Brent's Pages - Site Map

	Sharpening Station
	Finest abrasives.
	Microbevels front and back.
	Use a jig.

	Copyright (c) 2002-08, Brent Beach

Overview

On this site you will see that there are three factors in honing a perfect edge. First, use the best abrasives. Second, use a jig. Third, hone using microbevels on the front and back of the iron. Follow these tips to the best possible edges. While primarily about honing, this site also discusses grinding since honing cannot correct grinding errors.

Topics

Abrasives
- For honing I use 3M PSA backed abrasives.
- General discussion of abrasives in the Jig FAQ
- For grinding flat blades, I use a coarse Norton Silicon Carbide stone.
- For grinding, I also use a 1" Belt Sander.
- I also tried Norton 3X sheet abrasives for grinding, with chipped blades as a result.
Grinding
- Before you can hone you must shape the primary bevel by grinding. This pages discusses the general problem and things to think about no matter how you grind your tools.
- I grind with a coarse Norton Silicon Carbide stone.
- I also use a 1" Belt Sander.
Honing
- Honing uses very fine abrasives working right at the tool edge. The Sharpening Station takes you through the building of the various parts of the sharpening station I use, as well as the actual discussing Honing using a shop-made jig.
- A beginning to end look at sharpening with scans and images of the blade at each step in the sharpening process.
- Special care must be taken with bevel up planes, since wear on the back face of the iron affects performance more than for a bevel down plane.
- Honing (and grinding) curved blades - blades for moulding planes, scrub planes, planes with convex soles - requires special techniques.
Jigs
- I use a number of shop made jigs when sharpening. I have found them to be surperior to commercial jigs.
- The standard honing jig and a number of earlier versions. This page also has pictures of jigs built by other people, based on the ideas in these pages.
- The slanted jig used for grinding, for chisels and for short blades.
- Curved blades, like those found in Scrub planes are hard to grind and hone on flat abrasives. This page looks more closely at the problems and one possible solution.
- An extension calculator which helps you determine the appropriate extension of the blade from the front of the jig for your jig and the grinding/honing angles you want.
- The stone vise which lets you use these jigs with any bench stone.
- The chisel jig for use with oddly shaped (very thick) chisels.
Steels and Sharpness
- While blade testing looks at edge durability, sharpness testing shows that initial sharpness does not depend on the type of steel.
Testing plane blades.
- An introduction to blade testing showing results of tests over 5 years, and the results of a test of 15 different blades at one time. This latter test includes blades not in the regular testing series.
- Academy Saw Works newer HSS blade, and older blade.
- Clifton hand forged.
- ECE/Primus alloy (high carbon alloy) steel blade.
- Berg Ekilstuna an older Swedish Steel high carbon steel blade.
- Gramercy D2 steel blade.
- Hock high carbon and A2 steel blades.
- Holtey S53 blade.
- Steve Knight O1 High Carbon steel (cryogenic treatment).
- Lie-Nielsen older O1 High Carbon steel, older W1 High Carbon steel and newer A2 steel blades.
- Lee Valley A2 steel blade and A2 blade in the block plane.
- Mujingfang High Speed Steel smoother blade and (Hong Kong style) HSS blade.
- Shepherd A2 Cryogenically treated blade.
- Stanley HSS blade, made briefly in Australis.
- Steve Elliott made a few blades from CPM 3V steel.
- Tsunesaburo "Blue Steel" a laminated High Carbon steel blade.
Under the Hood
- You can just build the sharpening stations and use it without getting under the hood. This page outlines the detailed theory behind my sharpening ideas.
- The first thing you have to think a lot more about is the bevel itself.
- Images of a blade as the edge wears during use, and strategies to get it sharp again.
- Some ideas on how fine an abrasive you should use. This page looks at edge durability depending on final abrasive.
Videos
- I have done a couple of videos and put them on Youtube: grinding using a bench stone, honing, setting the blade extension, and putting the 3M abrasives on the glass sheet.
?????
- Need more? My Sharpening Pages FAQ has answers to many other questions.
- If you can't find it anywhere or just want to discuss anything, you can reach me here.

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