Sharpening tools ...

[Vortex2]

Hi,

Can anyone recommend a decent YT video or similar which shows how to shapern basic tools such as shears?

Or should we simply pay the £5 to our local garden shop?

[Catweazle]

I don't trust just anybody to sharpen my tools, because so many people have no idea how to treat metals. A steel cutting edge will have been heated to high temperature and quenched rapidly, this leaves the steel in the "fully hard" condition but too brittle to last long in use. The steel now needs to be "tempered", this brings the hardness down a bit but adds a lot of toughness - the balance between hardness and toughness is critical. The temperatures needed for tempering are relatively low but make a big difference to the steel. These temperatures can easily be exceeded by somebody using a grinding wheel on the blade, thus ruining the heat treatment on the fine cutting edge where it is most critical.

The trick is to sharpen slowly with water to cool the blade, if using a grinding wheel it should run in a bath of water.

[Vortex2]

I was thinking of hand sharpening with one of those stone thingies like my father used to do .. is that doable nowadays?

[Lurkalot2]

Funnily enough I've just sharpened half a dozen pairs of shears. My go to tool is a belt sander. I've spent most of my working life in restoration which with hidden nails and the like can mean tools need regrinding more often. We didn't always have access to bench grinders or wetstone grinders but the belt sander was often available. Using a fine grit normally used belt and not forgetting to remove the dust bag ( seen one set alight ) they don't heat the metal up quickly. Holding a blade in the hands is also a good way to recognise if it's getting warm as it gets too hot to hold long before it gets hot enough to damage the temper. It also allows for the hollow grinding of chisels and such like.
In the van I normally carry a carborundum stone for quick touching up . I use that simply because I had one . If not I'd be tempted to look at the diamond files.

[Catweazle]

If you decide to use powered grinders / sanders to sharpen with then make sure they're sharp - new belt or freshly dressed wheel - sharp abrasives cut a lot cooler than dull.

I like the DMT diamond sharpeners for tools. When I was building harps I sharpened my chisels on an 8000 grit Japanese waterstone, the edge was literally mirror finished and a joy to use, but total overkill for general woodwork. At the boatyard I used a Tormek sharpener, which is a great general purpose tool.

https://www.tormek.com/international/en ... -original/

[Lurkalot2]

Ignoring the point that it's a bit dim for a joiner to forget to take an oilstone with him in the first place I've sharpened tools on all sorts of things from sandpaper , stone blocks , slate and even a concrete kerb at one point. I've also worked on a number of old buildings and churches where grooves are visible where people have sharpened tools over the years. In my workshop I have a number of stones including a soft grey waterstone which puts a cracking edge on but can almost be seen wearing away.
In a sort of "just because we can" things most of us have sharpened chisels , plane blades and axes and then shaved our arm hair. Certainly no real need for an axe to be that sharp.

[mr brightside]

I sharpen kitchen knives on the worktop with some 120 grit emery, i've got no finesse.