# Stupid chisels



## Adillo303 (Dec 20, 2010)

My holding fixture to sharpen my chisels came today. I rushed out to the shop to sharpen the chisels. I finally figured out that Stupid sharp is what I am after.

Now I have questions. I have a set of chisels that I can burrow out pine without using a hammer on the shisels and I definately would not draw them across my finger. Is that sharp enough or do I have more to do?

The fixture would not work for my chisels. It did do a great hop on the antique Stanley low angle block plane that I bought for five bucks. I got curls for the first time ever.

I have an awful lot to learn and I am lovin every second of it.


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## johnep (Apr 12, 2007)

I understand that the mythical way of testing sharpness was to float a length of wool thread down a stream and let it meet your sword. If the thread was cut, the sword was sharp.
These days the test is if you can shave hairs from your arm.
johnep


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

Hillbilly vernacular....?I'm a traditional bowhunter,as such gettin things sharp sorta comes with the territory.Which is also bourne out when in the shop,building bows.High performance stuff with Carbon Fibre and all manner of exotic,dull a blade as fast as a wink,woods.

Shaving hair is just sharp.

Scary sharp is when you really don't want to check it with a finger.

Stupid sharp falls in the relm of,it MUST be gaurded.Think veneer mills as an example.Their regimine for RR'ing(remove/replace)blades has very....oh how,you say?...drawn out safety procedures.The blades are "stupid" sharp to the point that you WILL hurt yourself if proper safety protocol isn't followed.

Still get the Willy's when I see a plane set down on its face.....and yes EVERYTIME a chisel is set down its,bevel down.These are protocols that were instilled 40 years ago and just take it for granted.Kinda like the whole "loaded gun" thing.........you control that muzzle's direction.Well when it comes to stupid sharp....you get the idea.BW


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## BWSmith (Aug 24, 2010)

Ahhhh,another cup of coffee....story time.


15 or so years ago we're sittin around a campfire at a traditional archery shoot.Its a biggy and "everyones" there.This is a money shoot so the tension is high.In the evenings its all about trying to unwind so,campfires and livations are on the menu.

I'm pretty lopsided,laughin it up when my buddy comes over and tells me theres a problem that I have to look into.Ruh-Oh......following him over to our,pretty new at the time,car.I see "Joseph" scratched into the side of it.WTH?........OK,wheres Joe(hes my youngist)?It seems hes been runnin around with a broadhead,probably about 4 y.o.,scratchin his name on stuff.I call him over and ask him about it.He sorta half-way denies it and we're all doing our level best to not bust out laughin.........it was carved in exactly how you'd imagine a 4 yo's writing to look like.Haha.BW


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

What's this scary sharp jazz. Scary sharp should refer to a dull chisel. That's the one that'll get ya because you had to try too hard. Shaving arm hairs isn't sharp enough. Slicing newspaper is more like it.
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## tcleve4911 (Dec 16, 2006)

Mike Dunbar refers to his tools as "scary sharp"

http://avaxhome.ws/video/Sandpaper.Sharpening.html

It's the sandpaper method I've used for years......


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## sawdustfactory (Jan 30, 2011)

+1 to sandpaper method.


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## glh17 (Jul 7, 2010)

I don't want to sound nosey, but I'd like to know more about your sharpening process. What was the fixture you tried to hone your chisels with that didn't work but did work for your plane blades and what type and grits of stones were you trying to hone on?

There are several ways to test sharp. Paring a shaving on the end grain of pine, easily shaving hairs, and slicing paper without dragging are some. To perform well, you chisels also need to be sharpened at an appropriate angle for the type of work you plan to do. This is where a fixture (honing guide) would help.


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## mike1950 (Aug 29, 2010)

At 60 I have learned a few things and one of them is not testing how sharp something is on any body parts I am fond of keeping. I use Veritas guide and graduate through water stones to 6000 grit. When I get done I find that I can apply weight to 1/2"-3/4" chisel and slice off a great 1/16-1/8" curl of wood off the end grain of white oak. This is sharp enough for me and preserves parts that I am sort of attached to.


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## tcleve4911 (Dec 16, 2006)

Good post, Mike.......

I've always questioned the idea of running an edge of steel across my flesh when I really just need to see if it will cut the piece of wood I'm working on....

Thank you......


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## Adillo303 (Dec 20, 2010)

The fixture that I tried is the similar to the one Rocker sells. I have the yellow handled Stanley chisels. When I attempt to clamp the chisel in the fixture they will not stay flat. 

I have oil stones that were my dad's. I do not know dries. The finest one is white. Oil takes over an hour to ne absorbed.


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## glh17 (Jul 7, 2010)

Adillo,
The Rockler honing guide is a good one. I have three different guides but this one is the one I use for both chisels and planes. I use another one for a couple of really narrow chisels (1/16" and 1/8").

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=2417&filter=honing guide

I don't know about the yellow handled Stanley's. There may be a reason they won't work in the guide. I have some rounded dovetail chisels that won't work either and I know there are others. I free hand them but would prefer to use the guide. 

I'm not that familiar with oil stones but someone else might be able to help. I use Norton waterstones (1000g for sharpening followed by 4000g and 8000g polishing). There are similar grit oil stones, but I don't know what to look for. Google is your friend when it comes to learning about oil stones. Ideally, you'd like to have an 8" or longer stone for chisels when using a honing guide or else you'll run out of stone before you do much honing.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

These honing guides work very well.

http://www.leevalley.com/US/wood/page.aspx?p=51868&cat=1,43072,43078,51868

http://www.plumbersurplus.com/Prod/General-Tools-809-Chisel-Plane-Blade-Sharpener/145140/Cat/1710












 







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## JohnK007 (Nov 14, 2009)

I have the General 809 referred to in Cabinetmans' bottom link. It works very well and isn't terribly expensive. I've used it with both stones and wet/dry paper.


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## littletoes (Apr 14, 2011)

I have a first generation Verita's that looks an amazing amount like this Bridge City one.....did those two manufactures have a falling out?? They use to be in one catalog, and now they are on separate web sites.

http://www.bridgecitytools.com/default/hg-1-honing-guide.html

And yep, I've been "out of it" for better than 10 years....

*Oh, I just HAVE to add....newspaper is crazy Easy to cut....that video doesn't do justice to a sharp knife*.


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