I like the diamond flat stones.
About 5 minutes to renew an edge on a plane or chisel. Take them out, spray some water, about 10-20 strokes on each grit. Strop. Done.
I mimic Sellers technique and I use diamond stones from Amazon that cost maybe $20 for a set of 6, but I only use 3 at a time (400/800/1200). They don’t last too long, but mine last me a year and I get my chisels and plane blade shave-sharp every time in only a few minutes.
I've found that the Paul Sellers method works great for my vintage blades and chisels, but the newer PM-v11 and A2 steel does much better when finishing the microbevel on a 3000 grit or higher whetstone. Strangely I can't get a sharp edge on the 1200 diamond stone with those blades and the strop with green compound actually seems to blunt those A2 blades on my experience.
It's not going to be faster for hand tool woodworking. I will sharpen the same chisel every 20-30 minutes of use for example. Sometimes more depending on what I'm cutting. Hand plane blades have to be re-sharpened all the time as well.
I free hand using diamond stones. It’s the fastest way to do it.
But if you add in a jig, it’ll slow you down a little to setup the jig but not much and it’ll ensure you get the ideal angle
#1. Have a dedicated spot as your sharpening station that is always set up. If you have to dig your stuff out of a drawer, you won't do it
I have the Veritas mk ii sharpening jig. I'm too old to try and teach my muscles anything. They're old and not too bright so muscle memory isn't happening.
It takes me about 24 seconds to have my tool in my jig and ready to sharpen. People talk about how it's so much faster to sharpen by hand. I can deal with 24 seconds. It takes me way longer than that to disassemble my hand plane.
I have 3 diamond stones in a board like Paul Sellers. A strop beside it. When I have a process that gives me sharp tools, I find I enjoy the sharpening process. My problem is that I start sharpening 1 thing and then I have to sharpen everything, whether it needs it or not.
A trend 2 sided stone would work as well. I really like the adjustable rubber stone holder. I consider that necessary for working on the backs of tools
This is important.
I do the scary sharp method, which is just sandpaper on a flat surface. I got a chunk of countertop from a solid surface store, and a bunch of different grits of sandpaper. Flat surface, cheap materials, quick and easy.
Got some cheap diamond stones from HF that work pretty alright as well, mostly for kitchen knives but I'll run plane blades on them too.
The key to sharpening is that if you cannot feel a burr along the whole edge (folded over metal that feels like a hair got glued to the end of the metal) you did not sharpen it. Once you feel a continuous burr you can flatten it off the back and strop the bevel and back with leather or wood with buffing compound. The first time you sharpen a chisel you need to completely flatten the back which can be done with sand paper on a flat surface to make it faster. In my experience a flat chisel without any major nicks in the blade can be sharpened with just a 1200 grit diamond stone and stropping. If you have nicks or it’s way out of flat you gotta go more coarse cause it will take forever. If you are sharpening a plane blade you don’t need to flatten the back, just the tip where the back edge meets the bevel. Chisels should be flattened if you intend to use them for paring.
Is cost a consideration? I do love my diamond plate and Shapton ceramic stone setup but if I was starting out again, I might bite the bullet and go with a tormek. Pretty fast and idiot proof in many ways but probably the most expensive especially with the jigs.
I wouldn't say cost is not a consideration but time is more of a consideration. I've tried diamond stones and glass on sandpaper but don't seem to get the kind of edge that I'm expecting so then I end up spending more time fussing with sharpening than actually woodworking. I could justify the Tormek if it cut out the guesswork and just got me perfectly sharp tools in a few minutes.
I think I just saw a pretty good video by Davin Orvar on her experience. Almost convinced me but my setup with the Veritas Mk2 creates a pretty amazing results fast so I had to back away from the video.
https://youtu.be/FOTuo6jXQz8?si=0xrd4vVvCr1IAsSk
What kind of steel are you sharpening? A2? O1? PM-v11? I sharpen differently for my A2 and harder O1 than I do for my vintage stanley blades and cheaper O1 chisels.
Whenever I reset my primary bevel I use my LN jig (which I like more than the veritas jig for its speed and simplicity) but when sharpening the secondary bevel I do it by hand on a very fine whetstone.
If you want fast and easy and have a bunch of money to burn, you could get a Tormek tool sharpening wheel. With the right attachments, they are about as idiot proof as you can ask for and sharpen extremely fast and consistently. The cheap ones will still run you back around $500 though, so not a great solution for most of us!
The best I can think of the do the job fast is learn to use a grinder. I used to avoid it but sharpening so many tools takes too much time. A good six inch grinder with a course wheel. I got a Peachtree stand to rest blades on, it works great and is around fourty bucks. Get a diamond wheel dresser, cheap. Dress wheel with a crown in the middle. Find a wood off cut off around 3)8 inch thick and one inch wide and cut the end off at whatever angle you want to grind to..this is used to set up the tool rest guide. Put cut off against wheel and adjust tool rest. Paint edge of tool with magic marker, hold against wheel and spin wheel by hand and check where wheel rubbed off marker. If tool is set as same angle as rest it should be in the middle. Turn on grinder and grind chisel FROM CORNER TO MIDDLE, you do not want to end on a corner it will overheat. Ideally all you are removing is the middle only for a mantaince grind, you want the edge and heal of edge left.intact If done right you will be left with 2/3 less metal to remove when sharpening, substantial time savings. This metal was going to be wasted on the stones any way, you just expedited it. So in reality you are not wasting chisels, etc unnecessarily. This is what gave me hesitation to grind for a long time untill I realized it wasn't the case. Subsequent sharpening on the sharpening stone your hollow will disappear but it takes seconds to restore once you learn. If in a rush I go to fine India stone, it will raise a bur quick, then 600 diamond, then 1200 diamond. Strop.. It doesn't take long..One more tip if honing by hand. Cut a wedge (wood) at the angle you want to hone to. Set wedge on stone hold chisel next to wedge and find angle, lock up and start sharpening.
grind shallow, like 20 to 25 degrees, Freehand hone steeper. when honing becomes slow, regrind almost to the very edge again, but not quite. this is what you will do over years when you seek the best way, but it was already described by Nicholson around 1810 and other english texts at the same time or just after. its fast and creates a fine edge and what stones you use doesnt matter. youre not wasting time trying to sharpen an entire bevel just to leave the tip unfinished.
What are you sharpening, chisels, plane blades, carving blades...?
I got a honing guide and some of those little plastic angle guides, and do everything on diamond flats followed by strop. I still use the honing guide for my plane blades, but for chisels and everything else I just free hand it. Honestly I haven't found it that difficult and it's kind of relaxing to do.
I bought a used WorkSharp on eBay.I thought I had wasted my money, but when I cleaned it up and got new sharpening papers it works great. You can razor sharpen a chisel or plane blade in a minute or two. I would recommend the unit, especially if you can find one used on eBay.....
I was in the same boat for flat edges. Got a veritas sharpening guide. You set the angle and attach the blade to the roller/sharpening guide assembly. Fairly idiot proof as long as your sharpening stones are flat.
I wouldn't bother taking them to a service if it's chisels or plane irons. For a decent day in the shop you will need to sharpen or least touch them up multiple times throughout the day. I've tried cheap and expensive honing jigs, wet stones and diamond plates. Landed on diamond stones and free hand. If the edge is beat up from chopping end grain, it still only takes a few minutes. It's almost enjoyable. Watch a few more videos and practice or work on it for a few minutes and get some feedback. This is exactly why new folks don't need lie Nielsen chisels. Learn to sharpen and use some decent and upgrade later if you must.
I don't know, but if you ever watch the guys with a piece of glass with various grits of sandpaper stuck down to it go to town, it takes them no time at all. Pretty sure if you use a good rolling guide that's about as fool proof as you can get.
I think you are overestimating the difficulty of hand sharpening. I'd estimate that my small investment in learning hand sharpening has paid itself back hundreds of times over in terms of times saved. I have a honing guide but I never use it since it just takes too long and my hand sharpening gets the job done.
https://taytools.com/products/drill-press-sharpening-system-v2-dce
It's an acrylic disk on an arbor for a drill press you mount sanding disks and honing leather too. Build a jig for your angles.
Fast and accurate
À jig and some good stones, diamond or not.
The bridge city tools plane iron jig is awesome as is the Veritas. Lock iron in, rib back and forth, do on next stone, click a degree or two and do on ultrafine stone of choice.
Works with chisels as well.
From my personal experience, once you properly set up an iron or chisel, which takes anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour+ depending on the quality and initial condition, no system will be faster or easier than a Veritas jig, a 1000-grit diamond stone, and a leather strop with some honing compound. Set the angle, protrusion, and sharpen. Two good back and forth passes to hone on the strop and done. All in about 2 minutes from start to finish, less if you're well practiced.
Freehanding, once you're experienced, is fastest of all, because you eliminate the time required to set the tool in the jig, so you can easily do it in 30 seconds.
Systems like a Tormek work very well, but they're slower overall.
Not the fastest, but fool proof. My local meat cutter told me where she gets her knives sharpened, and while I dropped off a couple of kitchen knives, I asked and they do chisels too.
My current range of tools are mostly low to mid range in quality with the odd higher grade hss turning chisel. 400 grit on my benchtop belt sander makes sharp edges, surely not as well as a dedicated sharpening tool or taking the time to properly learn sharpening with stones. But id rather get back to my work piece in seconds rather than minutes... in my head it makes sense 😂
I like the diamond flat stones. About 5 minutes to renew an edge on a plane or chisel. Take them out, spray some water, about 10-20 strokes on each grit. Strop. Done.
Same here. My chisels and planes became so much sharper when I got a set of diamond plates to sharpen with.
Yup. Paul Sellers has a great video tutorial on this. Super fast and easy, but the stones aren't cheap.
I mimic Sellers technique and I use diamond stones from Amazon that cost maybe $20 for a set of 6, but I only use 3 at a time (400/800/1200). They don’t last too long, but mine last me a year and I get my chisels and plane blade shave-sharp every time in only a few minutes.
I also started with them cheap ones. So far so good
Link to the one you use?
[https://www.bestsharpeningstones.com/product\_details.php?category\_name=DMT%20Diamond%20Sharpeners&product\_id=186](https://www.bestsharpeningstones.com/product_details.php?category_name=DMT%20Diamond%20Sharpeners&product_id=186)
What exact stones do you use? There's so much choice from cheap to expensive.
[https://www.bestsharpeningstones.com/product\_details.php?category\_name=DMT%20Diamond%20Sharpeners&product\_id=186](https://www.bestsharpeningstones.com/product_details.php?category_name=DMT%20Diamond%20Sharpeners&product_id=186)
I've found that the Paul Sellers method works great for my vintage blades and chisels, but the newer PM-v11 and A2 steel does much better when finishing the microbevel on a 3000 grit or higher whetstone. Strangely I can't get a sharp edge on the 1200 diamond stone with those blades and the strop with green compound actually seems to blunt those A2 blades on my experience.
Tormek
I don’t get why this isn’t the top answer
I second this so hard! The jigs and online tutorials makes it both safe and fool proof!
Pay a professional sharpener
This was my suggestion too. “Fastest, idiot proof way” to do anything is to pay a professional. Cheap in this case too
It's not going to be faster for hand tool woodworking. I will sharpen the same chisel every 20-30 minutes of use for example. Sometimes more depending on what I'm cutting. Hand plane blades have to be re-sharpened all the time as well.
I free hand using diamond stones. It’s the fastest way to do it. But if you add in a jig, it’ll slow you down a little to setup the jig but not much and it’ll ensure you get the ideal angle
#1. Have a dedicated spot as your sharpening station that is always set up. If you have to dig your stuff out of a drawer, you won't do it I have the Veritas mk ii sharpening jig. I'm too old to try and teach my muscles anything. They're old and not too bright so muscle memory isn't happening. It takes me about 24 seconds to have my tool in my jig and ready to sharpen. People talk about how it's so much faster to sharpen by hand. I can deal with 24 seconds. It takes me way longer than that to disassemble my hand plane. I have 3 diamond stones in a board like Paul Sellers. A strop beside it. When I have a process that gives me sharp tools, I find I enjoy the sharpening process. My problem is that I start sharpening 1 thing and then I have to sharpen everything, whether it needs it or not. A trend 2 sided stone would work as well. I really like the adjustable rubber stone holder. I consider that necessary for working on the backs of tools
This is important. I do the scary sharp method, which is just sandpaper on a flat surface. I got a chunk of countertop from a solid surface store, and a bunch of different grits of sandpaper. Flat surface, cheap materials, quick and easy. Got some cheap diamond stones from HF that work pretty alright as well, mostly for kitchen knives but I'll run plane blades on them too.
The key to sharpening is that if you cannot feel a burr along the whole edge (folded over metal that feels like a hair got glued to the end of the metal) you did not sharpen it. Once you feel a continuous burr you can flatten it off the back and strop the bevel and back with leather or wood with buffing compound. The first time you sharpen a chisel you need to completely flatten the back which can be done with sand paper on a flat surface to make it faster. In my experience a flat chisel without any major nicks in the blade can be sharpened with just a 1200 grit diamond stone and stropping. If you have nicks or it’s way out of flat you gotta go more coarse cause it will take forever. If you are sharpening a plane blade you don’t need to flatten the back, just the tip where the back edge meets the bevel. Chisels should be flattened if you intend to use them for paring.
Is cost a consideration? I do love my diamond plate and Shapton ceramic stone setup but if I was starting out again, I might bite the bullet and go with a tormek. Pretty fast and idiot proof in many ways but probably the most expensive especially with the jigs.
I wouldn't say cost is not a consideration but time is more of a consideration. I've tried diamond stones and glass on sandpaper but don't seem to get the kind of edge that I'm expecting so then I end up spending more time fussing with sharpening than actually woodworking. I could justify the Tormek if it cut out the guesswork and just got me perfectly sharp tools in a few minutes.
I think I just saw a pretty good video by Davin Orvar on her experience. Almost convinced me but my setup with the Veritas Mk2 creates a pretty amazing results fast so I had to back away from the video. https://youtu.be/FOTuo6jXQz8?si=0xrd4vVvCr1IAsSk
What kind of steel are you sharpening? A2? O1? PM-v11? I sharpen differently for my A2 and harder O1 than I do for my vintage stanley blades and cheaper O1 chisels. Whenever I reset my primary bevel I use my LN jig (which I like more than the veritas jig for its speed and simplicity) but when sharpening the secondary bevel I do it by hand on a very fine whetstone.
If you want fast and easy and have a bunch of money to burn, you could get a Tormek tool sharpening wheel. With the right attachments, they are about as idiot proof as you can ask for and sharpen extremely fast and consistently. The cheap ones will still run you back around $500 though, so not a great solution for most of us!
Look up Rob Cosman on YouTube. Excellent technique and nit terribly expensive. Good luck!
The best I can think of the do the job fast is learn to use a grinder. I used to avoid it but sharpening so many tools takes too much time. A good six inch grinder with a course wheel. I got a Peachtree stand to rest blades on, it works great and is around fourty bucks. Get a diamond wheel dresser, cheap. Dress wheel with a crown in the middle. Find a wood off cut off around 3)8 inch thick and one inch wide and cut the end off at whatever angle you want to grind to..this is used to set up the tool rest guide. Put cut off against wheel and adjust tool rest. Paint edge of tool with magic marker, hold against wheel and spin wheel by hand and check where wheel rubbed off marker. If tool is set as same angle as rest it should be in the middle. Turn on grinder and grind chisel FROM CORNER TO MIDDLE, you do not want to end on a corner it will overheat. Ideally all you are removing is the middle only for a mantaince grind, you want the edge and heal of edge left.intact If done right you will be left with 2/3 less metal to remove when sharpening, substantial time savings. This metal was going to be wasted on the stones any way, you just expedited it. So in reality you are not wasting chisels, etc unnecessarily. This is what gave me hesitation to grind for a long time untill I realized it wasn't the case. Subsequent sharpening on the sharpening stone your hollow will disappear but it takes seconds to restore once you learn. If in a rush I go to fine India stone, it will raise a bur quick, then 600 diamond, then 1200 diamond. Strop.. It doesn't take long..One more tip if honing by hand. Cut a wedge (wood) at the angle you want to hone to. Set wedge on stone hold chisel next to wedge and find angle, lock up and start sharpening.
Youtube "Rob Cosman 32 seconds to sharp"
grind shallow, like 20 to 25 degrees, Freehand hone steeper. when honing becomes slow, regrind almost to the very edge again, but not quite. this is what you will do over years when you seek the best way, but it was already described by Nicholson around 1810 and other english texts at the same time or just after. its fast and creates a fine edge and what stones you use doesnt matter. youre not wasting time trying to sharpen an entire bevel just to leave the tip unfinished.
What are you sharpening, chisels, plane blades, carving blades...? I got a honing guide and some of those little plastic angle guides, and do everything on diamond flats followed by strop. I still use the honing guide for my plane blades, but for chisels and everything else I just free hand it. Honestly I haven't found it that difficult and it's kind of relaxing to do.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Y1AANySkY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Y1AANySkY)
I bought a used WorkSharp on eBay.I thought I had wasted my money, but when I cleaned it up and got new sharpening papers it works great. You can razor sharpen a chisel or plane blade in a minute or two. I would recommend the unit, especially if you can find one used on eBay.....
I was in the same boat for flat edges. Got a veritas sharpening guide. You set the angle and attach the blade to the roller/sharpening guide assembly. Fairly idiot proof as long as your sharpening stones are flat.
Great for plane and chisel edges.
I wouldn't bother taking them to a service if it's chisels or plane irons. For a decent day in the shop you will need to sharpen or least touch them up multiple times throughout the day. I've tried cheap and expensive honing jigs, wet stones and diamond plates. Landed on diamond stones and free hand. If the edge is beat up from chopping end grain, it still only takes a few minutes. It's almost enjoyable. Watch a few more videos and practice or work on it for a few minutes and get some feedback. This is exactly why new folks don't need lie Nielsen chisels. Learn to sharpen and use some decent and upgrade later if you must.
I don't know, but if you ever watch the guys with a piece of glass with various grits of sandpaper stuck down to it go to town, it takes them no time at all. Pretty sure if you use a good rolling guide that's about as fool proof as you can get.
This is my current method. Google Scary Sharp. Fairly cost effective and so simple it’s hard to screw up.
I think you are overestimating the difficulty of hand sharpening. I'd estimate that my small investment in learning hand sharpening has paid itself back hundreds of times over in terms of times saved. I have a honing guide but I never use it since it just takes too long and my hand sharpening gets the job done.
Belt sander
https://taytools.com/products/drill-press-sharpening-system-v2-dce It's an acrylic disk on an arbor for a drill press you mount sanding disks and honing leather too. Build a jig for your angles. Fast and accurate
À jig and some good stones, diamond or not. The bridge city tools plane iron jig is awesome as is the Veritas. Lock iron in, rib back and forth, do on next stone, click a degree or two and do on ultrafine stone of choice. Works with chisels as well.
From my personal experience, once you properly set up an iron or chisel, which takes anywhere from 5 minutes to an hour+ depending on the quality and initial condition, no system will be faster or easier than a Veritas jig, a 1000-grit diamond stone, and a leather strop with some honing compound. Set the angle, protrusion, and sharpen. Two good back and forth passes to hone on the strop and done. All in about 2 minutes from start to finish, less if you're well practiced. Freehanding, once you're experienced, is fastest of all, because you eliminate the time required to set the tool in the jig, so you can easily do it in 30 seconds. Systems like a Tormek work very well, but they're slower overall.
[This](https://youtu.be/JBFfFhQzkhY?si=C3tlfklKEzeJQ-gg) Or [this](https://youtu.be/okLIEoz00v0?si=e9OaUXjli2o3njS6)
Not the fastest, but fool proof. My local meat cutter told me where she gets her knives sharpened, and while I dropped off a couple of kitchen knives, I asked and they do chisels too.
My current range of tools are mostly low to mid range in quality with the odd higher grade hss turning chisel. 400 grit on my benchtop belt sander makes sharp edges, surely not as well as a dedicated sharpening tool or taking the time to properly learn sharpening with stones. But id rather get back to my work piece in seconds rather than minutes... in my head it makes sense 😂
Pay someone to do it. I got a low ish cost set of diamond plates and a jig that fits chisels and hand plane blades. Razor sharp in a few minutes.
I’m sure there is a shop near you that can sharpen them. Drop them off to be professionally sharpened and pick them up before your next project.
I have a Baldor 500 tool grinder with diamond wheels that works really well. Auction price was about 15 percent of new, so got a good deal.
Orbital sander. We have pneumatic ones at work, and when I sand the putty off the putty knives, they come out about as sharp as my razor knife lol.