# what size glass for scary sharp?



## Paul W Gillespie (Jul 7, 2011)

I know I can use any size but I just got a price for a couple sizes at a glass place. One is 12"x24"x1/4" for $13.04. The other size I asked about is 12"x30"x1/4" for $16.30. Prices seem fair? Is 1/4" thick OK? 3/8 would be special order and take two weeks.


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## Paul W Gillespie (Jul 7, 2011)

Should I go bigger?


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## Gilgaron (Mar 16, 2012)

Why would you need it so much larger than a full sheet of sandpaper?


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## Paul W Gillespie (Jul 7, 2011)

So I can put multiple grits on it and not need to switch them.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

I think 1/4in is thick enough. You can always use a piece of MDF underneath for increased support.

Are you planning on having several strips in a row?

I think the 24in wide should be adequate.

I started by gluing the paper down. In my case a granite slab.

I then read about just wetting the back side of the paper. Works very well. Allows me to put down a grit, then switch to the next grit very easily, and no need to clean the glue.


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## Chuck M (Dec 21, 2010)

I have a old glass door from an entertainment center. It is 18"x36"x 3/16" I like its size because I can have all my grits out at once.

based on that I would go with the 12x30.


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## Wrangler02 (Apr 15, 2011)

I use a 4" x 9" piece of 1/4" mirror. The guy at the hardware store gave it to me. A 1/4 sheet of sandpaper fits OK. I don't glue the sheets to the glass; but wet the back of the paper and it sticks well enough.


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## WillemJM (Aug 18, 2011)

I don't use glass, due to risk of breaking in storage, or use.

You can pick-up a scrap piece of granite plate from a cabinet company, or slab merchant, or you can buy a granite plate for around $20.


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## railaw (Nov 15, 2011)

I have a 1/4" 18 x 30" ish piece of glass from a storm door and it's unwieldy in the tiny corner of a basement that is my work area. On a related note, if you don't mind, how does one deal with flattening a plane sole when it's larger than a sheet of sandpaper? 

Also, my lower grit papers tend to curl on the ends, making it hard to keep it flat on the glass. Anyone have a way of dealing with that?


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

railaw said:


> I have a 1/4" 18 x 30" ish piece of glass from a storm door and it's unwieldy in the tiny corner of a basement that is my work area. On a related note, if you don't mind, how does one deal with flattening a plane sole when it's larger than a sheet of sandpaper?
> 
> Also, my lower grit papers tend to curl on the ends, making it hard to keep it flat on the glass. Anyone have a way of dealing with that?


I would use two pieces of paper placed end to end.

For the curling, you may end up resorting to spray adhesive. Worked for me, just a pain to clean when replacing the paper.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Paul, I've found it works best for me to use a smaller slab... About the same size as the paper. It's easier to manage getting to all four sides. Maybe I'm quirky?


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## jigs-n-fixtures (Apr 28, 2012)

McFeely's sells 6-inch by 5-meter rolls of abrasive in a range of grits.

Sent from my iPhone using Wood Forum


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## railaw (Nov 15, 2011)

What spray adhesive do yu use? I had some 3m photo mount for poster boards laying around bt it wasn't up to the job.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

railaw said:


> What spray adhesive do yu use? I had some 3m photo mount for poster boards laying around bt it wasn't up to the job.


Mine is a can of Duro All-Purpose Spray Adhesive.

Worked for me to hold the paper down.

I did switch to just wetting the back of the paper, only to avoid the cleanup when replacing the paper.


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## railaw (Nov 15, 2011)

Thanks. I shelf that the low grit paper I'm using may be of a different variety as its far too stiff for water to have any effect. I didn't want to go buy anything and am using what I already had. I will def try the water idea on the fine paper.


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## Paul W Gillespie (Jul 7, 2011)

Tom, do you switch papers after each grit or do you have a bunch of glass plates? I was thinking multiple grits on the glass would make it easier to do more than one chisel or blade with out constantly changing the paper. I have a lot of things to sharpen.


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## Wrangler02 (Apr 15, 2011)

Paul W Gillespie said:


> Tom, do you switch papers after each grit or do you have a bunch of glass plates? I was thinking multiple grits on the glass would make it easier to do more than one chisel or blade with out constantly changing the paper. I have a lot of things to sharpen.


Since my glass is small, and I use water to hold down the paper, I just change to finer grit.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Paul W Gillespie said:


> Tom, do you switch papers after each grit or do you have a bunch of glass plates? I was thinking multiple grits on the glass would make it easier to do more than one chisel or blade with out constantly changing the paper. I have a lot of things to sharpen.


I thought the same thing at first and quickly decided it was a PITA. 

I don't use adhesives. I lubricate with mineral spirits so adhesives turn into snot lube. Without it stays in place from the wet friction.

Edit: and yes, I just switch grits usually even though I have glass coming out my glass. :smile:


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## Paul W Gillespie (Jul 7, 2011)

Turns out I had a piece of glass from a 1980's NEC TV front. The TV has been gone for many, many, years, but the glass has been on top of a dresser and I had forgotten about it. While it is only 3/16+ big it seems to work OK for now. I have been scary sharpening like a fool. I used some Elmer's spray adhesive and it works OK. I may try the wet method next time. I used dry sand paper from 100-2500 grits. Since I have no grinder and some of my plane irons were super chipped the 100 cut enough to get back to a straight edge. The bevel on my No5 iron was way off 25 degrees and I cut it back to 25 with the sand paper, but not all the way, hence the two bevels. I will get there eventually.

The smaller 110 iron cleaned up nice. I also lapped the 110 sole and sides, instead of Evapo-Rust. The sole is going to take some more work. I also flattened the back of two of my chisels, two to go. Then I will start sharpening the bevels. It is amazing the mirror polish I am getting with this method. I don't know what I was doing wrong with my three stones. I did blow through a lot of cheap paper working on the old irons and 110 body.

I think as I do it more I will get better at it and find the system that works for me. I am glad I am finally sharpening my chisels and irons. They are useless and dangerous dull.










































Once this side project is done, it is back to working on the Jewelry Box.


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## railaw (Nov 15, 2011)

Nice photos. It's encouraging to me as I am about to embark on tuning a no 4. After I finish reading the. Handplane book of course. And I need to practic a bit more on my cheapo chisel first. I got a wheel dresser for hf today so I can improve the performance of the 20+ y.o. wheels that I have.


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Paul, thanks for the progress pictures.

You have now experienced how fast you can get a blade to go from being dinged up to sharp.

I have used 80 grit when I found the bevel was off.

I love the wet/dry paper since the slurry sound gives feedback on when it is time to change to the next grit.

I think you are now a convert. Welcome to the club. :thumbsup:


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## Paul W Gillespie (Jul 7, 2011)

I have used a bunch of sandpaper. I now have two plane irons sharp. The backs of all four of my Narex chisels are flat and two are done being sharpened, I think. I honed them down to 2500 grit sandpaper. Do they need more? They seem pretty sharp. I test them on some scrap poplar, I know it is not oak, but it sliced it pretty good. I think I need a bulk supplier of sandpaper. The scary sharp system can be as costly as some good stones. I wonder if I should slowly invest in some diamond stones?


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Paul W Gillespie said:


> I have used a bunch of sandpaper. I now have two plane irons sharp. The backs of all four of my Narex chisels are flat and two are done being sharpened, I think. I honed them down to 2500 grit sandpaper. Do they need more? They seem pretty sharp. I test them on some scrap poplar, I know it is not oak, but it sliced it pretty good. I think I need a bulk supplier of sandpaper. The scary sharp system can be as costly as some good stones. I wonder if I should slowly invest in some diamond stones?


Great, Paul!

One other advantage to the lubrication is the paper tends to last longer :thumbup:


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## Dave Paine (May 30, 2012)

Paul W Gillespie said:


> I have used a bunch of sandpaper. I now have two plane irons sharp. The backs of all four of my Narex chisels are flat and two are done being sharpened, I think. I honed them down to 2500 grit sandpaper. Do they need more? They seem pretty sharp. I test them on some scrap poplar, I know it is not oak, but it sliced it pretty good. I think I need a bulk supplier of sandpaper. The scary sharp system can be as costly as some good stones. I wonder if I should slowly invest in some diamond stones?


You need to decide how "sharp" is "sharp enough".

On many sites, including this one, it is easy to start the proverbial "bar fight" based on what constitutes "sharp".

You need to decide how sharp you want to make your cutting edge.

Extremely sharp edges will look good. I expect they will not stay this sharp for long.

I do not want to start a debate, since this is a personal opinion. No right and no wrong.

I personally sharpen to 600 grit. Not considered "scary sharp", but for my use, it is sharp enough, and easy to replace the edge.

You should make your own choice.


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## Paul W Gillespie (Jul 7, 2011)

Thanks Dave, Tom and the rest of you folks. For now 2500 grit is sharp enough for me. I am new to this, this being sharpening and even using chisels and planes. Once I get into the actual practice of using these tools on a project, I will see if 2500 is sharp enough. If not I will sharpen more next time. I have no set position on sharpening, yet.


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

Oh, I forgot to tell you, I go up to 2,500x as well... then over to the buffing compound!...


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## ftk (May 9, 2012)

I have a 12"x30" piece of 3/8" plate glass. This way I can fit 3 full sheets of paper next to each other, which really helps when lapping plane soles (doing a #7 on one sheet? no thank you). On the bottom of the glass I glued 1/4" cork which keeps it from sliding all over the place. When sharpening I go up to 1500 grit currently, plenty of sharp to shave with. 600 grit and up I use wet/dry sandpaper, and lubricate with a bit of WD40. Makes the paper last a lot longer. Maybe one of these days I'll go beyond 1500, but the paper is pretty pricey and if I were to spend $200 on paper off the bat I may as well have bought one of them work sharps I hear so much about...


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## Billy De (Jul 19, 2009)

Paul you raise a good point on the amount and cost of wet and dry paper you can use on fettling sharp edge tools.
I made the decision some years ago to go the Tormek route,I`m not saying this is what any one else should do ,it just made more sense for me.

Even with this machine you still have to flatten the back of a chisel or plane iron (BTW what most people call the back of a chisel is in fact the face,but thats no big deal).

After being on the machine I flatten the tools on water stones to remove the wire edge I guess you know about that rout all ready.

Just a heads up and MHO when fettling old steel the chances are you wont know who owned the tool before you,I`v heard people complain about the quality of the steel having the consistency of green cheese you know the edge turning back or crumbling.

In that case it could be that the edge has been blued out, when being ground, to much heat has been put into the tool causing the steel to go blue in colour and loose its temper. 

Some will just grind the blue out and go from there but JMHO the damage goes further back than that and the only answer is to take it back to the grind stone and take the steel further back, trial and error really.

A question was asked about the flattening of the sole of the plane,this is just the way I do it and I`m not saying its the way every one should do it.

Before I do any thing with the plane I will fettle the iron and plane a piece of wood face side and face edge and then examen the results if I`m not happy with it I back the iron out clear of the mouth fasten the plane up side down in a vice and mark it with a pencil from side to side and start to flatten it with a diamond stone.

By doing this you can see just what's going on,some times the front or back of the plane has had a few knocks and this may cause the steel here to turn back a little and that can soon be sorted.

If it is to bad and this may cause hair to stand on end or screams of shock and horror,I`ll take it to a bench belt sander and start grinding the sole checking all the time that not to much heat is going into the plane pausing regularly and that I`m grinding it flat and square all the time.

I leave every thing fastend on the plane because just by locking the cap down on some plans can cause it to flex.Take it back to the vice and finish it of with a diamond stone.

Just another heads up don't be tempted to fasten the locking cap down to much especially on block planes because over time this may cause cracks to appear at the mouth and drop that plane and the whole front end could drop off,don't ask me how I know that.

Sorry Paul I got a little carried a way with the post and a little of track but I hope I never bored any one. Billy


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