Cheap chisels? How to make them scary sharp!

a lot of new woodworkers are trying to get started in the craft without spending a lot of money and they often ask me if they can get by at least for a while with the cheap set of box store chisels my answer is usually to buy good chisels but start with just a couple of sizes such as quarter and half inch of course good chisels are about 20 to 40 bucks each while a whole set of genuine Chinese ium chisels can be had for 10 or 20 dollars for like four or five of them so I understand the appeal that goes with wanting to start cheap while you learn the craft today I'm gonna help you turn one of those cheap chisel shaped objects into something you can do actual woodworking with I'll also give you some recommendations if you're in the discount chisel market and I'll put links below this video to chisels I recommend and other free sharpening resources we've made to begin with don't mistake a brand new chisel as a ready-to-use chisel any blunt wedge will cut along the grain and soft wood a sharp chisel must slice end grain cleanly without crushing the fibers or just creating dust a fresh from the package chisel is okay if you're on a construction site and you just want to bang on it with a hammer but that's not what you need for precise woodworking every new chisel has to be set up before you can use it expensive chisels need a little bit of work cheap chisels may need a lot of work that's one of the trade-offs that comes with spending less money the first step to setting up your new chisel is to flatten and polish the back a sharp cutting edge is the function of two planes coming together the back must be treated the same as the bevel if it isn't flat right up to the cutting edge your chisels not going to work properly the fastest way I have found a flat in the back of a chisel is with a powered system like the work sharp 3000 I can put coarse sandpaper on there or better yet a CBN wheel and it will make quick work of the job if you have a work sharp and you want to link to a cbn wheels look in the description below this video but since you're buying cheap chisels I'm going to assume you don't have a workshop or a tormek or diamond stones or even water stones if you're on a tight budget you're most likely looking at sandpaper so that's what we're going to concentrate on today start with something around 300 grit now you need a dead flat surface to put it on a piece of plate glass is a great option you could even get by with a granite floor tile you may be able to just spray on some water and use the surface tension to get the paper to stick but spray adhesives do tend to hold better especially if you get a little aggressive with the tool a pack of inexpensive chisels is like a box of chocolates you might get lucky or you might bite into a turd you'll know what you've got within the first few seconds of sanding because you'll be able to see how near to flat the back of the tool is if the sandpaper is only leaving scratch marks in the center of the tool and not near the cutting edge your humped the tool has a convex back and it's going to take a lot of work to remove all that steel in the center if all the chisels in the pack are like that especially if the scratches are far from the cutting edge you may consider returning them and trying a different set if the scratch marks are around the edges of the tool and not in the center you are one lucky woodworker you have a hollow back or concave surface that will take far less work to set up either way the goal is to get not too the entire back flat but you need it polished at least three-quarters to an inch down from the cutting edge so you not only establish the intersection between those two planes but you also give yourself a reference surface for pairing wood what I mean by that is often you'll use a chisel to shave the surface of a workpiece usually to remove waste around joinery or to level two surfaces such as trimming a dowel flush this requires the chisel to lay flat on the wood if you don't have a flat reference surface on the back you'll have trouble paring and if that reference surface does not go all the way to the edge of the tool for example you got tired of rubbing too flat in the back and so you left a dull line along the back of the cutting edge you've created a back bevel which will not properly pair the wood fibers it can be a pain in the tuchus to go through this especially with inexpensive chisels that have all sorts of hills and hollows in the back but you've got to do it right and the good news is once you get the back flat you won't have to do this again unless you use the tool so much that you grind that bevel down an inch or so and your flat reference service disappears if the tool needs a lot of work to get it flat you can use a grit that's coarser than 300 in fact you can go as coarse as you like but remember we aren't just flattening the back we're also polishing it the course of the paper the deeper the scratch is left behind those scratches will then have to be taken out with finer paper that leaves shallower scratches and so on you can't use 80 grit to get it nice and flat and then jump up 2,000 grit to polish it that would take forever you must work your way through the grits just as when sanding wood if I used 80 to get it flat quickly then I would follow up with 120 then 220 then 400 then 600 or 800 and finally 1,000 why did I choose those particular grits because those are more or less the grits found in many find sandpaper assorted packs which is nice so you don't have to buy a whole bunch of different packs of sandpaper at once again start around 300 and just see how bad the chisel is you may be able to work up from there if not step down and work your way up through more grits by the way if you want to know what type of sandpaper to buy generally it comes down to silicon carbide or aluminum oxide aluminum oxide is cheaper and it works faster but silicon carbide lasts longer and I tend to prefer it and in fine grits those may only come in silicon carbide anyway I also prefer wet/dry sandpaper because I can lubricate that with water if you're using coarse grits like 80 or 120 you're probably grabbing the cheaper paper back to lumina my oxide sheets that you have for wood those usually can't be sprayed with water so be sure to blow them off frequently to clear them of metal shavings so they don't clog up now let's talk about back flattening technique there isn't any at least not much on the first grip when I'm trying to just remove lots of seal I move the tool in any direction that I want I'm applying even pressure to keep it flat again I'm trying to leave scratch is from the cutting edge down the back about an inch don't leave a little corner of that cutting edge untouched be thorough once the back is flat you can move up to the next higher grit this time move the tool in a consistent direction side to side diagonal to the right diagonal to the left whatever just pick a direction and stick to it on that grip this will create a consistent scratch pattern on the back that you will be able to differentiate from the scratches left by the previous grit when you can't see those old scratches anymore you know you're done with this new grit and you can move on to the next one and change your direction so that you get a different scratch pattern once you get up to 400 grit you should start working the bevel as well as the back now this could be done freehand or with the honing guide I'll link to an inexpensive guide below if you want but chisels aren't difficult to sharpen freehand so that's what I'm going to show you here feel for the bevel by rocking the tool back and forth just a little once you feel that it's flat give it some downward pressure and pull it back across the paper go slowly at first until you get comfortable with holding the angle some people like to lock their wrists and move their arms backwards others lock their wrists and elbows and move their whole body backwards at the feet we recently made a video about freehand sharpening with a lot of tips I'll link to that below for most beginners backwards motion is the easiest way to sharpen a bevel freehand so you won't be able to change the direction of the scratches as you change grits of sandpaper like you do on the back so instead use your finger to feel for a rough burr along the back of the cutting edge that little bit of metal that's been pulled off the bevel by the sandpaper that's your signal that you're ready to move on to the next grit start the next grit on the back which will remove the burr from the previous grip and then just as before pick us a direction and create another scratch pattern then do the bevel again feel for the burr and move on to the next grip most of the work was done on that first grit once the tool is flat these successive grits that you're using to polish refine it will take much less time if you try to use the whole surface of your sandpaper it should last a pretty long time especially with the finer grits that you aren't using that much the coarse grit that you used a lot to get the back of the chisel flat that may have to be changed between each chisel you'll know when it's time because it just won't feel like it's cutting anymore it's better to use some extra sandpaper than to spend an extra couple hours on the back of a chisel of course go through each tizzle in the set on each grit before you swap your sandpaper out or you're gonna be swapping sandpaper back and forth all day long once you get through 1000 grit that's what I like to stop on the sandpaper and switch to a strop you can get finer sandpaper if you like but a leather strop with some honing pastes is cheaper in the long run and it will produce a better edge we've made two videos about strapping which I'll link to below if you wish to continue your sharpening education so how do you know when your tool is sharp well you can shave hair if you like but we're woodworkers not barbers get a piece of soft pine the white stuff that dents easily if you can shave the end grain without crushing the fibers your tool is as sharp as you will ever need it for woodworking is that all it takes to turn a cheap chisel into a good one nope that's what it takes to make a cheap chisel usable how long it remains useable is usually directly related to how little you paid for it cheap chisels are made from soft steel that tends to dull quickly if all you do is lightly pair soft woods even the cheapest chisel will work for a decent length of time before you're back to the sandpaper to sharpen it of course when you go back and sharpen you're only going to have to use a couple of grits maybe 600 and a thousand and then your strop you're done flattening backs hopefully but if you plan on using a mallet on a cheap chisel such as to chop a mortise be prepared for that soft edge to fold over and dull quickly especially in hardwoods forget about using a $2.00 chisel on white oak these are the trade-offs the cheaper the chisel the longer it takes to set up the more often you'll be sharpening it and the less likely it will be to hold up too hard the goal then is to find something in the middle that fits your budget and lasts a decent amount of time between sharpening so here are a few that I've had success with first are the good old blue handled urban or marbles chisels these are pretty decent for the money Stanly fat max chisels with metal caps on the ends are decent to the DeWalt chisels with the captain's are pretty much the same thing as well these all have a metal shaft inside the handle that connects the cap directly to the blade which makes them very strong if you plan to beat on them I really like these for outdoor construction projects because they're very rugged Eric's chisels are a great value they perform more like a fine woodworking chisel than the rugged Stanley's or dEWALT's and they're less expensive than the marble sets plus I like the wooden handles better than the blue plastic a small step up from the next is allah the stanley bailey chisels with the brown handles I think the steel is a bit harder though it's difficult to find that kind of information I like these but to tell you the truth I'm not sure that they're worth the price jump over the next versions now if after watching all that you have to do to get a cheap chisel ready to go and the limitations that you're just gonna have to live with if you decide you want to invest in more of a mid-range tizzle set that'll be easier to set up that will last longer between sharpening 's and that will hold up to hard wood better then I highly recommend the stanley maple handled sweetheart chisels these are not terribly expensive though they aren't cheap but they are really nice chisels I think they'd be considered premium chisels in most weekend woodworking shops so my mid-price recommendation are the Stanley sweethearts my budget recommendation is the narak set but the blue Arwen Marples chisels are decent - these are woodworking chisels for cabinets and furniture if you're doing rough construction work then i recommend using the stanley fat max or dEWALT's with that metal cap and internal steel shaft i'll link to all these below and to some sandpaper if you need it as well as the other sharpening videos that I mentioned if you want to continue education see you next time it's just a couple of cuts your ears will be fine right they would be if you had your eye so Tunes Bluetooth earbuds in because you'd already have you're an SI certified hearing protection on while you're listening to your favorite music and podcasts and you'd be supporting a small family business at the same time please use the link below this video to learn more and to show them you support what we do as well wait don't go yet if you're new here please subscribe and remember to ring the bell I would really appreciate that give us a thumbs up or better yet leave us a comment I always read them and be sure to check out the latest issue of stumpy nubs woodworking journal it's always packed with tips tricks and tutorials designed to make you a better woodworker

Channel: Stumpy Nubs

Views: 110,824

Rating: 4.956305 out of 5

Keywords: woodworking, stumpy nubs, tips, workbench, table saw, scroll saw, drill press, quick tip, band saw, bandsaw, lumber, hack, hand plane, sharpening, tormek, worksharp, diamond stone, water stone, wood turning, bowls, lathe, scary sharp

Id: eaf2bDcSEuw

Length: 14min 0sec (840 seconds)

Published: Mon May 11 2020