Question when sharpening chisels and plane blades

[Richard]

Folks, I have been using a grinder and white aluminum oxide stone to hollow grind my chisels, then taking them to a couple of Japanese waterstones to finish honing them. I have been removing the hollow grind when using the waterstones, but it is an awful lot of work and I am wondering if I need to. What is your opinion? Should I just grind them to the approximate shape (until I get a good burr on the back edge), then just hone them slightly on the rougher of the two waterstones, then changing the angle a bit and giving them a microbevel on the finer of the two Japanese stones? Thanks so much in advance for your help, Richard

[Zz Yzx]

You don't need to grind the hollow off the bevel. Just get a flat surface (approx. 3/32") (guys?) along the cutting edge. That surface should have a mirror image along the back side of the bevel, leaving the hollow in between.

-Zz

[Dave Balderstone]

Once the blades are shaped properly, using the grinder should be a rare event if you keep them sharp ont he waterstones.

[fredfighter]

Right!

The advantage to teh hollow grind is that only a small bit of metal needs to be removed when touching them up. Grinding away the hollow defeats the advantage of hollow grinding.

[CW]

Good advice below. Also, there should be no need to grind them often. Once the bevel is established, maintenance shouldn't require anything more than the stones.

[Ba r r y]

That's the way I was taught, and it's worked well for me.

Remember to frequently touch up on 4000 & 8000 stones during use, and you'll rarely have to reshape the edge.

Barry