Reply To: Sharpening
Welcome! / Forums / General Woodworking Discussions / Woodworking Methods and Techniques / Sharpening / Reply To: Sharpening
I have always free-handed the way my dad taught me using a combination oil stone followed by a quick “strop” on my sleeve or the thigh of my jeans. But last year I broke my combination oil stone. Having been following Paul for a while I decided to up my game and looked at diamond stones, I’d tried scary sharp once, but couldn’t be bothered with all the double sided tape/spray glue, umpteen sheets of wet ‘n’ dry, etc. In the end I stuck with Norton oil stones, but upped my game to a set of three (£54): coarse, medium and fine; and splashed out on some green polishing compound, I’m real high tech now. I use a guide for sorting out blades from tools I get from Ebay and car boot sales. Something to think about, my dad would never let me use his oil stone, I had to buy my own on day 1. He told me to never use someone else’s stone or let someone else use yours. Because way back when, everyone free-handed so every stone was worn to the individual joiners technique and style of sharpening, which is affected by stance, pressure, stroke length, etc, etc. Something to think about if you are tempted to buy a used stone from the likes of Ebay. The wear pattern might not suit your sharpening style and you will be fighting to get a sharp edge every time you use it.