Sharpening in the cold

Larry,

Please allow me to add on sharpening with a hollow ground bevel. From Mr. Tom Fidgen I learnt that no secondary bevel is necessary, nor – as you point out – a honing guide. Even I, the perpetual and perennial beginner, can maintain what in my humble are very sharp edges, by basically give the backs of the blades some polishing on DMT Extra Fine (4000[?]) and Extra Extra Fine (8000) diamond stones, after first having ground and sharpened them on my Tormek. The bevels receive a few, more perfunctory, strokes with no substantial pressure applied. And, it takes no time at all: now that I eventually got around to make a sharpening station.

Actually I believe that joy out of one’s work is the most important aspect to the beginning woodworker, who can start with small projects – not necessarily easier than big ones – which only require a few tools of the “ready to use from the box” type; and have as much pleasure as talent and growing skills will grant. A Tormek, albeit costly, will mitigate the distress that comes out of being uncertain on re-sharpening those once perfect edges, and thereby add quite a lot to the joy of actually achieving something that isn’t immediately destined for the wood burner – like a keepsake with secret dovetails???

Sven-

I use different methods for different tools. Narrow chisels and gouges still get sharpened freehand on my very nice transparent amber novaculite oilstone. I find I get a finer edge than with diamond stones and dont screw up my water stones. I only have to flatten the stone occasionally. It still has another lifetime left.
(I use a touch of soapy water on the stone, not oil- less mess and smell)

My plane irons get honed on water stones. Yes, it’s a bit messy, but again, I get finer edges. And because I use water stones, I have taken to the Charlesworth method. It’s very quick and I don’t nick up my soft 800 grit or my fine 16K stones. And with the Charlesworth method, I don’t have to strop.

I have diamond stones, but they aren’t as quick and need more pressure, something I try to lessen with my elbow arthritis.

But I’m not advocating. There are 100 ways to sharpen and most work.

And maybe I wasn’t clear. I don’t own a Tormek.
I was just looking at one. I do know they need refreshing often. A buddy of mine says he has to flatten them as often as I do with my water stones. But maybe both of you wait too long, I don’t really know.
There is a jig that makes that pretty much automatic, I’m told. That and the cost is why I haven’t sprung for one. In a couple years I’ll be moving to a place with a communal shop that has one, so I may never pull the trigger, but just buy stones for that one.

For rough grinding, I use either a, old hand grinder with an 80 grit blue stone or if things have really gotten out of hand, a metal working 4×48 belt grinder I have access to. Things have to be dire, though. It’s too easy to screw things up worse. The thing is a monster.

Dave,

Trueing the stone is something I thankfully don’t need to do very often, supposedly because I use a file to round the corners of the blades (or, at times, the side of the Tormek stone), and don’t intentionally put a camber to them. As I manly use it for grinding, the roughing-stone gets used a lot.

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Larry,

Far be it from me to give any advice. I was just commenting out being happy to have confirmation on that hollowing has benefits. Next step is to get my water stones out of the boxes. Then, I too will – with some modifications – follow Mr. D Charlesworth, and reserve the diamond stones for narrow blades.