Edge nicks on freshly sharpened bladed

[Leeroy]

Hi all, Ive had my T3 for some years now and have had great success with it.  I have recently started freshening up my handplane blades, initially new bevel angle on the normal stone then polish with the SJ200. The polish is amazing BUT I can't seem to get the edge right and blemish free. You can see a few small nicks on the edge of the blade (1 or 2) with the naked eye, they're hard to see but they are there. Planing with the blade produced a shaving that proved there was a nick. I bought a jewellers loop and there is definitely small nicks across the fresh edge. I seem to be replicating this on all my sharpening no matter what it is I am trying to polish. Looking for some guidance on what I might be doing wrong?

TIA.
   

[micha]

Did you already try trueing the SJ-200? The stone is soft enough to catch some foreign particles, that could be a possible reason for nicks.
Regards,
Mike

[Leeroy]

I trued it again this afternoon, it's one aspect I truly dislike doing on the SJ. The thing is so darn expensive to start with!  I'll see how I go and report back if it continues.

[micha]

I know what you mean. Stones sure are expensive, but I think we need to understand these are our consumables.
And I think that using a stone several times more because of unsatisfactory results means unnecessary wear of material, too, compared to doing it once on a really plain stone surface.
And it sure is more satisfying. Just my newbie thoughts...

Regards,
Mike

[Erivan]

My 2 cents : could it be a problem with the steel quality, I mean are you pretty sure the steel isn't the ca

[Erivan]

My 2 cents : could it be a problem with the steel quality ? I mean are you pretty sure the steel isn't the cause of the trouble ? Just asking.

[micha]

Hi Erivan,

take into consideration that Leroy reported that this occurs on "all his sharpening no matter what he's trying to polish", so I still think it's related to the wheel itself. I'm really courious about his report if trueing has helped or not.

Regards
Mike

[MikeK]

For my plane blades (and chisels), the Tormek is only one part of the sharpening process.  I use flat stones and a honing guide for the fine work.

In each case, I establish a 25-degree hollow grind primary bevel using the Tormek, and then go to the 800-grit flat stone for the 33-degree secondary bevel and the 10,000 grit flat stone for the 35-degree honing bevel.  The secondary and honing bevels take only a few passes on the flat stones, then I put a light back bevel on the back of the plane blades with the 10,000 grit stone.

[Ken S]

Leeroy, in your post, you mention establishing the bevel with the SJ-200 and then polishing with the SJ-200. You do not mention the middle step of refining your edge using the SG graded fine. This middle step is important; I hope you just forgot to mention it.

Using your loupe, try an initial coarse grind with one of your plane blades or a mid sized chisel. Examine the edge with your loupe. Using the same stone grit and set up, make a final pass using very light pressure. The scratch pattern should now look less distinct with the loupe.This light final pass will give your SG graded fine a good head start.

Give your SG a thorough fine grading with the stone grader. The first time I gave my stone grader a full minute on fine, I was amazed with the extra smoothness the extra time produced.

Do a thorough job with the fine graded SG, including the same light pressure final pass. Use your loupe along the way.
You should remove any nicks well before thinking of using the SJ. The SJ, or any 4000 grit bench stone, it designed to polish, not remove metal.

Sharpening is like preparing a surface for finishing. A high gloss finish will show any scratches on the wood. Going through grit changes, making the scratches small and then increasingly smaller is the key.

For learning this process, I prefer to use a bench chisel in the 3/4" range. The exact width is not critical. The large bevel is easier to see. Do not be concerned with the time involved to sharpen your learning tool. Once you get it right, all future sharpening will be much faster.

Several of the replies deserve further conversation in their own right.

Good topic.

Ken

[Ken S]

MikeK,
I am combining a reply to your post with your post in handtools.
Kren

[Leeroy]

Thanks all for the replies.

Kevin I may not have been clear enough how I was getting the new bevel. I have some new (old) Stanley planes and a couple of firmer chisels I was trying to refresh. I establish the new edge with the SG course/fine then moved to polishing with the SJ. I did true the SJ wheel which helped but I think the nicks in the blade were more from the final step of the SG fine. Using lighter pressure (none) on the fine grade SG stone proved much better and nick free. Thanks for all the replies