Sharpening Advice: Oil stones for a mirror finish?

[Simon Wells]

Ah the light has been shone into the darkness of my mind. 8-[

So my Norton 8000 water stone is a lot lot finer than my Fine Norton India, 43 microns for the india v 1.2 for the waterstone :shock:

That explains it!

So I do need a finer stone, as I am asking my strop to polish out to bigger a scratch.

So should I keep Jacob happy and use the wifes inherited stones or spend the cash on a hard arkansas , that means not getting vertias round tennon cutter .

I think as I working on my work bench (o yer and fixing the roof, fitting heat exchanger plus ducts and hanging two doors, plus put trim on skirting boards from last summer when I get bored) I'll practice on the old stones over Christmas and see if I can get the knack of sharpening wide blades on it. Then if that does not work I'll look at a finer stone.

 

[Simon Wells]

Ah the light has been shone into the darkness of my mind. 8-[

So my Norton 8000 water stone is a lot lot finer than my Fine Norton India, 43 microns for the india v 1.2 for the waterstone :shock:

That explains it!

So I do need a finer stone, as I am asking my strop to polish out to bigger a scratch.

So should I keep Jacob happy and use the wifes inherited stones or spend the cash on a hard arkansas , that means not getting vertias round tennon cutter .

I think as I working on my work bench (o yer and fixing the roof, fitting heat exchanger plus ducts and hanging two doors, plus put trim on skirting boards from last summer when I get bored) I'll practice on the old stones over Christmas and see if I can get the knack of sharpening wide blades on it. Then if that does not work I'll look at a finer stone.

 

[Jacob]

.....
I think Jacob would prefer my to use the ancesteral narrow oil stones
.....

Don't care what you use - just trying to point you to the easy way. Don't worry about it!

 

[bugbear]

Ah the light has been shone into the darkness of my mind. 8-[

So my Norton 8000 water stone is a lot lot finer than my Fine Norton India, 43 microns for the india v 1.2 for the waterstone :shock:

That explains it!

So I do need a finer stone, as I am asking my strop to polish out to bigger a scratch.

Most of the labour when sharpening goes on the first (coarsest) grit you use. The successive grits merely remove the scratches from the first grit.

This means in practice the wear rates on the finer abrasives are quite low.

I would suggest that you (guided by the grit chart) experiment with sheet abrasives, either SiC from your local car repair shop (these go up to 2500 grit for paint finishing AKA 8.4 micron, or the rather more expensive and specialised 3m lapping film, which goes all the way down to 1 micron.

http://www.workshopheaven.com/tools/Sca ... ening.html

When you've found out what approximate grit size suit you, you can then consider buying a "solid form" abrasive, either a vintage natural stone, or a diamond stone.

Bugbear

 

[Simon Wells]

Have brought a load of wet and dry to go on a sainsburys marble trivet that I use for restoring plane soles etc. So shall see what grit works between the Norton Fine oil stone and the strop. Might also use autosol as as strop compound, I suspect T cut is to fine.

Thanks for all the pointers

 

[vally bar]

What the hell are you people cutting to need tools this sharp?

 

[revwayne]

I really like the Spyderco stones for a mirror finish afterwards the stropping is quicker and brighter.

 

[Jacob]

What the hell are you people cutting to need tools this sharp?

I gather they spend a lot of time shaving babys' bottoms. :roll:

 

[matthewwh]

Autosol is an etchant, not an abrasive.

It works in terms of producing a final polish but it's better to use a small swatch of leather soaked in autosol to apply it to the edge, wait for a minute and then clean it off thoroughly.

 

[bugbear]

Autosol is an etchant, not an abrasive.

Not a distinction I've heard before - could you expand/explain?

BugBear

 

[Simon Wells]

Spent a happy ten minutes in my very cold workshop stropping using some green compound from here:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/130622904636?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649

awesome results back to the mirror finish I had when stropping with t-cut and waterstones. So, no need to get a finers stone after the the fine oil stone. Result! Super sharp east tu use tools avoided more cost! =D>

Thank you to all for the help =D>

 

[Graham Orm]

I realise I'm late to the party here...... but what about a heavily insulated box for the stones? Mine currently reside on the kitchen window sill, however I plan to buy a gardeners 'minimum recorded temp thermometer' which shows what the lowest temp was in the night. I'm going to leave it inside the box for a few frozen nights and see what it goes down to. IF it stays well above freezing the stones can stay in the box.

 

[Graham Orm]

Yes, I have no doubt adjusting my technique will solve the problem. Trouble is I have no technique. I am at the consciously incompetent stage of sharpening. Could you recommend any video's or clear silly person proof explanation for using a narrow stone for a wide plane blade?

I have searched the forum but struggled to understand the postings I have read on using a narrow stone for a wide edge. I suspect due to not having sufficient knowledge to correctly interpret the descriptions.

Look up Rob Cosman on you tube

 

[Lons]

I realise I'm late to the party here...... but what about a heavily insulated box for the stones? Mine currently reside on the kitchen window sill, however I plan to buy a gardeners 'minimum recorded temp thermometer' which shows what the lowest temp was in the night. I'm going to leave it inside the box for a few frozen nights and see what it goes down to. IF it stays well above freezing the stones can stay in the box.

What I did donkeys years ago was convert one of my wall cabinets into a "warm" cupboard by mounting a 15wt bulb inside at the bottom and linked to a rigged up timer. Worked a treat and very cheap to run if I remember. It really was jerry rigged as to protect the bulb I just drilled holes in a small tin can and stuck it down on a few dabs of silicone

It wasn't for waterstones, I had a damp garage and thought it would keep the rust off my most important hand tools.

It's set me thinking I should do it again as plug in timers are so cheap now. Might be a thought for you too?

Bob

 

[Graham Orm]

I realise I'm late to the party here...... but what about a heavily insulated box for the stones? Mine currently reside on the kitchen window sill, however I plan to buy a gardeners 'minimum recorded temp thermometer' which shows what the lowest temp was in the night. I'm going to leave it inside the box for a few frozen nights and see what it goes down to. IF it stays well above freezing the stones can stay in the box.

What I did donkeys years ago was convert one of my wall cabinets into a "warm" cupboard by mounting a 15wt bulb inside at the bottom and linked to a rigged up timer. Worked a treat and very cheap to run if I remember. It really was jerry rigged as to protect the bulb I just drilled holes in a small tin can and stuck it down on a few dabs of silicone

It wasn't for waterstones, I had a damp garage and thought it would keep the rust off my most important hand tools.

It's set me thinking I should do it again as plug in timers are so cheap now. Might be a thought for you too?

Bob

Cheers Bob, good idea, but trying to cut the electric bill down at the moment!

 

[Simon Wells]

Already sold the waterstones :?

But thanks for the ideas!

 

[Jacob]

Nice to see you are getting into oilstones!
I think the tide might have turned and it's no longer 'the sharpening which dare not speak its name' :roll: .
I'll just have to find something else to rant on about!

 

[Dangermouse]

I've never used waterstones, nasty messy things and takes too much time to fiddle with. (hammer)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

So water's messy and oil isn't?

 

[Jacob]

So water's messy and oil isn't?

Never tried water stones but it certainly sounds messy by all accounts, unless you are sharpening on a draining board next to a sink with running water. There's also a frost problem, according to another thread.
Oil is handy because; you get hardly any slurry as stones are harder, you need far less of it, it's easily cleaned way with old rags, it doesn't rust the tool or the swarf, doesn't dry so quickly so can be left in situ (but not for too long). Even cleaner if you use a magnet to lift off the swarf.

.......
I have searched the forum but struggled to understand the postings I have read on using a narrow stone for a wide edge. I suspect due to not having sufficient knowledge to correctly interpret the descriptions.

Here's a man using a wide blade on a narrow stone.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1F5aSs2ureQ