LumberJocks Woodworking Forum banner

Project Information

I'm fairly new to the hand tool world so I've been spending some time trying to first learn how to properly sharpen and hone, as I felt that was most important from the start. At first it was somewhat daunting as there's almost too much information out there, at least too many opinions.Through various influences, I've settled on my method that works for me, at least for now. I have to give a lot of credit to Matt Estlea - check out his YouTube channel if you're not familiar, lots of good information.

For those who are looking for similar information as I was, here's what I use.

Lie-Nielsen honing guide

King KDS 1000/6000 Combination Grit Stone

Atoma Diamond Sharpener Medium #400

Woodstock Green D2902 Extra Fine Compound 1lb

I did buy the Norton flattening stone at first as an FYI - it was not worth the wasted money in my opinion. After some further digging around trying not to have to buy and expensive DMT plate, I found some reviews and referrals to the Atoma plate. I can't speak on the longetivity of it, but it does work very well and was dead flat.

The last thing I wanted to add was the strop and I'm glad I did. I've seen many people use them online, but wasn't sure how valuable it would be to add to the lineup. After trying it out, I can say, go make one. It's cheap to make and easy to use to keep the edge honed between true sharpening. I found a piece of leather at the craft store for $10.99 which gave me the right amount for both sides of the strop (rough and smooth). I had found a cutoff of walnut that had a large knot in it and the length was perfect. I simply eyed up a handle and then off to bandsaw and a ton of hand sanding. I then used a roundover to further shape and then some more sanding. If not for a handle, you could literally make this in 5 minutes. I then glued up and put in vice between some plywood to get pressure evenly across. I was sure to overhand a small amount of leather to clean up to edge with razor after the squeeze out had skinned over. Once done you just need to charge with the compound on the rough side only and it's good to go.

This wasn't intended to be a how-to, but I thought it might help some who are looking to learn this process. Again, there are a bunch of ways to achieve the same results, but this is what works for me.

Happy Easter!

Gallery

Comments

Top