritas MKII honing guide. This is a high precision tool. Even though my son has a Tormak, I doubt that I will be using it for my chisels and plane irons.

-- "Heaven is North of the Bridge"

Betsy,

Having never sharpend anything more than my old 10inch chef’s knife, Greg3G taught me how to sharpen while I was visiting a couple of weeks ago.

He uses Plate glass and adhesive backed wet/dry (wet) sand paper and the Veritus MkII . When I got done sharpening my chisels and plane blades I shaved the hair on my arms.

And the most compelling reason for me to use this system…..KISS (keep it stupid simple)

-- Adrian ..... The 11th Commandment...."Thou Shalt Not Buy A Wobble Dado"

Betsy,

I have one of those perfectly flat granite stones that wet sand paper sticks to. I love this system but after I paid $40 bucks for it I realized that a piece of glass does the same thing and is cheaper, smaller, lighter, and easier to handle and store. Be sure to use tempered glass though, so it will not shatter on you.

The best thing about the sandpaper, is that you can use a whole sheet at a time which gives you a wide area. I go up and down as I gradually move from side to side on the paper. This means that on almost every stroke I am using a fairly fresh section of paper. It does ware out quickly, so change paper often. But it is cheap and disposable.

No soaking stones, no “dishing” or uneven ware of the surface, larger work surface, cost-effective, easy to set up and put away, almost makes sharpening fun.

-- Dust collectors suck.

Our instructor at Highland Woodworking uses wet/dry sandpaper extensively in his sharpening classes. He describes this as the simplest sharpening method, and also the most expensive in the long run, as this paper costs around $1 per sheet. He went on to say that in the long run the investment in waterstones will be more economical. I’ll also mention that it is unlikely that you will find a sufficient assortment of wet/dry sandpaper at the local “big box”.

That being said. paper on glass is the best way to flatten the sole of a hand plane. This project can use up a lot of paper.

-- "Heaven is North of the Bridge"

I have been using the Scary Sharp System for some time and really do like it…..here is a great resource sharpening.

-- //FC - Round Rock, TX - "Experience is what you get just after you need it"