I finally stopped sharpening my chisels wrong after watching a 72 year old carpenter at the flea market

He showed me how I was grinding too steep an angle and taking off way too much metal, and after I tried his method on an old beat up chisel from my shed, it cut clean through oak like butter; has anyone else been over sharpening their tools without realizing it?

3 comments

3 Comments

rileyl981mo agoMost Upvoted

Yeah @spencer_chen6 that old timer trick totally changed how I sharpen too.

spencer_chen61mo ago

Oh man, I had a buddy who swore he knew how to sharpen his plane irons until he let an old timer borrow his tools for a job. The guy came back and showed him how his angles were all wrong and he was taking off way too much metal each time. After that one lesson his planes started cutting like new and he never went back to his old way.

benk261mo ago

Went through the same thing last year. I had been grinding my chisels at what felt like 30 degrees, turns out I was closer to 45 and just mashing the bevel into the wood. First time I tried a proper 25 degree angle with a light touch, I actually nicked my finger on the shaving because it was so thin. Talk about a humbling moment. My sharpening setup used to look like a metalworking shop, now it's just a couple stones and some patience.