Is there a good sharpening Service out there?

[Kc-Mass]

I am looking for a good sharpening service for hand tools (planes, spoke shaves, et al) in Massachusetts - preferably on the south shore. Thx

[AAvK]

Why not do the "scary sharp" thang?

Thick piece of glass, four grits of aluminum oxide paper 220, 400, 800, 1200/

1500, a basic vise type of honing guide, a can of 3M super 77 and paint thinner to clean off the tack when the paper is taken off the glass. Works quite well and easy to learn, much cheaper than regular service too. Above is the search term, "scary sharp", because there is plenty on the 'net, websites that teach it. The glass can be bought at a junk shop, mine is 3/4" thick, and that is expensive, I paid $10.

[Stephen M]

You are asking the wrong question.

Go ahead and send out (power) planer blades jointer blades and saw blades. Chisels and hand plane blades should be done by you. They need way too frequent touchup to be really effective. The right questions to ask are: What is scary sharp? Is a Tormek really worth that much money? Do I need a honing guide or can I sharpen freehand? Oil vs. waterstone?

A hidden truth of hand tools which is seldom revealed without a fair degree of (painful) experience is that it does not make sense to own any (cutting) hand tool without a having a sharpening strategy.

Outsourcing is not a viable sharpening strategy.

Steve

[Patriarch]

"Stephen M" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Amen. And the process of sharpening, or honing, or touching up, is one of the means of fine tuning the hand tool use process. Recognising what to tweak, based on how the tool is performing, is as important as knowing how to do the tweak, and having the right tool.

Steeper bevel? Microbevel? Back bevel? Crowned? Skewed? Hollow-ground?

Leonard Lee's book on sharpening is an available, authoritative, accessible work on the subject. That's your next $25 purchase.

Patriarch