I just got my Sorby 3/8 corner chisel delivered today and I need to hone it before I use it. I have used the scary sharp method on my other straight chisels and have excellent results.
With the corner chisel I can't figure how to hone the bevel side accurately. Does anyone have advise for me? Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks, G.S.
I don't own a corner chisel, but it looks like you could still use a water stone. Just use the left or right side of the stone so that one side of the chisel hangs over the side of the stone.
Disclaimer: I'm not sure if that would work or not after thinking about it more... :^|
I've found that stones don't get into the V very well as their edges are usually rounded over somewhat. I use scary sharp sandpaper glued to a scrap of wood such that the sandpaper goes right to the very edge of the scrap. I then hone each bevel separately. Art
Slips (oil stone) -- India followed by soft Arkansas would give you a good, fast edge. If you're using the chisel for squaring mortises, no need to go finer.
No slips? Ceramic 32 pin or larger DIP ICs from 1980s vintage computers work very nicely as hones, comparable to white hard Arkansas.
Honing that chisel is the easy part. Grinding the bevel is what takes steady nerves.
Use a small diamond stone, hand-held and with the chisel clamped vertically in a vice.
Don't use a stone, especially not a soft waterstone. Corner chisels will round off the corner of a stone in no time. You need to make sure you do hone right into the corners, otherwise you end up with a "spear point" protruding from the corner, and it's a blunt spear point at that.
Personally I've little time for these things. Their benefits aren't worth the hassle of sharpening them.
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