Sharpening a chisel in ten minutes

Demo post. ACME Ltd is a fictional Sheffield tool maker, invented to show the free Blog Tool working on a real site. The advice is genuine; the company is not.

A sharp chisel is safer than a blunt one: it goes where you point it instead of skidding. Here is the routine the ACME apprentices learn in their first week.

1. Flatten the back (once)

Lay the back of the chisel flat on your coarsest stone or plate and rub until the first 25 mm or so shows an even scratch pattern right up to the edge. Work up through the grits. You only do this properly once in the life of a chisel.

2. Set the honing angle

Most bench chisels are ground at about 25 degrees. Clamp the chisel in a honing guide so the stone meets the bevel at around 30 degrees - a small secondary bevel is quicker to hone than the whole face.

3. Hone until you raise a burr

Work the fine stone until you can feel a tiny wire edge (the burr) along the whole back with your fingertip. Then move to the extra-fine stone and do the same with lighter strokes.

4. Take off the burr

Lay the back flat on the finest stone again and give it a few strokes, then a few alternating strokes on each side, or a strop. The burr drops off and leaves the edge.

5. Test it

Pare a thin shaving across the end grain of a pine offcut. If it curls off cleanly, you are done. If it crumbles, hone again - it is quicker the second time.