Chisel Beginner

[woodturner]

Looks like this might be a good place to get started sharpening

That's a commercial version of the scary sharp system. Probably not a bad price, but a free scrap of plate glass from a glass shop and 10 sheets of sandpaper from the autoparts store for less than $5 would cost a little less.

[woodturner]

Will it be sharper if you do? Of course it will but you will lose the gain of that sharpness you spent extra time on in about 3 minutes working in hard-wood.

How long a tool will hold an edge - no matter how sharp that edge is initially - is a function of the properties of the steel used to make the tool. A good quality tool will hold the sharp edge much longer than 3 minutes, in my experience.

Keep in mind, too, that it's not necessary to resharpen as the tool edge wears - the edge can be honed many times before it needs to be resharpened. I keep a leather strop nearby and hone perhaps every 15 minutes or so if I am using the chisel constantly.

The real issue is whether the tool is sharp enough to do the work you want to do. If you are getting tear-out, it's not sharp enough. If you are happy with the cut, then it is sharp enough. Personal preference is definitely a factor here.

[Garasaki]

I built a chisel collection from vintage chisels listed on ebay. Seemed like a pretty inexpensive way to get a lot of quality tools, although they all require extensive sharpening (more then a store bought set would).

[SARGE..g-47]

How long a tool will hold an edge - no matter how sharp that edge is initially - is a function of the properties of the steel used to make the tool. A good quality tool will hold the sharp edge much longer than 3 minutes, in my experience.

Keep in mind, too, that it's not necessary to resharpen as the tool edge wears - the edge can be honed many times before it needs to be resharpened. I keep a leather strop nearby and hone perhaps every 15 minutes or so if I am using the chisel constantly.

The real issue is whether the tool is sharp enough to do the work you want to do. If you are getting tear-out, it's not sharp enough. If you are happy with the cut, then it is sharp enough. Personal preference is definitely a factor here.

Couldn't agree with you more about stropping and I believe I mentioned stropping in my first post in this thread. And I also totally agree that a better grade of steel will hold and edge longer. But.. what the OP is considering here is not necessarily a high grade steel. So.. basically what I was trying to say is just how much time do you spend sharpening a $10-$15 chisel before it is sharp and how long will that last before you have to hone or have to re-touch the bevel.

Another factor of how long is what are you using it for? Most hobby WW'ers generally have a set of bevel edge bench chisels. If they cut a mortice they generally do it with the chisel they have on hand. So.. we take a basic chisel with around a 25 degree bevel (lower if a paring chisel) and litterally pound it with a wooden mallet into hard-wood. Just how long will that edge hold on the tip regardless of quality of steel. And yep.. the higher grade will probably hold a tad longer but the fact remains that a 25 degree bevel is too shallow to chop and remove waste by prying when cutting a mortise. A better angle for this work is around 32 degrees to 35 degrees and if you have cheap steel that is going to turn an edge at even that.

I hand cut mortices for almost 26 years before I got a mortise machine 12 years ago. My personal experience is that a standard bevel is goint to turn under pronto using it to mortise regardless of how good the grade of steel is.
So.. there are many variables which could be discussed that determine how long an edge will hold IMO. Again.. all I am saying is that I find it (and the reason I clarified IMO as it is just my opinion just as you have stated yours) not worth going beyond 2000 grit as the difference is not notice-able in any case I have en-countered in the last 39 years and for the last two years that is 6 days a week in my shop using chisels almost daily.

Regards...

[Norm in Fujino]

I started using the scary sharp method about ten years ago and it works well. Rather than using full sheets I prefer Sarge's method of buying sandpaper in rolls. I use some spray adhesive to tack it to the glass (you'll probably want to keep a razor blade scraper on hand to remove the old sandpaper later).

[gsmittle]

I've decided that it's probably time to add some chisels to my tool chest, and I was curious what the best way to do that was.

Well, since you're a Cubs fan, as a resident of St. Louis I feel honor-bound to tell you that a nice, cheap set from Harbor Freight sharpened freehand would do you just fine.

I too have heard good things about the Narex set. I have a set of the Marples cushioned handled chisels that I got years ago, before Irwin started manufacturing them in China. I also have a set of Stanleys that are my digging-nails-out-of-planks set.

Woodcraft has some decent-looking sets on sale from time to time.

See you at Wrigley!

g.