Sharpening

[Dave M]

Well today was sharpening day.

I much prefer not to have to break off in the middle of a project to sharpen tools so I tend to have multiple chisels and planes of similar size. In between I really go for it and sharpen everything as well as I can. I even did all my scrapers yesterday which seemed to take forever honing the edges square and smooth before turning a burr.

I do have the posh Veritas honing guide which I use for plane blades but the simple Eclipse works fine as well and is much quicker to set. I have forked out the outrageous price for the well known water cooled grindstone, then with only a tiny bevel to hone use a traditional oil stone followed by a seriously fine waterstone both of which take only a very few strokes to give the edge.
Spraying with Camelia oil as a protective rather than WD 40 or whatever seems such a nicer way to go - and it is claimed will not stain the timber.

I wonder how others tackle this job? Can one simply rely on diamond plates...?

[Steve.Toscano]

For me... Diamond plates and a strop is all i use (along with the same veritas honing guide).
I have Course, Extra Fine, and Extra extra fine plates.
Course is only ever used to setup new tools.

I use the strop pretty much daily - i like my edges razor sharp. When the strop alone stops getting my edges sharp enough to shave with i give them a touch up on the extra fine and extra extra fine plates with a little kero, this is probably once every 3months or so..

I have a few very expensive waterstones ranging from 300 right up to 12000. They havent been touched since i moved to the diamond plates. As i found i could get the same edge without the hassles of having to flatten the stone and without all the water boarding

[Trevor Gore]

Can one simply rely on diamond plates...?

I do. I don't use a strop, either.

[kiwigeo]

I'm slaving away on Japanese water stones but use a coarse diamond plate. I'll most likely move to using only diamond plates eventually....keeping Japanese stones are great for getting the Zen thing going but keeping the bastards flat is a pain in the proverbial.

[simso]

I enjoy sharpening

Steve

[kiwigeo]

I enjoy sharpening

Steve

Please supply postal address and you can do all my blades for me

[simso]

One of the things I found with luthiery, is we all get good at sharpening, it goes hand in hand with what we do every day.

So much so, I have a side business sharpening other peoples tools, router bits, drills, milling bits, chisels, scissors, knives, hole punches and so forth.

Not that I do not have enough to do.

Steve

[Ormsby Guitars]

2000grit and the palm of my hand to strop. Anything else is wasting time and money.

[routout]

There are a Million suggestions on the Internet of every thing ,My wood carvers are final polished ,pushing through oak,ebony to pine they say a blunt knife cuts you more because you have to push harder .I just do what makes them work mirror is good .

[Mark McLean]

Nice collection of planes there Dave.

I have started using Veritas diamond lapping film, stuck onto a dead flat surface (a porcelain tile - or you can use a glass sheet). It is really quick and easy to use in conjunction with a honing guide. No more hassle with flattening a water stone. It is pretty cost-effective also. I got it from Carbatec.

[Allen]

I bought the Robert Sorby Pro Edge sharpener a year ago and wouldn't give it up for anything after just one use. Incredibly easy and quick to put a razor edge. There are a few different grit belts that you change in seconds. I give everything a light strop wtih green compound after the honing pass with the 3000 grit belt.

I nicked this picture off of their website.