Hobbies
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The internet is severely divided on the use of honing rods. Chefs swear by them, sharpening nerds not so much. I have two - the classic fluted steel one and a ceramic one.
I keep the steel one in the kitchen and it seems to work as advertised. Haven’t tried the ceramic one yet.
The internet is severely divided on the use of honing rods. Chefs swear by them, sharpening nerds not so much. I have two - the classic fluted steel one and a ceramic one.
I keep the steel one in the kitchen and it seems to work as advertised. Haven’t tried the ceramic one yet.
Severely divided...
This made me chuckle. People become amazingly entrenched and argumentative over the tiniest of first world viewpoints.
A newly flint-knapped axe is probably the sharpest thing I've ever touched.I'm a complete amateur, for me a quality 'steel' is a quick way of putting the edge back on. However, at £130 the ceramic global steel is a world apart from the old steel my wife inherited from her parents (old steels on quality knives are like using 40 grit sandpaper on your walnut china cabinet). Use your ceramic!
I have various grit stones, never used since getting three US made ceramic 2x8" benchstones by Spyderco.
I indulged in a sharpener by Kakuri, it takes the chunkiest of Japanese plane blades and wide chisels.
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I have only two planes.
A large Japanese benchplane that has to be assembled.
A Lie-Nielson No. 140b-r, a little block plane, low angled skew bladed, an absolute gem.I've used some dreadful and average chisels over the years. Lidl specials, Flexi; and vintage japanese which are nice.
Without doubt the best chisels ever owned were this specific Irwin Marples set (10503421)
Marples do lots, but this set is outstanding, arrives sharp, does anything. Gave it away last year to a pro carpenter who borrowed & liked them so much, as a thank you.
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The internet is severely divided on the use of honing rods. Chefs swear by them, sharpening nerds not so much. I have two - the classic fluted steel one and a ceramic one.
I keep the steel one in the kitchen and it seems to work as advertised. Haven’t tried the ceramic one yet.
Severely divided...
This made me chuckle. People become amazingly entrenched and argumentative over the tiniest of first world viewpoints.
A newly flint-knapped axe is probably the sharpest thing I've ever touched.I'm a complete amateur, for me a quality 'steel' is a quick way of putting the edge back on. However, at £130 the ceramic global steel is a world apart from the old steel my wife inherited from her parents (old steels on quality knives are like using 40 grit sandpaper on your walnut china cabinet). Use your ceramic!
I have various grit stones, never used since getting three US made ceramic 2x8" benchstones by Spyderco.
I indulged in a sharpener by Kakuri, it takes the chunkiest of Japanese plane blades and wide chisels.That Kakuri guide is beautiful! Not a bad price, either. Might have to get one!
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Yeah, dad taught me to use a stone way back with our camping knives. When I moved on to making bassoon reeds, getting the old straight razor blades sharp for scraping gave me lots of practice. The rolling one I have is double sided diamond grit. I was neve able to get such a nice, flat edge before - I'm guessing my eyballing angles with multiple stones left a bit to chance!
And a consistent angle is the hardest thing for me to get right. Some days I can do pretty good, other days all I can do is turn a sharp blade in to a bludgeon.
Have considered newer methods to keep consistent and the rolling kind is one I’d like to try. Things get more complicated - and $$$ - from there. Much more complicated as it turns out; some systems have dozens of parts and would take up half of the garage!
Stones are at least somewhat compact and there are enough variations and methods to keep me busy for the foreseeable future. The powered systems look good, but in the words of my British carpenter friend, “Rubbish! All that thing will do is let you f it up faster!”
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I have only two planes.
A large Japanese benchplane that has to be assembled.
A Lie-Nielson No. 140b-r, a little block plane, low angled skew bladed, an absolute gem.I've used some dreadful and average chisels over the years. Lidl specials, Flexi; and vintage japanese which are nice.
Without doubt the best chisels ever owned were this specific Irwin Marples set (10503421)
Marples do lots, but this set is outstanding, arrives sharp, does anything. Gave it away last year to a pro carpenter who borrowed & liked them so much, as a thank you.
That Marples set is sweet!
The chisel in the picture I posted is a Marples (Made in Sheffield, says right in it) but a cheaper version with a plastic handle. Perfect for practice, certainly a better chisel than I am as a mortiser, but not much to look at. Being as I almost never need to chisel anything I think I’ll focus on appearance, and perhaps history.
Turns out there’s a huge swap meet every Saturday about two towns over. Might have have go out and see what I can find.
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Can anyone recommend a pocket whittling knife please. Folding type, small, robust, single blade is fine
No recommendations here, but perhaps you’ll consider how Ernest Warther approached the problem of finding blades to whittle out the intricate little parts he needed for his trains.
He made his own. Should keep you busy for a while.
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I tried a few of the powered systems without much luck. Way better than nothing for those not wanting to spend time with stones... They produced a more even surface than the draw through options but often took too much off for finish work. There is also the issue of not working very well close to the handle on many knives. The really expensive ones are probably much better, but we work with very limited space in our city apartment! I did get a multi angle wooden block that holds ceramic rods that worked fairly well or is good for a light touch-up.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BN4Y6ZS3?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_5 -
Looks like something to try!
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Even though the angles are set by the block, the angle is really determined by the steadyness of the hand. The other thing with rods is that they are good at maintaining an edge, but tend to introduce a wavy edge more than a flat over time. I didn't notice until I started using the rolling sharpener. One issue with the rolling ones I didn't think about was that many thinner knives won't stick up over the magnetic block without some fooling around. Not a dealbreaker, but something to work through.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CJRF3S7T?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_1
I went with a cheap one first to see if I liked it. The better ones offer the option to replace grits.
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