Brent's Sharpening Pages
	Finest abrasives.
	Microbevels front and back.
	Use a jig.
	Copyright (c) 2002-12, Brent Beach

• freshly sharpened edges from dull edges,
• the scratches left by coarse abrasives from those left by fine abrasives,
• the changes that occur on both faces of a plane blade during use,
• the amount of wear on both faces of a plane blade during a standardized test.

The results of that study include:

There is a general misperception among the old timers in woodworking that getting a really sharp edge on a tool takes a long time and just is not worth the effort.

The Sketchup model of a sharp edge (on the left) and a worn edge (red, on the right) clearly shows the challenge a sharpener faces. Both surfaces of the tool have been modified during use. Sharpening using a jig like mine will quickly return the tool to the sharp state. Other methods probably won't. For example, any freehand method will instead take you somewhere between sharp and dull (closer to dull). Any jig that does not do back bevels will get you somewhere between sharp and dull.

You can use a dull tool. You did use it while getting it dull in the first place. Why work with dull tools all the time, when sharpening correctly is so easy. Watch this video of me using my honing system to see how quick and easy it is.

Check out the introduction to Sketchup models that shows honed microbevels and wear bevels.

Examination of sharpened blades over 8 years has convinced me that a combination of 3M Micro-abrasives on glass and a simple shop-made jig produces the best quality edges. No other sharpening system I am aware of can produce edges this good. You will see the photomicrographs in these pages that prove that this combination works. What other sharpening system shows you photomicrographs of their honed edges?

People regularly send me pictures of jigs they have built. If you build some jigs, send some pictures along. Send along your best picture of a shaving as well.

You have all read the claims by tool makers about how their blades last 5 times as long as ... blah, blah, blah. Have you even been shown their tests?

Tool testing has three phases: tool preparation, the test, and test evaluation.

• Tool preparation

  Sharpen the plane blade to the same fine surface on both faces. For most tests I show microphotographs of both the front and back of the blade before the test.

• Standardized test

  A standardized test (all tests have used wood from the same part of the same tree!) means that the test conditions are the same for all blades.

  These are the shavings produced during part of one test.

• Test evaluation

  The ability to measure plane blade wear to the ten-thousandth of an inch, using the QX3.

  In this section, see photomicrograph test results -- before, during and after -- of over 20 commonly used plane blades, both antique and modern.

You decide which blades are the most durable. (None of that "our blades lasted 5 times longer" stuff.)

A description of the Intel QX3 microscope.

Some people might be interested in the microscope itself. This section also contains an introduction to the images of plane blades, knives, razor blades.

In addition to plane blades, I also sharpen saws and chisels, and travel.

Other people who are sharpening and testing plane irons.

Check the update list here, or join my Google group to read about updates to this site and ask questions about sharpening and honing.

You can email me from this page.

Google brings people from all over the world to these pages. It probably brought you! If you can translate a page or two to some other language please email me.

If you have any ideas on how to manage translations and versions of web pages, that would be helpful as well.

Google will translate these web pages into your language. If you find that some words do not translate well and have better translations, let me know.