How do you folks like to sharpen chisels?

[Rob Babcock]

To folks that do a lot of chisels how do you like to sharpen them? My shop focuses on knives with a good amount of garden tools but as time goes on I get more chisels, too. I've been using a jig and doing the work on Atoma plates which works okay but if the there's damage or the tool is very dull it's a slow slog. For badly damaged chisels I'll sometimes set the angle guide on a spare 1x42 low speed belt machine and do them this way; it's fast but one has to take care to keep everything square. I've got a WEN grinder (Tormek knockoff) and have been thinking of getting a couple of CBN wheels and a Tormek chisel jig (which is supposed to work with the WEN), but I'm not sure how fast this would be. Presumable an 80 grit CBN wheel is gonna be faster than I am with a 400 grit Atoma but is it fast enough to do a dozen at a time? Is there a better way I'm missing? Thanks!

 

[Jason B.]

I think the tormek setup would be your best bet. Going to be a lot faster than hand. I would probably use a stone wheel myself, such as the Black SiC wheel. Mainly for the finish, diamond is aggressive on lower carbide steels and can leave ugly deep scratches that are difficult to remove in later stages.

Personally, I shy away from really coarse stones. You can remove a lot of steel in the 120-220 grit range and often just skip to the polishing and be done. Starting at 60 or 80 grit guarantees you have more work to do. But, if you start them on a belt grinder and finish them on a Tormek/Wen, any deviation from the belt grinder would be easily corrected on the wheel. Easier and faster than having to switch wheels, imo.

As for the stones, the atoma 400 is pretty fast but why not the 140 first? Also, are you finishing on waterstones or is the 400 atoma it? (Side note) With the atoma you must also be mindful of the wear pattern, because the diamonds are tall clusters there can be some dishing from heavy use in the same area.

 

[Rob Babcock]

I think CBN is a lot less aggressive than diamond and easier to polish out. I have an Atoma 140 in a 1x6" but I can't find my full sized one. I've got full sized 400 and 1200 Atomas as well as a DMT XXC. The latter was "hot stuff" 20-some years ago but it's not as good as the newer offerings from Atoma and Sharpal (IMO). Plus it's a bit worn after decades of use. With wheels I would like to go with CBN because it doesn't need water, they run cool and they never need to be graded and don't change size or shape. My business is heavily build around belt machines with a pretty strong niche of hand work on Japanese knives. I don't want to mess around with the Tormek any more than I must, if that makes sense. But in situations where it's the best tool for the job I'll want to go that route. I'll finish with water stones when working off a belt but I was thinking that wouldn't be necessary off the Tormek or am I mistaken?

 

[Triple_D]

I'm not sharpening anything for clients, or running a business, so take anything I say with a grain of salt.

I use a Veritas MKII honing guide, in conjunction with the DMT 10" DuoSharp diamond stones.

First, I use the stones to flatten the back of the chisel (usually only necessary once), and then use the honing guide to establish, and sharpen the bevel. It's a slow process with old used chisels, or plane blades, but it works well. I have also used this method to sharpen a new set of chisels, that were less than perfect, from the factory (also slow). But once you get the back flat and bevel established, then keeping them sharp is pretty easy. A quick touch up is all that is necessary, as long as the edge of the blade is not damaged. Then I finish them off on a strop, with some diamond paste.

But if time is money, then I'm sure there are much better ways to go.

 

[Rob Babcock]

That Veritas honing guide looks better than the guide I'm using. Otherwise that's pretty much how I'm doing it now, just hoping to figure out a way that's a lot faster while still doing a good job but that might not be realistic.