Another sharpening question: Stones

[rbahr]

Hi All,

With my 'new' acquisition, I am becoming a sharpening fool 

Most of my plane blades are some form of tool steel: O1, A2, ...

These seem to take quite a while to profile using the white stone. Would I be better using the black stone. I know that the diamond stones would be great, but to rich for my blood. Thoughts?

Thanks

Ray

[Ken S]

Good question, Ray.

I am sure that other members will offer different opinions, which are at least as valid as mine. Here is mine:

How much do you value your time? I am talking primarily about initial sharpening, which will generally take longer with the SG. Do not forget that many thousands of plane blades have been sharpened over the decades with the SG.
You should be able to feel when a very sharp tool first begins to become dull. If you strive to resharpen at that point, your SG will be very efficient. Your planes will cut better and leave a smoother finish. If you are sharpening your own tools, you can control this. If you are sharpening for the public, you will run into many tools which are overdue for sharpening.

Once you have obtained your desired bevel angle, future sharpenings should need only minimal steel removed.

I think the SB is a too often overlooked grinding wheel. Like the SG, it has some flexibility of grain size altering. It can be shaped with radius corners if desired and the grit goes through the entire stone, useful if the stone becomes damaged. It also costs less than diamond or CBN and works well with hss turning tools.

Diamond or CBN might be a good choice for higher volume sharpening. If you add hobby woodturning, consider the SB. For a home woodworking shop, my first choice is the SG and very sharp tools.

Ken

[rbahr]

Thanks Ken,

My time is worth a lot, and I have a good collection of hand planes and chisels. Current stone is a sg-250. Up to now, everything has been sharpened on waterstones or sandpaper - ( think .3 micron sandpaper). This means the initial profiling will take me 45min to 1 hour or even more for the plane blade. I just spent perhaps 2-3 hours cleaning up a Hock blade, that was pretty good to start with. I know that it will take me some time to get even a little bit capable with this, but I want to use tools not dote over them.

If I save 5-6 hours, that is worth the $250 for the black stone. It is not worth the $450 for the diamond wheels.

I don't know what the cutting action for the black stone would be, or if it even is worth the trouble.

Thoughts?

Ray

[Ken S]

Ray,

I understand your thinking. In your situation, I would give serious consideration to the SB. It is designed to cut more aggressively, especially with harder steels. Keep it well dressed. You might want to watch the KnifeGrinders video on dressing stones.
Keep us posted.

Ken