When is the blade not sharp enough

Darren Wright

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Just something they had us do in my wood carving class to test the sharpness of a chisel. Cut the end grain of a piece of soft wood, butternut in my case.

The cut on the right side is showing some chip-out. So went back and did a quick touch-up on the 1000 grit, then a quick lap on the leather wheel, a quick buff on the cloth wheel, and a got a clean cut on the left side.

IMAG1617.jpg
 
My personal test is to cut across red oak end grain. If chisel holds up then edge and angle are good enough for me. I have seen "sharp" chisels falter in this situation due to sharpening angle being to low not enough support behind edge. But i have speculated that its could have been the steel. Of course the issue is whats it going to be used on. Has been my argument with myself.

One huge learning lesson i had was discovered after i bought a brand new set of chisels and was ready to take them back then someone here suggested grinding a little more off the edge and sure enough there had been an issue with how the first edge had been treated. Cool grinding is a definite. Hence i like my Delta grinder and a friable wheel.

I still dont have this aspect of sharpening down pat. Still think our hobby requires regular practice. Knowing what to do and doing it are two very different things.

Next winter I am going to bring a bunch of hand tools in house and at least get the benefit of sharpening the whole lot ready for uhhhh summer given this "winter like spring" :)
 
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