Reply To: Sharpening Milestone
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@bfisher – Ben (and others), I have been sharpening by hand since getting my diamond plates and learning from Paul. I’ve found that my thin chisels – 1/4″ to 1/2″ – I can’t keep straight on the plates and I need to use a guide. It’s too easy to angle them just a bit and I get something other than a 90° angle across the edge. Just today I used a guide to sharpen a 1/2″ plough plane blade that was really in poor shape and the guide came in handy.
Here’s one thing I discovered today. I have a strop (store-bought leather strip on an oak board) that I charge with the green honing compound. Today I REALLY charged it before honing the 1/2″ blade. Usually I charge it a little and many times I don’t charge it because it still has some from a prior use. But today after charging like Paul does – really rubbing the compound stick on the leather – I got a very nice mirror finish. Better than I’ve ever gotten before.
Happy sharpening.