hi everybody I'm Liam central in today's
video well we're gonna sharpen a chisel
and this is what I will tell you right
off the bat if you talk to ten different
people about how they sharpen their
chisels you're going to get 10 different
answers because it's very very personal
and people do what works best for them
now I'm gonna share with you my method
of keeping my chisels nice and sharp but
what I will tell you is the best way to
keep a sharp chisel is to keep it sharp
chisel so if you look right down here
you'll see a set of chisels I purchased
at a yard saw this summer and what I'm
gonna do today is I'm gonna get them in
conditioned and ready to use because I
haven't used them yet and since I don't
know how the previous owner treated his
chisels I'm gonna just act like they're
new and start fresh okay so let's start
the process so here's my system these
are the things that I use now some
people are very elaborate that's not me
this is my system so first up is a block
of wood with a piece of leather attached
this my leather strap okay this is
stropping compound here now this this is
I'm gonna pick it up so you can see it
this is a honing guide and this is what
your chisels rest in if you elect to use
a guide sometimes I do but most of the
time I just freehand this is my
sharpening jig and it's very simplistic
it's just on a 2x4 nothing could be
easier than that right now these two
things are Diamond stones and this is a
dual diamond stone because on one side
I've got fine and on the other side I
have medium coarse this is a super fine
diamond stone now I've got it set up so
it's long enough to clamp down so when
I'm working my chisel okay it's not
sliding all over the place so if you
take a look at this this is like looks
like a little wing it's attached to the
2x4 and if you come down here okay to
the other end there's another one and
what they're there for is
when I'm using a honing guide it allows
me to set the angle of the chisel blade
to 25 degrees or at the other end 30
degrees last but not least what I have
here is a spray bottle it has got a
50-50 mix of water and simple green
which is just uh you know all-purpose
cleaner but it works really really well
for removing and floating away those
filings that come off your chisel okay
Paul it's they call it swarf
and what I like about it is that it's
non-toxic and biodegradable so that's
what I use this is the chisel that we're
going to sharpen and I'm gonna do free
hand okay and free hand means simply
that I find the bevel and I sharpen
without the assistance of a guide now
there's there's nothing wrong with using
a guide okay you may want to start off
by using it a lot of people swear by
these things okay
this guide costs about $15 they go up in
price the the more expensive ones are
very very accurate the cheaper ones well
you got to modify them a little bit so
keep that in mind if you go with a
cheaper model and the way they work is
it sets the angle let me just set it up
real quick for you and I'll show you
exactly what I mean so I've got my
chisel and the guide its sliding freely
okay now comes time for me to set the
angle remember I was telling you about
those little wings well that little wing
there allows me to set the angle of the
chisel so you tighten it up there okay
and once it's tightened you might want
to put a flat headed screwdriver on
there to really tighten it up because
you really want this guy to really grab
hold of the chisel okay once it's
tightened then there's a little roller
here on the back and that little roller
rides the stone at a certain angle okay
and it just keeps you on track and like
I said some people prefer this so that's
how one of those
sides work alright now I prefer to
freehand and freehand is simply just
finding the angle so we're gonna start
off by flattening the back of the chisel
cuz again these came from a yard sale
and I'm not certain about how the owner
did his chisels so what I'm going to do
is I'm going to start off by just
spraying the stone and this stone here
this side is medium coarse alright and
I'm just gonna start off by moving my
chisel back and forth on the side back
and forth okay so let's take a look at
it well I can see right now that I need
to do a little bit more work so let me
spray the stone again alright let's keep
going
now if you're wondering what we're
looking for when you flatten the back of
a chisel okay the first thing I want to
tell you is this you don't have to
flatten the whole chisel the only one
really concerned about just the tip of
it about an inch we want this leading
edge here the front of the chisel to be
flat because that's that's what you're
concerned about I've got a little bit of
a hollow here all right so I've got to
work on this just a little bit more so
there we go I'm making progress it's
looking pretty good just a few more
passes and I'll be fine if you notice
there's just a little bit of a hollow
there it's not exactly flat I'm gonna
try to take that out just a little bit
more so that's it that looks pretty good
now it's time for us to move on and what
I'll do is I'll flip the stone over to
the other side now this is medium coarse
and this side over here this side is
fine now I'm just going to continue on
okay I think that's pretty close let's
take a look it looks good it's time to
move on to the next stone okay now it's
time for me to move on to my super fine
diamond stone that's what this is here
let me spray it down with little okay
then we just do the same thing all right
it's not gonna take as much now that
we've got the back of the chisel
flattened now it's time to concentrate
on the bevel okay now remember I say I
do it freehand so what we're gonna have
to do is we're gonna have to find the
bevel angle so what I do is I take my
chisel oil lay it flat and then I slowly
tip it forward until I fill it rest flat
against the diamond stone okay then I
know I have my proper angle then I just
worked my way through all the surfaces
I'd go with the medium course then I go
to the my fine and then to my superfine
okay now let me just stop here and tell
you this one of the ways you know that
it's time to change stones is you'll be
looking for a burr on the back now I'm
gonna flip it over because you may be
able to see it so this little black line
here that's the burr and if I hold it
flat against my hand and I pull it
you'll feel a little stubble there so
you know that the diamond stone is doing
exactly what it needs to do now I'm
gonna remove that burr now we're moving
on I'm gonna flip the stone over to the
fine side
I gotta spray this down get those metal
filings off so what I'm gonna do do the
same thing just tip it forward till I
steady it
I find that angle and I'm gonna see if I
can just pull it off okay so this
diamond stone this is superfine and so
what I want to do is same thing just
find that angle tip it forward once I
feel comfortable with it I do now I just
start working it now we're gonna move on
to the last phase this is the leather
strop on the block and I'm gonna put it
in a vise here and clamp it in okay now
once it's clamped in good and solid then
you take your strapping compound that's
what this is here and I'm gonna charge
the leather charging is just loading it
there's just another term for loading it
so we're gonna charge it up alright okay
so I've got my chisel and grab hold of
it firmly and I'm gonna really put my
weight into it and I'm gonna pull toward
me now strapping will polish this
further polish my finish edge further so
here we go like I said just pull toward
you
so there's our finished chisel is that
beautiful if a chisel could be beautiful
this chisel is beautiful this is it it's
time for the paper test we'll see how
sharp this thing is there we go
our paper test now you can't beat that
kanya so that's it that's my routine for
getting a chisel and in this case a
chisel that's seen some use he used
chisel that I got from a yard so getting
it up to snuff getting it ready to use
okay now I want to say if you have a
routine that's different how about
sharing it in the comments below let me
know and others know how you get your
chisels nice and sharp and ready to go
now what I'll do is I'll place a link in
the description below to all the items
that you've seen in this video make it
easier for you to maybe you know check
things out for yourself this is Leah
saying you can do this see you next time