Sharpening the Cherry Handled Chisel–Part III

So far, our chisel has had its edge squared up and also had a new bevel applied by the grinder wheels. Now it is time to finish the job by honing the bevel edge and the back. For this task I will use a marble floor tile.

Some ww use surface plates but I think that is overkill. Others use mdf and I think that is not smooth enough. Granite sink cutouts are good if you can find one. I like this floor tile. Years ago I spray glued a piece of aluminum oxide (AO) sandpaper to it. The fumes were so noxious that now I just lay new paper over it. The old piece holds everything in place well. You can see from the photo that I am using coarse 220 grit AO and finer 400 grit. Even though I have finer paper, this two paper process is what I use for my working tools. You can use auto sanding paper at 3000-4000 grit and put a mirror finish on your edges. It looks nice, but I can’t tell a big difference when working. The 220/400 is great for me.

I start with the 220 and drag the bevel edge across the plate. It takes about three or four drags to achieve a sharp wire edge.

Then I put the plate close to the edge of the bench and use a sideways motion back and forth to scrub the back and make it flat.

It turns out pretty shiny.

I use a shoprag to wipe off the dust and check the edge. Sometimes I will strop both edges on the fine paper to remove defects and refine the edge. Here are the two edges, starting with the back. It has a mirror finish near the cutting edge.

And the bevel got close attention only near the edge.

And now we are ready for a test drive. I will put a block of construction lumber in the vise and pare up a few shavings.

Well, it does not get much better than this. Our edge is ready to go to work. Grinding the edge square took about a minute. Replacing the bevel took about two minutes. Honing and finishing on the sandpaper took about two minutes. So in total fixing this edge was about a five minute process. Of course, I have had lots of practice to get here. But you can do the same. I propose that as a goal for woodworkers. You should be able to restore an edge on a half inch chisel in about 5-10 minutes. Once you master sharpening, your woodworking skills will be elevated to the next level. Get to work, grasshopper–you can do this!