Great timing Mark. My chisel and rasp arrived yesterday......... not that it needs sharpening yet. Looking forward to it.

Cheers,

Russ

Still waiting but got nothing to build just yet anyway............

Not watched this video yet @markbailey but I’m gonna! 

Just bought these. 

Not watched this video yet @markbailey but I’m gonna! 

Just bought these.

In the video, he says that those are the worst ones to buy.

Sorry

 ?  

@tv1010101 Thanks for that! ?

Yep, I should have watched the video first. No I bet I can get some sharp chisels with these. I’ll make a homemade board with 80, 120 and 240 grits for the worst of the work and then use these stones for polishing them further.  

Hi John, If you are buying secondhand tools that need a degree of initial rescuing I guess these grits of paper would work but I think that 80g and 120g are a maybe little ‘agricultural’ for routine sharpening of woodworking tools. Remember that you have to work through the grits until all the scratches have been removed from the edge. You will find that the water stones remove metal at a fair rate Of knots and if you start with a 400-800g stone (I can’t see the writing on the side of all of them) you can then get a polished edge using a 1500g-2000g. These stones can be pretty soft (counter intuitive I know) so you do have to be careful about uneven wear developing which will result in you putting a curved edge on to your tools. I would suggest that you get yourself a reasonably coarse metal diamond ‘stone’ and use this to help keep the water stones flat.

While were on the subject of sharpening iv'e got two ancient gouges that need sharpened. One of them was in a junk box in my dads workshop when I was a kid, I'm fairly sure that it belonged to my grampa. I made a new handle for it the other day, but it needs a good sharpening. Both these gouges have the bevel on the inside of the curve, all the yotube videos I can find on sharpening have the bevel on outside, can anybody point me in the right direction.  I tried to add a photo, but I don't seem to be able to do that today.

@robin This video Mark made on sharpening chisels is really good but he also mentions that he may do another video on sharpening gouges. He also mentions yet another video on sharpening cabinet scrapers. I’m sure if we all pester @markbailey enough, he will furnish us with this info. I also have many old tools that need sharpening. 

@darrenking Yeah thanks Darren. I watched this video that Mark did and he suggested using 80, 120 and 240 grits, then finish it off on a diamond stone. I think your advice on buying a diamond stone to keep my “rubbish Japanese waterstones” (to reference @TV1010101) flat is a must. 

Hi John, I haven't watched this video but I don't think you'd need to run through from 80g every time you sharpen something. If so then you have left it far too long between visits to your sharpening bench. Once you've established a good edge it should really only take a minute or two of work on, or example, an 800g water stone and then 30 seconds on the polishing stone to bring the edge fully back to life. 

Water stones are tricker to use than oils lubricated carborundum stones primarily because they are so much softer and if you aren't experienced in sharpening tools, especially narrow chisels, then it is quite easy to dig chunks out of them in a way that you wouldn't if using a carborundum stone. You can largely overcome this issue by using a honing guide but it is still important to try and use the whole of the stone to keep wear as even as possible. Turn it around part way through so that both ends get used and it will make them last longer. Once you get the hang of it you should be able to put an edge on a chisel or plane blade that you can shave with!

I don't know if Mark suggests this in his video but if you have a glaziers supplier near you then pick up an A4 size piece of 8mm-10mm laminated or toughened plate glass (just about off-cut size to most glaziers), get them to grind the edges smooth and use this to stick your abrasive paper down on to. It gives a wonderfully hard and flat surface underneath the paper and works a treat. They also have these little self-stick pads which they use to separate sheets of glass and these work brilliantly as non-slip feet for the glass so make sure you ask for a handful when you are there.

@robin To sharpen an 'incannel' gouge (internal bevel): You can use a section broomstick to make a round sharpening stone by sticking wet and dry to it - if it is really bad I use a dremel with round grinding attachment...

@darrenking Thanks for all the info, I appreciate it. I’m new to sharpening and I bought these waterstones as they were on offer at Rutlands. I do have a honing guide so I will have to be carful when trying out these stones. I will also try a piece of plate glass for sticking the sandpaper to. In the video Mark suggested 80 grit to start with for brain gong back to life old tools that are as blunt as an old screwdriver, after that the grades get finer and finer. 

When you get to the polishing stage you need to hone the flat side of the blade as well to help remove the little wire edge that forms along the blade edge when sharpening. You must always keep the blade pressed completely flat on the stone when doing this, and you should end with single strokes alternating between the bevel and the back. This bends the wire edge back and forth until it breaks away leaving the perfect cutting edge behind it. This is all happening pretty much at microscopic level so don't expect to see bits of fuse wire floating around on your sharpening stone, it's all a lot smaller than that.

N.B. Never be tempted to lift the blade it a little when honing the flat side in order to speed up the process as this completely screws the cutting angle on the blade and you will then need to hone the bevel side extensively to remove the angle on the back, and this takes ages!!

I think your advice on buying a diamond stone to keep my “rubbish Japanese waterstones” (to reference @TV1010101) flat is a must. 

 ?  @johnnierox-boo - I'd never really thought about the need to keep the waterstones flat & level.  Makes sense when you think about it though, so thanks from me too @darrenking.

@markbailey   Thanks Mark, I'll give that a go. Looks like I'll be spending the rest of the afternoon sharpening old abused chisels.

all the yotube videos I can find on sharpening have the bevel on outside, can anybody point me in the right direction.

Try this 

the need to keep the waterstones flat & level. 

You need a levelling stone. Pretty cheap from amazon..

@david-johnson09  thanks for that, I got my flat chisels sharp enough to shave my wrist. Now that I've watched that video I'll have another go at the gouges.

Just sharpened one of my chisels, thanks Mark.