Reply To: Chisel Chopping – How hard is too hard?
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Seems unlikely that a softwood like pine would dull your edge so quickly. A couple of things that occur to me:
1) Cutting paper is a nice test, but shaving every hair it touches might be a better test of sharpness.
2) are the chisels new (or unused)? A fair number of chisels and planes, even high-end ones, have this issue when new. The steel at the tip is weak due to decarb, so you need to grind a new bevel, then blunt the tip and grind yet another new bevel, then sharpen and hone. This generally removes enough of the weak metal at the tip to get into the good steel beneath. Chris Schwarz has the details if you want to read more: https://www.popularwoodworking.com/tools/woodworking-hand-tools/chisels/why-some-new-tools-have-poor-edge-life/
3) Ultimately, as mentioned above, expecting to be able to do what Paul can do is not realistic. If you could lift half as much weight as the current Olympic gold medalist, you’d still be a strong person, so producing good results in twice the time as Paul is still fine for any amateur. You’ll continue to improve over time.