stanley honing guide

[Jacob]

I going to challenge Jacob here to take two chisels, ideally the same size but if he doesn't have any duplicates say a 1/2" and a 3/4" so they're fairly close together in size, and hone one to 20° and the other to 40° and compare how they do at paring and chopping deep mortises in oak or a wood harder than that.

He'll find out the only way he'll accept that a difference in performance between the two is anything but "mythological".

And the great thing about this is he can't use any excuses like it would take him too long, hasn't he said a million times how quick and easy freehanding is, how nobody needs a grinder? So manually forming a new 20° bevel won't take him but a few minutes and minimal effort 8)

20º is really difficult to start and to maintain because of the amount of metal you have to remove (longer bevel), and also fragile. Can't say I've ever felt the need. I've done paring chisels down to 25º.
40º I've never done either - even less need!
I tend to do everything at 30º, with convex bevel.

 

[ED65]

So that's a no then? Despite how easy and effortless freehanding is? <hint hint>

 

[Tasky]

Well I'll have 9 or 10 chisels to try and take from 23-ishº back to around 30º, along with a No 4½ cutting iron and maybe more if Santa-Wife decides I've been a good boy this year.... so when I manage it, I'll tell you how quick and easy it was(n't)!

 

[ED65]

Remember you don't have to re-form the bevel. Find the edge on your finest honing surface, lift a bit, take a few strokes. That's all it takes to create a steeper bevel. It'll get larger and larger with each subsequent honing but it doesn't have to be more than a fraction of a mil wide to begin with.

 

[Jacob]

So that's a no then? Despite how easy and effortless freehanding is? <hint hint>

Hint hint - freehand is dead easy if you stick to sensible bevels. 20º bloody difficult whatever method you use.

 

[Jacob]

Well I'll have 9 or 10 chisels to try and take from 23-ishº back to around 30º, along with a No 4½ cutting iron and maybe more if Santa-Wife decides I've been a good boy this year.... so when I manage it, I'll tell you how quick and easy it was(n't)!

Just do each one as and when you need to use it. Use them at 23º ish as long as you can - it'll only take a quick dab to sharpen a bit steeper and closer to 30º. Very easy - no need to make a marathon out of it!

 

[ED65]

Like busses!

Never seen one for sale over here either online or in the wild, then yesterday these were listed on our equivalent of Gumtree.

 

[D_W]

So that's a no then? Despite how easy and effortless freehanding is? <hint hint>

Hint hint - freehand is dead easy if you stick to sensible bevels. 20º bloody difficult whatever method you use.

If you think about it, grinding any iron well freehand at near vertical or near horizontal levels is difficult.

Somewhere in the high 20s to low 30s is about the easiest angle to maintain. The iron doesn't want to lay flat while you're grinding, and it won't try to roll. like it will if you're too steep. It's a position of natural ease (high 20s to low 30s) that is very handy for sharpening tools that are intended to do a significant amount of work in return for the smallest amount of sharpening effort.

 

[Jacob]

So that's a no then? Despite how easy and effortless freehanding is? <hint hint>

Hint hint - freehand is dead easy if you stick to sensible bevels. 20º bloody difficult whatever method you use.

If you think about it, grinding any iron well freehand at near vertical or near horizontal levels is difficult.

Somewhere in the high 20s to low 30s is about the easiest angle to maintain. The iron doesn't want to lay flat while you're grinding, and it won't try to roll. like it will if you're too steep. It's a position of natural ease (high 20s to low 30s) that is very handy for sharpening tools that are intended to do a significant amount of work in return for the smallest amount of sharpening effort.

Yep.
And 30º is a very easy angle to guess fairly accurately.

 

[D_W]

You've been doing this a lot longer than me. I have seen a lot of "instruction" stating that you can't have sharp or any consistency without a guide, which is poo. Sharp is more about learning to manage the edge, especially the wire edge at lower grits.

I measured my bevels on a couple of irons a few years ago when someone asked what angle I sharpen to. I don't know, I didn't measure by angle, I just adjusted as you and everyone else would have until I could find an angle that held up well but wasn't too steep. All of the irons that I measured were around 32-33, chisels a bit less. None of my irons was more than one degree different than another.

Another thing that drives me up a wall is the discussion of "level of sharpness needed". "Maybe you can work with a washita, but it's not good enough for me".

Oh, ta ta!....I must not be in such an exclusive group as the 7 step 10 minute sharpeners.