How sharp are you?


rodger.

How sharp do you go?  

30 members have voted

  1. 1. How sharp do you sharpen your plane irons?



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Did you see my post about not realizing my hardwood dealer's weekend hours? Apparently, I'm not very sharp ;)

What's the equivalent stone for 2000 emery cloth? I sharpened some chisels and irons on some new wqterstones up to 8000....they were ok, but not the shiny finish I get from the emery paper so I went back to the emery (scary sharp).

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My tools are so sharp, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed!

I sharpen chisels and planes to 8k, and keep 4k and 8k waterstones set up for quick touch-ups on chisels during handwork. My carving chisels get Tormek'd and continually stropped as I work.

My smoothers and low angle block also get quickie touch-ups sooner, rather than later.

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For most work anything at or above the 6k level will be be plenty sharp enough. I think one of the reason why edges often seem like they are not sharp enough at that level is because the stones are cutting a bit more so its harder to work the burr off. If you work the burr off you'll be amazed at how sharp a tool can get at the 6k or even 4k level. I'll often stop at my Sigma 6k, although admittedly that's a 6k on steroids in terms of edge. At the point you are going higher than 6k-8k you are looking at diminishing returns. Its not that the edge isn't sharper its just that at that level you often won't be able to tell the difference in the wood. That said, my preference is to take the edge as high as I can, particularly on planes for smoothing and for end grain work, which for me is 10k. I also think that good high grit stone can increase edge longevity.

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