Messages

Hi Ken,
Believe it or not, I read Brian's sharpening description, but I forgot to watch the video. I just watched it. Do you have any Japanese steel?
Steve

Hi Ken,
I think the use is the thing here. If I'm mortising a hinge, my sharpened Marples will do just fine. If I trying to take a thousand off of an x-brace that's going into an expensive guitar, I might want to have something a bit sharper.
Steve

Ken,
I spent several hours the other day on a badly knicked Marples chisel. I took a lot of care lapping, got the knick out, took the bevel up to 8000 and put a micro bevel on. Stropped the front and back with green compound and ended up with a pretty good edge. I took a Matsumura chisel out of the box and it was sharper than the Marples I had just spent several hours on. So I guess the moral of the story is how sharp do you really want it and can you get there with the steel you have. I can tell you this, I will never again buy anything other than Japanese steel. And I will probably get that 30,00 grit ceramic stone and see how sharp I can get that Matsumura. In my opinion, there is a huge difference between the O1 Japanese steel and just about any other steel. And at the end of the day I must say, the sharper the better. If 30,00 is the best I can do, I guess that's where I'll have to be satisfied for now. I would just like to hear from anyone that has some good steel and regularly sharpens to 30,000.
Steve

Gipper,
My wife just switched to carbide tipped turning tools and it's worked very well for her.
Steve

Hey thanks Ken. I guess my real question is who decided that 8000 was as far as we need to go. How can we be certain that 30,000 isn't the real target?
Steve

Hey Ken,
The ceramic stones used by Cosman were 1000, 16000 and 30000. The first two were in the earthly realm but the 30000 was over $300. While I agree that the Tormek is definately an asset in terms of the heavy lifting, I just wonder if there is benefit in going up to 30000. I'm also wondering if Rob Cosman is the real deal or is it all done with smoke and mirrors. I've have seen his through dovetail work and it's really clean. 
Steve

Rob Cosman takes a Lie-Nielsen plane out of the box and sharpens the blade in 30 seconds. He uses 3 ceramic stones, last one 30,000 grit. He makes a shaving of half a thousandth.
"Rob Cosman Sharpening Plane Blades" on YouTube. If you've see it, care to comment?
Steve

mGuitars,
I'm starting Red Rocks Community College in the Fall in their Luthier program. I'll be making acoustical, electric and classical. Let's stay in touch. As I said, I have used that Norton's sharpening oil with good success. I have an email from Ionut re cleaning up a honing wheel that has been impregnated with too much 3-in-1 if you need it.
Steve

Based on Ionut's suggestion, I have used tool sharpening oil such as Norton. It's mineral oil based, not as thick. I'd suggest being careful with 3-in-1, it can be overkill. Seems like we have a nice thing going with mGuitars and Luthier. Do you guys actually make instruments?
Steve

Ken,
Is there a way to run a FAX from a cell?
Steve

Ken,
I don't know, you think that Ionut guy is a serious woodworker?
Steve

Yeah, but who's reasonable and serious?

Hi Ken,
Good post. BTW, what is a good way to take big nicks off of a chisel? I have tried with the T-7 wheel in the 250 mode, but it seems pretty time consuming. I'm thinking about starting with a dry wheel grinder, but there is something about that idea that puts me off. What do you do?
Steve

Ionut,
You'll never be just a lowly cook. I know the type, always strive for excellence. Your response was very clear and easy to follow. Thank you for that.
Steve

Ionut,
But what is the actual process you use with the mineral spirits on the wheel? Do you use a rag or a paper towel and hold it on the wheel while it turns or do you remove the wheel and then use a paper towel or rag soaked in mineral spirits. I guess what I'm really asking is how agressively do you approach the removal process. I mean, do you remove the black surface build up to the point where you can see the brown of the leather like when it was new, or do you just cleah it up a little such that you can just feel some of the old texture, but not down to the original leather? does that make sense? BTW, are you that famous Software Engineer from up there around BC?