Excellent Sharpening Video with Thomas Lie-Nielsen

[collinp2]

I've watched probably hundreds of sharpening videos over the past few years, but this one makes it very simple.  Thomas Lie-Nielsen takes one of their brand new off the machine irons, flattens the back(ruler trick) and hones an edge on them.  I wish I would have seen this video first!

 

 

[Tom King]

At what point do you stop with a micro-bevel (as in how many sharpenings), and how large will you let the back bevel get?  No question both are quick for right now with a new iron, but where is the turnaround point, and how long will it take to get it back to the starting point?

[Tpt life]

That questions hangs on a couple of factors. The largest is the grind capability. If you have a grinder, you might go longer. If you don't have a grinder, you might never back or micro bevel. 

[Tom King]

I have a grinder-a pretty fast one with CBN wheel.  With fast cutting stones, even with a good grinder setup, I quit doing micro-bevels, and never back beveled.  My grinder hasn't touched a plane iron or chisel in over a year, and backs are still flat, and full bevels are still the same angle they started at.  The grinder just gets used if there is damage to an edge, and I don't remember when the last time that was with one that only cuts wood.

I sold and shipped a jointer plane to Brendon.  The plane iron hadn't been touched in decades.  It took me maybe a couple of minutes to sharpen it honing the full bevel, and flat on it's back, before I shipped it to him.  He might be able to tell you if it was sharp or not.

Once I graduated to really fast cutting stones, I realized that changing the bevel ended up taking longer in the long run.

I used a similar jig setting gauge for a long time.  The trouble with it is that it registers by the back of an iron or chisel.  If the rest on the grinder also registered off the backs, it would be okay.  The trouble comes in play with tools of different thicknesses since the grinder rest setting jigs register off the other face of an iron or chisel.  It just gets complicated, which takes more time when a grinder comes in to play.

None of this matters if one hones by hand, and grinds by eye.  I've gone back to using honing jigs because it saves time in the long run keeping everything exact, and to me, time is money.  For a hobbyist, saving time is not part of the overall plan usually. When you produce work for a living, efficiency is one of the things at the top of the important list.

Sharpening is a pretty individual thing.  I'm not trying to be critical here-just point out another way to think about it.