Marc: The Wood Whisperer is sponsored by
Powermatic and Clear Vue Cyclones.
(upbeat music)
Marc:Most of the videos out there
will focus on rehabbing an old tool,
or taking a brand new tool
and resetting that bevel
for your personal preferences.
That's a good process to know
how to do,
because you really need to do it
on ever tool that comes into your shop.
But, if you make your decisions about
your sharpening system purely based
on that initial process,
you might not have the best system for you.
Let's think about it.
From that point on
the sharpening you do for years
to come is maintenance sharpening.
So, the question is,
"What system allows me to take a
chisel off the wall,
take it to the bench,
get it sharp as fast as possible,
and back to work in the easies
way possible?"
You and I both know we're lazy,
and if it's not easy,
we're not going to do it as
frequently as we should.
All right, so, this system that I
have here takes me about a minute
to get the job done.
Let me show it to you.
(fast upbeat music)
That's all there is to it.
Now, it goes by fairly quickly,
but there's a lot going on
in each one of those steps.
I want to show you some of the details
so you'll understand.
Even if you don't use the products
that I have here,
you can apply this concept to just
about any other sharpening system.
Let me show you.
The first thing you probably noticed
is my honing guide.
It's a Veritas honing guide,
which has this nice gauge here.
So, you can actually get the exact angle
your looking for,
and that's critical to making this
process go quickly.
This also has a very unique cam roller
on the bottom,
so I can turn it,
and introduce a micro bevel.
If you look very closely
at the chisel here,
I've got a primary bevel
that was set during the initial sharpening,
and then a secondary bevel at the bottom.
Just a few degrees steeper
than the primary.
The idea is I'm really only sharpening
that secondary bevel.
I'll even put a little sharpie here
so we can watch our progress later.
Notice on a brand new, at least fairly new,
blade here,
I've got the primary bevel sharpened
from the factory,
but right at the edge,
a little bit hard to see,
but just that very last sixteenth of a inch,
is the secondary bevel sharpening.
I don't need to worry about the rest
of this bevel,
just that tip that's the most important.
Now an expensive honing guide like this
does make life a whole lot easier,
but you can certainly use one
of these cheap ones.
You may want to make yourself a shop
built gauge that helps you decide
how far out the blade goes for
your various angles.
The key is to be able to set
it up quickly,
hit the exact angle you want,
and get to sharpening.
Let's not forget the cheapest
honing guide of all,
your hands.
There are a lot of people
who get enough skill to do this
free hands, so,
if you have that skill,
all the power to you.
I do not have that skill,
and I'll use a honing guide.
Now, the sharpening medium you use
is very important,
because some take time,
for instance, water stones need to be soaked.
This particular ceramic stone
just needs a spritz of water,
and it's ready to go.
If you have a sandpaper system,
you're in the same vote.
Spray it with water,
and you're ready for action.
All right, let's quickly do the sharpening.
Now, how much you actually have
to sharpen that bevel
depends on how dull the tool is.
I'm also using my highest grit here
which tells you that it's not
really that dull.
It's a maintenance sharpening.
So, I'm at 8,000 grit right now.
(scratching)
I'd say about 20 strokes maybe.
When I flip the tool over
check it out.
The secondary bevel is nice and clean,
the marker is gone,
which means it's worn evenly.
Those markers are great for gauging your progress.
All right, now, we can take this
out of the tool,
and start to work on the back.
When you sharpen the bevel,
a little bit of the metal is going
to sort of wrap over the edge
and create a very fine bur.
8,000 girt it is superfine,
you might not even be able to feel it,
but we're going to just clean-up the backside
which has all ready been
flattened a long time ago.
Dry it off,
and you're good to go.
Now, if you want,
you can certainly shave youself
to prove that it's sharp.
A lot of people like to do that,
or you can take a little scrap of wood.
Just kind of run it along the edge,
and you'll know when it's sharp.
Now, of course, this system
is dependent on 2 very important things.
Number 1, that you've sharpened
your tool properly in the first place.
So, you have a nice foundation
to work with it.
Good flat back and a good quality bevel.
If you have that,
this whole process becomes much easier,
and you want to make sure you
don't let your tools get too dull.
If their too dull,
then you have to step back a number
of grits and work your way back up
to your highest.
For me, I like to stay with that
8,000 girts.
So, it means I'm going to sharpen
fairly frequently,
but the actual sharpening time
is very very minimal.
It's like they say.
What's the most dangerous tool in the shop?
This tool right here.
Second to that,
is a dull tool.
Dull tools require you to put a
lot of extra force behind them.
By doing that,
you put yourself at risk for
wayward stoke to end up in your
hand, your leg, or worse. All right?
So, you just want to make sure
these things stay sharp,
and its actually makes them a lot safer.
Plus, when you do get cut,
you almost don't feel it.
So, I guess that's a bonus.
All right, so, find a sharpening
system that works for you.
Make it quick and easy.
Don't rush,
but it's got to be quick, easy, and convenient.
All right? Thanks for watching.