Paul's Sharpening Method

Brian,

I had the same revelation.  Following other’s teachings, my hands would cramp.  I also needed to prepare for sharpening 30 minutes before I wanted to sharpen.  Soak the water stones, make sure they’re flat, get everything wet and messy while sharpening, when done,  flatten the stones so they’re ready for the next time, etc, etc, etc.

I was so impressed with Paul’s teaching, I bought a few DMT diamond plates and made a holder similar to his, with a separate strop.  Now, in less time than it takes to fill the soaking pan with water, I have a mirror finish and am back to work.

I know we all have a tendancy to be a bit bias towards Paul, but I think he has such a down to earth approach to everything.  No fancy gizmo’s, no need to be validated, just a simple approach that works, and a great teaching style.

I have a Tormek T7 great for primary bevel Also Trend diamond plates and if I want ultra fine I use scary shapening

Boyce, I have a couple plane blades with Lee Valley new metal, its no different than my O1 plane blades.  Hones up razor sharp.

I too have switched over to the free hand method Paul teaches.

At first I was “a-scared” of it.  So, I practiced on spare a chisel I bought from one of the big box stores.  It turned out pretty good.  I was surprised at how easy it was to do.  And fast too.

So like David Knight, I bought some DMT diamond stones, a strop and some green polishing compound from Harbor Freight (per Paul’s recommendation).

I still have my combination water stones but, I don’t see myself using them.  I don’t know what to do with ’em.  And I still have my $15.00 sharpening jig (guide) too.  I guess that may be useful someday.

However … I’ve only used the free hand method on blades from 2″ down to 1/4″.  The 1/4″ took some concentration because it seems like it would be real easy to tilt it too much to one side or the other and end up with a deformed edge.

But, when I met Paul at the Woodworking show in Ft Worth, he showed me that even *his* chisels have a *little bit* of a skew on the edges (or at least a couple of them did).  So I guess that ain’t really anything to be worried about.  …too much.

kelly

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Hear you go …….http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6ykVzL2VAM

Linkmaster Ken, to the rescue! 😉

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Anonymous wrote:

To be honest I have not tried Paul’s method of sharpening yet. Till now I have used a WorkSharp on my older tools. Has anyone used Paul’s method on the newer steels offered by LV and LN? I understand they are much harder to put an edge on, and very sensitive to heat. Thank you for the replys.

Boyce-  I used a WorkSharp 3000 for a stretch, which is good with bevels once you have the port set up square, but I experienced a few problems. I did not spend a lot of time with the device before moving on, so my inexperience with the device may have been my worst enemy.

I then tried waterstones and liked the “feel”, but dishing (especially with the courser stones) and stiction (while polishing or de-burring backs on the finest stone) can become a nuisance. I still keep a 3000 and 8000 Naniwa Superstone on my sharpening bench for when I really need those finer grits, but gouging a waterstone while free-hand sharpening is super easy so I have to sharpen on the pull stroke only or use a jig.

Now I pretty much use diamond plates in COURSE (250), MEDIUM (600) and SUPER FINE (1200) grits for chisels and irons, and leather&compound for stropping. I wish I discovered this method first!  I love how the plates do not have to be flattened (or abrasive wheels swapped out), but I do wipe or rinse them from time to time to keep the ground metal particles from drying on or clogging the plate.

I mostly have O1 or vintage steel so I have no meaningful experience in sharpening the new steels. With that said, I have read that diamonds are one of the fastest abrasives for harder steels.

Paul’s method is very fast, but also makes me very conscious of what is happening at the edge of the tool. Without the use of jigs I feel as though I pay closer attention to the development of the burr and the subsequent wire edge falling away. I keep an illuminated magnifying glass at the bench to closely check the results of my sharpening.

Scott wrote:

Paul’s method is very fast, but also makes me very conscious of what is happening at the edge of the tool. Without the use of jigs I feel as though I pay closer attention to the development of the burr and the subsequent wire edge falling away. I keep an illuminated magnifying glass at the bench to closely check the results of my sharpening.

Here, here!  I was fortunate enough to find Paul’s technique first.  I had been doing a lot of reading about sharpening and I felt like I was being sold snake oil.  ‘How hard can it be, it is just a matter of making the narrowest edge possible!’…  Folks obsess about sharpness to the point of a religion.

The first technique I tried was the one that professed to letting me get back to working wood the most quickly!