Knife Sharpening for Woodworkers


Beechwood Chip

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Please take pity on a poor Normite who has wandered into Neanderthal Village.

I have a three old planes that I must have inherited, because I have no idea how I got them. I also have a set of old chisels and a set of new ones. All of these need to be tuned up, so I guess I need to learn how to sharpen tools.

But, I also have a decent chef's knife (Henckels) that is so dull it's a crime to use it. Is it easy to sharpen a chef's knife using the same equipment that I use to tune up planes and chisels? The temper and curved edge seems like it would be easy to screw up permanently.

I'm thinking that if I have to send anything out to get sharpened, I might as well send everything out at once. There are good sharpeners around here who do both wood working tools and knives (and gardening/farming tools, etc.) But if I can do everything myself, I'm willing to invest some time and money to set up a scary sharp or some other system and learn how.

Any advice would be appreciated.

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I use Japanese style knifes in my kitchen. I do use my Translucent Arkansas stone on them from time to time to keep the edge. However, after about two years I do bite the bullet and send them out to be touched up by a professional. There are some people who can maintain the geometry using only stones for their kitchen knives and are perfectly happy. I just don't seem to be one of them.

For your planes and chisels you really need to learn to do it yourself. I would hate to have to wait for a blade to get back from a sharpener in order to continue a project. It is so easy to go over to the stone when the tool stops performing at its top game and touch it up quickly and go back to work.

Scary Sharp is one method and can be gotten into very cheaply.

I use and recommend oil stones (medium India and Translucent Arkansas). This is probably the medium priced route.

I have used water stones as well. This can be the high priced route depending on the stones you look at.

If you are just starting out get a honing guide. The side clamp versions can be had for about $12-15. You can also spend quite a bit more on the bells and whistle model here. Eventually you will learn how to free hand it and will only use the guide when you secondary bevel creeps up too much or you hit some piece of metal.

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Beechwood, My Henckel's go to the pro once a year. For the amount of time I would take to sharpen them it is better to let someone else do it. I do put them to the steel every time I use them tough. As for my chisels and planes, Arkansas water stones for me, plus a honing/sharpening jig.

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I use several sharpening techniques and the one that works best for me for knives is ceramic stones. Maintain the same bevel angle and draw the blade across the stone, starting at the handle and go all the way toward the end. Be sure to sharpen all the way to the tip of the blade. Do the same number of strokes on both sides. If you have a lot of steel to remove, start with a coarser stone and work your way up. I use two ceramic stones. I think they are around 800 and 2500. Sounds like a pretty low grit for final polishing, but for whatever reason, it works on knives. You can also outfit your grinding wheel with a hard felt wheel and charge it with honing compound. Turn the machine around, because the wheel must spin AWAY from you when you're using a felt wheel. Freehand the honing and concentrate on maintaining the same bevel. Do one or two passes on each side--that will be enough keep it honed once you've sharpened it on stones. If you round over the edge (easy to do) then you'll need to go back to the stones.

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