A coarse
Start with a coarse stone (800 grit) and repeat on several finer grit stones. This only needs to be done again if the back goes out of flat or if you have used up the flat portion of the chisel blade. Slide the chisel forward and back onthe wet sharpening stone. Latex gloveskeep the soupy swarf from dirtying yourhands.
It is easy to forget that the back of the chisel is just as important to finely sharpen or polish as the bevel. We recommend at least 2 or 3 more grits to get all the way to a polished edge. Common examples of finer stones would be 600-1000, then 3000-5000 and finally ending with 6000 - 12,000.
For most tasks an edge sharpened to around 1000-3000 grit is good enough, providing a good balance between sharpness and durability. Coarser grits (eg, 200-800) are used for repairing damaged edges or for initial sharpening.
Very fine grits will polish an edge, or emery cloth, but a stone or ceramic is better. For chisels I use a set of 3 Japanese water stones, 1200, 4000 & 6000, but very fine silicone carbide on a glass plate with water I've used to flatten plane soles… this takes longer than your patience might last.
Ignoring the edge geometry, general purpose sharpening, start with 220–320 grit and work up around 1k. For edges that require very sharp or highly polished edges, work up to around 2k, and possibly add stroping to finish.
A sharpening stone with a grain size higher than 1000 is not necessary for a chisel. Hold the chisel at the right angle to the stone For most chisels this is approx. 25-30 degrees. Use the angle of the chisel's bevelled edge as a guide.
A 3000 grit stone will leave a fine edge suitable for many situations, it may have a small amount of tooth to the edge. Water stones 5000 or 6000 are common finishing grits, and give a good slicing edge with a very slight tooth. Water stones 8000 and higher will leave very smooth and polished edge for clean cuts.
This is done fastest using a rotary buffer with a wool pad and the Meguiar's Ultimate Compound. f you don't want to spend a ton of money then I'd recommend the Griot's Garage 6" DA Polisher.
Sharpen bench chisels with a 25° bevel angle for best results. If you want to add a microbevel (a thin, secondary edge right at the tip that makes touch-up honing easier), then go with 30° for O1 and 35° for A2. Paring chisels should be used only for hand-guided work, never struck with a mallet.
Understanding Grit Numbers
Coarser grits, such as 200 to 1000, are ideal for repairing damaged or dull blades. Finer grits, such as 3000 to 8000, are used for refining and polishing the edge to achieve a razor-sharp finish.
Knowing how to sharpen your chisels with a table grinder means utilizing other means to get the best results. Using woodworking bench grinders will significantly speed up the maintenance process, but you need to apply it properly and use the other sharpening tools in your toolkit to make sure you do the job perfectly.
To test a chisel's sharpness, use the Paper Test. Hold a piece of paper in one hand then try to slice off strips with the cutting edge of your chisel. The blade should slice effortlessly and leave clean edges, like a pair of scissors. If the paper is tearing, it's time to sharpen.
Honing Oil. A premium cutting / cooling oil for use in honing applications. Recommended to be used for general honing applications such as sharpening chisels, plane blades, knives, drill bits and much more.
Whetstones come in a variety of grits, which refers to the size of the abrasive particles on the stone. The grit of a whetstone determines how aggressively it will sharpen the blade, with higher grit stones being less abrasive and lower grit stones being more abrasive.
In our testing, diamond stones cut the quickest of all types for both shaping and initial honing. But because they come only in grits from 120 to 1,200, you'll need to supplement them with waterstones or ceramic stones of finer grits for final honing, making diamond stones the costliest option (for half the process).
Straight to the Point
The SHAPTON Ha No Kuromaku Ceramic Whetstone Set was the clear whetstone winner. It's an easy-to-use, two-stone set that quickly sharpens carbon and stainless steel knives. If you must use an electric knife sharpener, I recommend the Work Sharp Ken Onion Knife Edition Sharpener.
Simple side-clamp honing guides are a godsend for quick and repeatable work when it comes to chisels and plane irons. I do sharpen freehand a lot of unusually shaped tools, but when it comes to plane blades and straight chisels, I am happy to let the honing guide do the work.
The 1000 grit whetstone is often considered the go-to starting point for restoring a dull edge, efficiently reshaping the blade while still maintaining its integrity. As the grit increases towards 3000, the stones become less aggressive, focusing more on honing and polishing the edge.
Use a grit progression when sharpening with a whetstone. This means starting with coarse grit (lower grit values) and moving up to fine grit (higher grit values). With each grit, follow this process: Place the back of the chisel flat on the whetstone.
Apply an even pressure on the bevel end of the chisel and push and pull it along the plate repeatedly, moving evenly across the width of the sharpening plate about 10 times lengthways in each stroke. Start the stroke with the chisel at approximately 30° and end each stroke you make between 20-25°.
A coarse sharpening stone (200 to 600 grit), for instance, is better to fix damages in the edge, while a sharpening stone with a medium grain (600 to 1000) is better to maintain a sharp edge. A sharpening stone with a grain size higher than 1000 is not necessary for a chisel.
Do you sharpen semi chisel chain differently to full chisel chain? In short, yes. Full chisel chain ideally requires a ten degree downward tilt of your file (not to be confused with your 25-35 degree sharpening angle) when sharpening. This creates an extra sharp point on your cutter.