Poor man's Scary sharp tool Sharpening system?

[MrDavidRoberts]

I have been researching about what kind of sharpening stuff to buy for sharpening my chisels/plane irons - currently I only got sandpaper.
I think I have found what I want but got few more questions, this is the stuff I want to buy:
I want to get stuff that would last me a lifetime and be of good quality + in the same time I want to get a system that would produce a scary-sharp results.

1- Honing guide , What would you say be a better buy a cheap NEW £7 faithfull brand guide OR an used Vintage Eclipse 36 guide which also costs the same? From the pictures the old Eclipses look good but with the cheap NEW faithfull guide I don't see anything wrong either,maybe anyone has used that cheap faithfull one? I would love to get the veritas one but that's just way out of my budget so I'm stuck between those 2 choices.

2- Sharpening stone &strop , I think I will go for the Combination medium-fine norton Indian stone which can be had for about £10 from ebay in tatty old box, Would that be a good choice? Or I can get something way better than that if I add something a bit more?
-Also what's the ideal length of a sharpening stones? is 15cm long enough or I want a 20cm one if I will be using it with honing guide?

I do not want the diamond plates as I understand they wear down with time and are not a life-time tool + good ones cost insane amounts.
From what I have read I understand you really don't need many sharpening stones if you use a leather strop and compound as well?

Would it be enough to get very good results If I only had a good combination stone (medium/fine) stone + a strop?
as for strop I was thinking of just taking some piece of leather and using Autosol metal polish you can get for a pound from Homebargains store- I read a lot of people use that?

Any ideas/comments on such setup would be highly appreciated.
Thanks.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Given your experience get a 1000 or 1200 water stone or a medium fine oilstone. Done. You don't really need more, you're looking for the end of a rainbow. I don't work particularly difficult woods often and the only strop I've ever used is my trouser leg. In the future you may need more, but by then you won't need to ask other people.

 

[dzj]

Yeah, 1000 or 1200 is OK. You might have to sharpen a bit more often, but if you're relatively
new to all this, that can only be a good thing.

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

Nah guys cmon I don't want a mediocre amateur stuff you are suggesting- ''based on my no experience''
I want a proper one This forum Preaches and is shown in videos where they can glide a thick plane blade through sheet of paper- that sharp...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I've been using the mediocre amateur stuff for the last 50 years. Must be something wrong with me.

 

[LancsRick]

Nah guys cmon I don't want a mediocre amateur stuff you are suggesting- ''based on my no experience''
I want a proper one This forum Preaches and is shown in videos where they can glide a thick plane blade through sheet of paper- that sharp...

There's no denying it's really impressive and satisfying when you can do that. Practically though, the gains are minimal. People with more experience than I will correct me I expect, but my broad understanding is that 1000/1200 will give you a very sharp edge with reasonable life. 3000 will take that a step further. Beyond that most people use abrasive compound or rouge on a flat surface, whilst some people prefer around 8000grit. General consensus seems to be that the 8000 step might give a slight increase in life of the edge but it's not massive.
Short version, go 1200 grit.

 

[lurker]

Why not read previous sharpening threads (there are plenty!) and chose a system that you think might suit you.
Saves the rest of us tediously repeating advice we have given in the past and the inevitable arguments.

And by the way, "scarey sharp" usually refers to fixing progressively finer abrasive sheets to a flat plate and taking the blade through each in turn.

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

Why not read previous sharpening threads (there are plenty!) and chose a system that you think might suit you.
Saves the rest of us tediously repeating advice we have given in the past and the inevitable arguments.

And by the way, "scarey sharp" usually refers to fixing progressively finer abrasive sheets to a flat plate and taking the blade through each in turn.

I have read a lot of them,just wanted to see what others would say about what I want to do.

 

[bugbear]

...using Autosol metal polish you can get for a pound from Homebargains store.

Please tell me where I can buy Autosol for a quid!! Very interested, but doubtful.

BugBear

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

...using Autosol metal polish you can get for a pound from Homebargains store.

Please tell me where I can buy Autosol for a quid!! Very interested, but doubtful.

BugBear

It's right there in the text you quoted - Homebargains store! saw it there few weeks ago.
It sells on ebay for £3 shipped so what's so special about that price?

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Didn't you know they've brought out Autosol toothpaste?

 

[MikeJhn]

They keep it in the same isle as the Bison Manure. :wink:

Mike

 

[Jacob]

.......
Would it be enough to get very good results If I only had a good combination stone (medium/fine) stone + a strop?
as for strop I was thinking of just taking some piece of leather and using Autosol metal polish you can get for a pound from Homebargains store- I read a lot of people use that?.....

Yep that's all you need. Grinding by hand on a coarse stone is hard work but perfectly possible.
The one thing to really avoid is a honing 'guide'. These seem such a good idea but in fact make sharpening much more difficult, not least because they only really work on flat stones (so you have this extra tedious job of flattening stones - waste of time, waste of stone) and you can't easily do a cambered blade - which is best for most plane ops. Took me years to work this out and re-discover that the simple trad sharpening I learned at school is easiest, quickest and cheapest.

 

[nev]

Sorry to be blunt, but enough is enough.

Please stop trolling.

The majority of your posts are either telling people not to spend money because a pound shop tool and a bit of gaffer tape will do the job just as well if not better, down to your years of experience, or asking questions like this that have divisive answers due to personal preferences. And you should know after your years of experience how to sharpen a blade anyway.

If you genuinely want to know the answer, Please use the search function. Every question you have has already been answered, apart from which pound shop you should buy it from.

Again, please stop trolling.

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

I'm not sure if you even know the meaning of a word ''trolling'' if someone is trolling than it's you with that post and few above members...
cheers.

 

[nev]

thank you.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I'm not sure if you even know the meaning of a word ''trolling'' if someone is trolling than it's you with that post and few above members...
cheers.

pot ... kettle ... black - rearrange. :roll:

 

[TFrench]

I'm not sure if you even know the meaning of a word ''trolling'' if someone is trolling than it's you with that post and few above members...
cheers.

Really? Or like Nev said, everyone is getting sick of you asking questions you don't want to hear the answers to?

 

[Simou1]

I'm not sure if you even know the meaning of a word ''trolling'' if someone is trolling than it's you with that post and few above members...
cheers.

Really? Or like Nev said, everyone is getting sick of you asking questions you don't want to hear the answers to?

**** for yourselves FroggyBloke but I is a top reader of the OPeas posts. Using his methods of reselling, based on the Diane Abbot financial calcumalator, I have bought abrasives for twelvty pence and sold them on EBay to, (his words from a previous post and not mine), '*******' for hundreds.

In this way I have built up a fleet of top tools, used them for over a year and then sold them on for a hundredandthirtyten times more than I paid for them. I call it the Magic Tree Tool Plan and it really works, honest, Scouts Honour.

Get real people, follow this plan and you too can afford to spend time on forums as you gaze upon your workshop full of top of the range tools that cost almost nothing. Well nothing actually as you buy at £1, sell at £120.32, deduct the £1 you first thought of which leaves £450.35 profit which buys.....you get the drift?

You also get time to post question about witch grade of scary grits will transform a Poundland No 4 plane into the Lie Nielsen of you dreams. Kind people will answer your question, offer great advice and all you do is sit back and chortle at them wasting their time at answering a question you already know the answer to.

Great fun!....... ( especially as you have already sharpened the plane using an Aldi rotary tool, (returned as it is not as good as the DreMakel 564v cordless which cost thousands), crossed out Poundland and used a felt tip to rite in 'Ly Nissan', bunged it on Ebygum and watched as a 'retard' starts the bidding at a hundred K). Brill!

More profits for more tools. What could possibly go wrong?

Simples. (hammer)

PS wot are a Troll?

 

[MikeJhn]

Really? Or like Nev said, everyone is getting sick of you asking questions you don't want to hear the answers to?

+1 Don't answer his posts even simpler

Mike