Sharpening Stone

[Farrell]

I did a lot of personal research into sharpening apparatus for chisels
before I bought an EZE-LAP Diamond sharpening stone (actually a flat piece
of 1/4" plate steel with diamonds bonded to the upper surface).

I looked into the Japanese Waterstones (actually I bought one from Pianotek
also - but don't tell anyone) and found that the trouble one can have with
them is that they wear very quickly, such that the stone itself will not be
flat after only a little sharpening activity, i.e. the stone will wear where
the chisel was drawn across, thereby destroying a critical element of a
chisel sharpening tool. This would not be such a problem with sharpening a
knife, but you want to be making your chisel nice and straight and flat (not
to mention blades for your planes). You can take the Waterstone and grind it
flat after use to maintain its flatness, but of course that is additional
work. Maintaining stone flatness will be a continuous task.

The diamond sharpening stone stays flat and lasts pretty much forever &
there are several grits available. For manual sharpening they are my choice.
Being that I am a bit of a novice with it, I even bought one of the guides
for chisels, etc. Really holds the chisel at whatever angle you want and you
can do a very accurate double bevel with a reverse if you wish.

Perhaps you will develop a good technique for maintaining your waterstone
and have success with it. They do cut nicely. But be sure to watch how flat
an edge you are developing when it is important.

Just my thoughts.  :-)

Terry Farrell
Piano Tuning & Service
Tampa, Florida
mfarrel2@tampabay.rr.com

----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Goodale" <rrg@nevada.edu>
To: "PTG" <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Monday, April 23, 2001 2:35 PM
Subject: Sharpening Stone


> I just received a new sharpening stone from Pianotek that I ordered.
> This is the "Japanese Waterstone" Cat. #K-80S.  Wow, I am impressed!  I
> took an old cheepy $4.00 Chisel and turned that thing into a lethal
> weapon!  It only took me about ten minutes.  One side is a medium grit
> to get it roughed in.  The other side is super fine and gets the edge
> like a razor blade.  No kidding, I could shave with the thing!  Easily
> the finest stone I've ever used.
>
> Rob Goodale, RPT
> Las Vegas, NV
>