Primary chisel bevel

[kbrunco]

What angle does everyone put on their chisels? Do you put a secondary bevel on them?

[CessnaPilotBarry]

For bench chisels, I usually use a 25 degree primary and a 30 degree working. Why? Because it works great, and I can effortlessly use two stops on the jig shown here: http://www.lie-nielsen.com/pdf/AngleSettingJig.pdf

Lots of folks use 2 and 3 degree microbevels, but I don't see much difference in use to 5 degrees, and the jig saves a bunch of time.

Some people prefer a 35 degree working angle, but I prefer the 30 on chisels I use for paring, as I like the way it shears end grain better. Pretty much anytime you're cutting at any sort of angle, you're shearing end grain.

Using the shop-made stop block jig, as your microbevel grows beyond ~ 1/16"-3/32" wide, 5-10 strokes at the primary setting on an XC diamond stone will "shrink" it. Sliding to the micro, and around 5 strokes on a 4000 and 8000 stone gets me back in business in a total of about 60 seconds.

[mds2]

For bench chisels, I usually use a 25 degree primary and a 30 degree working.

Same here. I was watching an episode of The Woodwright's Shop and Chris Schwarz was sharpening some plate irons and said something to the affect of "I use 25 degrees for everything." Good enough for me.

[Mister Pants]

I use a 25 degree, with a 27 or so micro-bevel. Really for similar reasons as Barry, I use the veritas mark II jig, so you just roll the microbevel knob two notches and it's 2 degrees .

[Bob Rozaieski]

The lowest angle that you can get away with and still keep the edge from chipping or rolling during the operation it is intended to perform. This will be different for different manufacturers, different steels, different widths of chisels and chisels used for different purposes. While 25 degrees might be a good place to start your experimentation, you will need to experiment to see what works best for your chisels.

[neanderthal]

I'm a little late to this thread. I use a convex bevel on all my chisels and sharpen free-hand. Most of my chisels have a working bevel angle of around 25 degrees. The convex bevel makes it really easy to sharpen - just hold the handle closer to your sharpening medium and raise it to the angle you want as you pull the chisel back toward you. I'm done honing the edge faster than I could get out my guide and get it set up.