Sharpening system for chisels and knives?

[mike12ophone]

I'm looking to invest in a sharpening system (tormek, work sharp, etc) but in order to justify the cost, I'd love to find something that can sharpen everything.  Are there any systems that can sharpen chisels, plane blades, kitchen pocket and bushcraft knives, etc? I use water stones now but would love something that's a bit more dummy proof and quicker without the cleanup. Thanks for any thoughts.

[davestanton]

Robert Sorby pro edge. 

[mike12ophone]

Yeah that sorby looks interesting and one I hadn't seen before. Looks like it only goes to 3k grit and it's another $200ish for the additional knife jigs. The work sharp 3000 looks like it has more options for abrasives and is way cheaper. I'm thinking maybe there isn't one "master" sharpening system and would be better served getting a few purpose built sharpening systems. I can't be the only one who owns both chisels and kitchen knives and is sick of water stones.

[wtnhighlander]

I would consider, while comparing Worksharp to Sorby, that the Sorby belts should have a good bit more surface area, and therefore last longer.

Just an observation / assumption, as I own neither.

[TerryMcK]

If you want an easy way to sharpen things buy a Tormek T8 but be prepared to invest a lot of $$$ in the accessories that you need to sharpen everything. 

If you want a slight cheaper way then buy some diamond plates (these can be expensive of course), some leather and honing compound, learn how to develop muscle memory and then do it by hand without jigs or guides. You can sharpen and hone anything that way and you don't have to flatten the plates (unlike waterstones or grading the Tormek). You can always use a honing guide if honing by hand is not an option.

A fully cheaper way is the scary sharp method using sandpaper, spray on adhesive, a granite plate or sheet of plate glass, a Veritas MKII honing guide and its accessories. Again no flattening required. You still have to sharpen knives and scissors by hand but nothing is easier than running a small diamond sharpener over a knife edge. It takes a few seconds to do that.

All these get the job done but with varying degrees of cost. I'm sure that there are a million and one other ways to do it too. You have to clean up with every method BTW as you are removing metal.

[treeslayer]

its almost impossible to find one thing that sharpens everything you mentioned. +1 to  @TerryMcK  and the Veritas MKII i have one and it works great, i also have the Worksharp for my kitchen knives, axes , hatches, shovels ect. i've had it over a year and have had no problems and it also works great. 

[mike12ophone]

Yeah, decisions, decisions. Maybe I should just get some dia-sharps or something so I can bypass flattening stones every time.

I've got the MKII jig which works well but locking in an angle and running the irons over a belt/disk looks amazing from this side of the fence.  That and I just can't get the hang of keeping a consistent angle on knives.  Its way more difficult for me than chisels or plane irons with those giant bevels. Perhaps I've got some of the 'grass is greener' syndrome going on.  Maybe a ken onion worksharp and some diamond stones would be the best value option. Thanks all.  If anyone decides to invent a wiz-bang do it all sharpener, with 15-40 deg presets, and grits up to 8k for under $500, I'll be the first to sign up. haha

[Pwk5017]

I recently thought about this as well; mostly because my one chef's knife is considerably duller than the other. I use the MKII on planes and chisels to get them sharp. I doubt they would be considered scary sharp by the more discerning sharpeners of the world, but they perform well for me. I sharpen to 8k on a shapton, but the MKII has a bit of variability in the setup that probably prevents me from achieving perfection. I keep wishing there was a simple jig for sharpening knives on waterstones. i can do OK sharpening knives by hand, but am i truly holding the blade at a consistent angle of 15° for the 50ish strokes i do between stones? No freaking way. I realistically sharpen chisels and plane blades every 2-3 months, and my kitchen knives would be 2-3 times a year max. How is someone supposed to develop sufficient muscle memory in this situation? 

[xxdabroxx]

I sharpen everything you mentioned above with diamond stones and a leather strop.  I have waterstones but only get them out when I feel like it.  The diamond stones are much quicker and cleaner for day to day sharpening.  I'm not a fan of guides and machines though, I like to own the skill of sharpening.  After you've been doing it for a while it is really easy.  If I had to get out a machine or an edge guide every time I wanted to sharpen something my tools would be a whole lot duller. 

25 minutes ago, Pwk5017 said:

I recently thought about this as well; mostly because my one chef's knife is considerably duller than the other. I use the MKII on planes and chisels to get them sharp. I doubt they would be considered scary sharp by the more discerning sharpeners of the world, but they perform well for me. I sharpen to 8k on a shapton, but the MKII has a bit of variability in the setup that probably prevents me from achieving perfection. I keep wishing there was a simple jig for sharpening knives on waterstones. i can do OK sharpening knives by hand, but am i truly holding the blade at a consistent angle of 15° for the 50ish strokes i do between stones? No freaking way. I realistically sharpen chisels and plane blades every 2-3 months, and my kitchen knives would be 2-3 times a year max. How is someone supposed to develop sufficient muscle memory in this situation? 

I don't know if you do this or not but mark the edge of your blades with a sharpie.  Let it flash off real quick then take a couple strokes on your stones.  Now look at the sharpie line and see where you were hitting.  Adjust the angle as needed and continue, remark throughout the process as required.   Also, do you finish on a strop?  I think you would find it more forgiving than honing on super fine stones.  The little bit of give in the leather creates a micro convex edge that is highly polished and a little tougher by nature.

Making a good edge is simple really.

1. remove nicks

2. Fold over the edge

3. fold it over the other way.

4. move up in grit and continue the edge folding over, albeit less and less.

5. Finish up with a couple dozen strokes on a strop making sure not to hold the edge too steep to the leather as that will round over the edge. 

 

My dad and I have always been into sharpening at some level.  A while back I saw a video of the wicked edge sharpening guide and he bought one.  It works well for knives but is slow and the clamp is finicky.  Then I looked into finishing edges with a strop as that was something that kit included.  That is the secret, I use diamond lapidary paste (found on amazon in various grits) on some leather glued to MDF.  Any more I only sharpen to "fine" on my duosharp then go straight to my strop.  I find with that alone I can get chisels sharp enough to work pretty well on pine end grain.

[Tpt life]

Kitchen knives should not cut much that will chip an edge. You rarely need to grind. A knife steel does most of the daily maintenance. If you want to get picky, this kind of jig can be bought or copied. The talking can be much...

 

[Dan S]

an 8" slow speed grinder with a cbn wheel for rough work and then miscellaneous stones for honing. You will be hard pressed to get a super sharp edge without some stones and or a strop. 

[gee-dub]

There will be even more answers than there are woodworkers since many of us use more than one method depending on the task.  Dad runs the slow speed wet grinder and for honing it is fine, for shaping it is ill-suited.  A rig that allows the tool holders to transfer from slow speed 8" grinders to the 10" wet system without additional adjustments cured most of his ills.  He is primarily a turner.

I use a Worksharp 3000 for shaping (at 80 grit) and sharpening up to about 4000 grit.  I also have a strop wheel which gets some use for the cutters I finish up at the WS3K.  I have 3 guides, each handles a different array of cutter shapes and sizes.  I use the guides with a Scary Sharp setup (least often), on the wide table of the WS3K (larger irons) and on some DMT Dia-Sharp 'stones'.

The lifetime of the Dia-Sharp stones if not abused is really impressive.  My 600 grit stone is about 10 years old and still serving.  I run these stones from 220 through 1200 for various tasks. 

I also have various holders and guides for small and odd shaped cutters like you find in router planes, shaves, shoulder planes and so forth.  I think you hit the nail on the head when you stated that there is no one-size-fits-all for sharpening.