Chisel set for BirthDay?

First off Dan, congrats, happy Birthday!

I think those chisels will server you well, they look like a decent set, and with some TLC will give you many years of use.

About the water stones, they certainly do need flattening after each use, or even during use if you are sharpening a few chisels at once.

I use a special made stone that is hard, to flatten my water stones, but, for a long time I just used the flat side of a cinder block, it is plenty flat for this use, it just needs to be hosed off now and then.
Cheers!
 
ok here is my ignorant question fer today.. one of you fellas mentioned just rubin the water stones together to flatten,, wouldnt that just mafe them fit each other and not neccesarily flat? if one had a vlley in it the other would just comform to it???

Larry,

That is a good question. The thing is it is pretty hard to round over an entire stone end-to-end side-to-side. Usually you will have a valley in the center of the stone. And much like jointing a piece of wood on a jointer once you have a flat area the rest of the flat builds from there.
 
Dan, what I do is take a good cinder block, lay it on it's side, so you have one flat side up, wet it, and then rub the face of the water stone on the flat side of the cider block to get it flat. You will figure out when it is flat, one thing is it will become harder to push it, as more of the water stone contacts the cinder block, also, it you lift the water stone, you will see the same marks across the whole face of the water stone, when it is NOT flat, you will see a cup in the middle (usually).

I hope this helps.

Cheers!

PS, the fastest way to sharpen a chisel is with a power strop, I know purists will not like it, but for that final razor sharp edge, a power strop is hard to beat.

>> HERE << is a post on how I made the one I use all the time :thumb:
 
Stuart lets pretend I am dumb :rofl:

Wouldn't rubbing the water stone on a cinder block cause it to wear down, I am assuming we are talking the kind that has like two holes in it and is used for foundations?

Dan
 
OK, another iggerant question.
Why waterstones? They sound like more trouble than they might be worth.
I saw a guy on the Roy Underhill show talking about his waterstones. His explanations were more like worship sermons than factual information.
Why wouldn't a good ole Arkansas novaculite stone work just as well?
 
Frank, that worship stuff is silly to me, some get off on it, I don't.

I'm in Japan, waterstones are the norm here, and I can get them as cheap, if not cheaper than any oil stone. I do have both, and diamond plates too.

Waterstone sare easy to use and they give you a sharp edge, plus the are better suited to Japanese chisels, the two kind of go together. :dunno:
 
OK, another iggerant question.
Why waterstones? They sound like more trouble than they might be worth.
I saw a guy on the Roy Underhill show talking about his waterstones. His explanations were more like worship sermons than factual information.
Why wouldn't a good ole Arkansas novaculite stone work just as well?

There is an unbeliever amoung us! He must convert or else...

:D
 
Dan,

You are right about the flattening removing material. Another possibility would be to lay a piece of wet/dry sandpaper on a flat surface like a piece of float glass or a jointer table (might get too messy and water is involved). When I flatten mine, I use something that is coarse enough for the flattening without being too coarse. As long as you monitor the progress you will only remove what is required until the surface is flat.

Good luck,
 
Well, I like keeping the mess of flattening the waterstones out of my shop, it is easy to keep the brick outside, near a hose and quicker to clean it all up. Waterstones cut fast and good, but they can be messy.

Cheers!
 
Dan, if you go to a glass shop and ask if they have any scraps of 3/8" thick glass, you can often find a very suitable piece. I bought 2 pieces, each about 6" x 14" for $5 each.

Ken
 
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