I have been using "Scary Sharpening" for my bench chisels and was considering moving to a stone system. Before I plunk down my cash, I have a few questions.
1) What do you use? Diamond, Ceramic, Oilstone, Waterstone 2) Why do you use it? 3) Just how much of a quality edge is to be gained from moving from Scary to a stone?Thanks
Deb
From what I have read on this newsgroup, I believe you want to stay with the Scary Sharp.
Mike >
I tried them all and switched to a WorkSharp 3000 a couple of years back ... my chisel and plane blades have never been sharper, or easier to maintain an edge.
Effective as scary sharp and so much less of a mess than water stones (ugh ... nasty damn things!), or even oil stones.
I occasionally touch-up a chisel or plan blade with an Arkansas oil stone (but only as a touch-up after the blade has been sharpened and microbevel put on with the WS2000), just a matter of seconds, although a leather strop works just as well.
YMMV ...
Like most everyone I have multiple systems.
Scary sharp, water stones, Arkansas stones, and an old delta water stone (primitive to Tormek), and a belt sander (1" wide belt) with a very find ziconia belt. Great for really nicked up tools, or lawn mower blades..
I use my water stones the most. The finish I get with an 8000 stone is beautiful. Mine are true water stones, I keep them in water full time. I put a drop or 2 of bleach and a drop or 2 of dishwash soap in the water to keep the scum down.
If you don't do a lot of sharpening scary is best/cheapest. But if you do a lot you will go through a lot of paper. BTW scary sharp on granite is much nicer than glass. Water will hold the paper down on granite, while it won't on glass.
I use the old delta stone when I want a hollow grind.
I could easily survive on scary sharp, or the water stones. The Arkansas stones are just plain ugly with oil. But I use my oil based slip stones for gouges.
Any system you choose can and will give you a good edge. I free hand sharpen except when I have a lot to take off to get rid of a nick. Then I put the blade >
I vote scarry.
-Zz
As other have mentioned, I've tried a bunch of different methods (scary sharp included) and as of now I've settled on using one of these:
I've used scary, water, and oil, plus some diamond hones for touching up router bits. I wound up sticking with oilstones (plus the hones).
Why? Waterstones were a little quicker than oilstones, but messier and oil doesn't cause rust. Plus waterstones require frequent flattening. More or less the same with ScarySharp, minus the flattening, plus I seemed to be tearing the paper quite a bit.
In the end, it's all a matter of what you like. I'm sure my decision was influenced not only by the above reasons, but because I've used oilstones all of my life.
I might have tried the diamond stones if I could afford them, since the hones work great on the router bits. But for the difference in price ...
P.S. I use whatever oil I have handy, but plain old mineral oil seems to work as well as any.
Swingman wrote in news:08qdnVJdepI5GX7TnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
I am thoroughly dissatisfied with my sharpening thus far. I have been considering a WS3000, but you confused me - do you have a WS3000 or WS2000, which I think is a much less capable version than the WS3000?
I've used soft water stones, harder Shapton water stones, scary sharp, and now a Veritas sharpening machine. Soft water stones hollowed out almost immediately. I had to flatten them more than I used them. Shapton did not hollow out as much and were OK. But still slow. Scary sharp was a hassle to set up, change papers, mess, and slow. I'm pretty happy with the Veritas. It has a disc on top of the machine where you stick sandpaper. Has a guide for the chisels and plane blades. Quick. Not as messy as scary sharp. Produces razor sharp results due to the sandpaper spinning at a few hundred or so rpm. Couple grits on different platters and you can go from grinding to honed quickly.
I use the powered version of "scary sharp", the WorkSharp 3000.
WS3000 . I also have a new Dell laptop, upon which I can not type without two mistakes+ per sentence; and an iPad, for which that goes double!
Swingman wrote in news:1202249713345244414.385560kac-nospam.com@216.196.97.131:
Just ordered a WS3000 at Amazon. Thanks for helping with that purchase . How's the Akeeda working out?
I've ordered some 8mm bits and guide bushings, cut and mounted it on a base and have it all setup and ready to go as soon as they arrive, just haven't had time to do anything other than other people's stuff. :)
I really do like the WS3000. You will go through all your tools, sharpen everything, then back it goes in the box until the next time ... no fuss, no muss.
I remember reading somewhere that a problem with horizontal wheel grinders was that the edge didn't last as long because the scratches from the grinder were parallel to the edge instead of perpendicular. Thus the edge could flake off much easier.
I have no experience to either confirm or deny that theory, although it does seem to make some sense. But the effect may be so small as to be insignificant.
Have you noticed tools getting dull any quicker with the WS3000? Anyone else here able to confirm or deny from experience?
I use a 1" 120 grit zirconia-belted sandah to trim broken or chipped edges, a 600 diamond hone to sharpen, a coupla 1200-1600 grit WOD papers on any old flat surface (glass, laminate top, straight MDF; I'm not too picky) to polish, and finish off on a leather strop with LVT green compound (chromium + aluminum oxides).
I have some small, shaped 4000 waterstones for my gouges, but I often just use the diamond paddles or shaped rubber sanding pad with WOD paper on it when the stones are hiding. A piece of soft wood with a gouge jammed into it 90 degrees to the grain works well with some LVT green in it for honing, too.
I believe that both can provide a truly fine edge, equally. But stones cost hundreds of dollars more and take more time than my setup, plus you have to keep buying stones as they wear out or (Oops!) break.
As a SDFWA volunteer, I helped woodworking author Paul Anthony set up and do the sharpening clinics at the AWW show in Ontario, CA. He used diamonds and stones, noting how nicely diamonds quickly shaped an edge. We discussed (and he was open to) ScarySharp(tm) but I think he preferred his stones + diamonds since he was used to them.
Use whatever works for you, Doc.
-- A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world. -- John Locke
Larry Blanchard wrote in news:jc0vfo$4n5$ snipped-for-privacy@speranza.aioe.org:
That would mean the only area usable for sharpening was either the 6 or
12 o'clock position on the wheel. It was my impression that 3 o'clock was the position used. I will find out when it arrives ...
Han, how do you sharpen your irons and why are you dissatisfied?
Have you read Leonard Lee's tome? It's a keeper, though I do several things a bit different than he suggests.
Find a local woodcarver who can show you, physically, what "truly sharp" means. I didn't know that for far too many decades. A truly sharp iron will actually cut into your nail when rested upon it without any extra pressure. When you can sharpen an iron, rest it upon your fingernail, tap it on the flat side, and it resists moving, then raises a scraping, it's finally sharp. Anything less will skitter over the surface of the nail very easily.
-- A sound mind in a sound body is a short but full description of a happy state in this world. -- John Locke
Larry Jaques wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:
Larry, I've tried the scary sharp a bit and I have a set of expensive sharpton stones. I also have a combo oilstone gizmo, and 2 very small diamond honing plates (like 1x3"). I even went to an adult ed woodworking class, but that was a very nice bunch of guys ad gals each doing their own thing on the high school woodshop machines. No teaching of sharpening. Some of these techniques got me a better edge than there was originally, but either I haven't gotten the knack, or it is not for me. I do have trouble getting things under the same angle from stroke to stroke. I hope the WS3000 will help me get more consistency and will work easier and faster than those things. If the WS3000 works for me, maybe I can sell the sharpton stones to someone ...
Uh, Shapton stones, right? Yeah, someone'll buy 'em. Sharpton is that Gnu Yawk bastard^H^H^H^H^Hptist minister who ran for Dem Pres in '04.
Have wifey get Lee's sharpening book for you for Xmas, eh?
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