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You don’t necessarily need to spend a lot of money on your tools for them to work well and last a long time. Knowing how to sharpen a chisel and maintain it for a lifetime’s worth of use is something all craftsmen and woodworkers should know.
Watch as I turn an inexpensive hardware store chisel into one that works just as well as the more expensive options.
Learn more about how to properly sharpen your tools with the tips in this blog post: anneofalltrades.com/blog/how-...
Also, check out the 9 must-have hardware store tools that will 10x your woodworking skills here: anneofalltrades.com/blog/must...
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I'm Anne of All Trades. In NASHVILLE, I have a woodworking, blacksmithing and fabrication shop, a selection of furry friends, and an organic farm. Whether you've got the knowledge, tools, time or space to do the things you've always wanted to do, everything is "figureoutable." I became "Anne of All Trades" out of necessity. With no background in farming or making things, I wanted to learn to raise my own food, fix things when they break and build the things I need. 8 years ago I got my first pet, planted my first seed and picked up my first tool. Get a better roadmap of how to grow deep roots and live the life you want by subscribing to this channel and look for NEW VIDEOS EVERY WEEK!
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#sharpenchisel #howtosharpenachisel #chisel
This is a very informative and useful video by a woodworker who does not need any "click bait" to get views as she is properly dressed and wears real shoes. She is just great.
I keep seeing tools my Dad had when I was a kid. Thank you
I have seen hundreds of sharpening videos over the years. This is a good one to start on, if you pay close attention to some of the things Anne mentions especially about holding a chisel and body mechanics. Developing good habits and muscle memory is important. Many ways of doing things right - thousands of doing it wrong. Get some beater chisels and practice.
Practice makes better!
Thank you Anne for the sharpening lesson. Always good to get a refresher every now and then to check for bad habits and correct them early. Best wishes to you and your family.
I've watched so many sharpening instructional videos, and I've done a lot of chisel and plane iron sharpening (poorly at first, and getting better). However, this is the first time I've seen such a thorough description of the body posture for sharpening. So many others say "lock your wrist", and don't go any further. Your explanation is so wildly helpful. Thank you!
What a huge compliment! Thank you!
Thank you so much! I've seen so many chisel sharpening videos but yours is the first that really made everything "click". Your attention to detail especially regarding body position has been so helpful! Really looking forward to learning more from you
So glad to hear it! Thanks for the feedback!
I used cheap chisels to make dovetails for my maple workbench top. It is what I had so i made it work. I had to sharpen more often than when I got my higher quality chisels. It makes me appreciate my nice chisels even more now. I like your use what you have approach to your videos. Keep up the great work!
Thank you Coby! Using what we’ve got gets us where we need to go more often than not :)
Love the class format. Looking forward to more content like this. Great job!
I always liked my buck chisels. Great price and quality for the occasional use.
Great Video, My Grandfather showed me the exact same way about 43 years ago, at the time I don't think my mother would have liked me handling chisels LOL.
That’s a grandfather‘s are for!! My grandpa got me into Woodworking too
Appreciate the detailed explanation of body mechanics. Use to not be able to saw a straight line. Now I think about about the motions involved and my body in relation and its straighter. Huge difference.
Understanding is half the battle! Good on ya
The most helpful chisel sharpening video I've seen. FINALLY I'll have some sharp tools! Thanks
So glad to hear it!
Clear Windex with ammonia will prevent high carbon steels from rusting during the sharpening process. I use this as a lubricant when sharpening O1, and 10 series high carbon steels. I make a lot of knives and cutting tools from 1080/1084 steel.
I've always used windex on my diamond plate, I didn't realize the ammonia helped with oxidation! Cool!
Do you not worry about the ammonia absorbing into your skin?
@@AnneofAllTrades For Windex, I am not concerned about skin exposure. For other shop chemicals - like mineral spirits, acetone, or ferric chloride - I will wear gloves when working with them.
@@AnneofAllTrades I've never had a problem with it - I figure if you can saturate a paper towel with it for window cleaning it can't be too nasty. I'm not breathing it or soaking my hands in it, and it's fairly well diluted!
Mineral oil if you’re concerned. The pharmacy kind. Very inexpensive and works great on an Arkansas stone. Makes my chisels and leather workers knives flawless. No ammonia needed.
I'm slowly learning to sharpen my old and cheap chisels and not hating them so much. Thanks to you and others, I'm starting to understand what I'm doing. Thanks for sharing!
So happy to hear it! Practice is the only way to get better :)
This is a great demo. Always good to know where I can improve what I am doing. Thank you for sharing.
"Pointy fingers" you're knowledgeable AND adorable!!
Thanks Anne, this will be helpful for many people. Inexpensive chisels are a great way for folks to start. If they really like woodworking and the inepensive chisels aren't the greatest steel (some inexpensive chisels have great steel and some don't) they can always upgrade later. I have a set of inexpensive chisels that I let my daughter use and I also use for more carpentry based work.
I totally agree!
thx for this lesson, greets from Bavaria
I learned to freehand hone from old woodworking books. The biggest tip I can offer is to set a bevel gauge to 30 degrees and slap it on your bench for a few months while you sharpen. I have found myself not even feeling for the bevel and just moving my hands back and forth. This practice allowed me to learn just by moving my arms, my edges are slightly rounded. I have never found an only chisel without a lightly curved bevel.
Thank you Anne. I am newbie and this is best demonstration I have ever found in KZhead on Chisel sharpening . Subscribed for more😇
Sharpening is a pain in the backside. I learned to sharpen watching Japanese chef not that long ago. Cool seeing you did almost the same thing with your chisel he did with the knives :)
It’s funny how skills translate from one trade to another. Understanding body mechanics goes a really long way!
I a, so glad to see you doing these kinds of videos again. Good luck and best wishes.
Thank you!
A very helpful and informative video… some great tips that we will no doubt use. Our adventures tend to take us out in the wilderness and maintaining tools is especially critical. Thanks very much! Cheers from 🇨🇦!
So glad it was helpful!
Thanks for the sharpening tips Anne.....sending you best wishes from AZ!!!
Happy to share! Soak up some sunshine for me!
Thanks for this video Anne! I have one relatively cheap 3/4" chisel (found in a yard sale 20 years ago) that has become the one I always reach for first, because the steel holds an edge so well. Even though I have ground it with a smaller angle than usual, it's still more durable than my Marples set. It isn't really old (a hardware store brand), and it was quite rusty when I found it, but the time spent reworking it has paid off many times over. So I would encourage beginning woodworkers to check out yard sales and such for used tools. Besides, if you can learn to make a cheap chisel work well first, you will be less likely to ruin an expensive one.
Another great video Mrs Anne 👍🏼😉
Thank you!!
thanks for this!!! I always thought new chissles were set up right from the factory even the home center ones Lessoned learned
You’ll have a much better time with them after a quick sharpen!
What's a chissle???
Great video Anne. Very informative.
Thank you! So glad you enjoyed it!
Really good sharpening tips. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for watching! Happy to share!
Good explanations of hand and body control. Few others give that detail. I've subscribed.
Thank you so much.
Great video, thanks for posting. Thumbs up!
Thank you!
Wow very useful and every information Video Anna. Keep up the great craftsmanship and hard work my friend. Keep making. God bless.
Thank you Jared!
Great Job!
Amazing Anne
Thank you!
awesome technique
Great video! And fortuitous, as my chisels are due for a sharpening/restoration.
I worked with Home Depot carpenter chisels for the first five years after I started woodworking. They were heavy and short, but did the job just fine after being sharpened properly.
A good sharpen goes a long way!
Such a good video for people who are new to sharpening :) "for giggles"....... when I got my first diamond stones I wanted to reset the bevels on most of my irons....... when I was done sharpening my router plane iron I wiped it with a towel and noticed blood on the towel; I had worn a flat spot on my finger from touchin the diamond stone while holdin the tiny iron hahah... I never felt a thing :P
Anne you are awesome thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
great teacher
Good primer video. One suggestion would be adding in the grits of sandpaper, and possibly suggesting 3 sequential grits. Sandpaper is cheap, and it makes a _BIG_ difference (provided the metallurgy of the steel isn't beyond redemption ;) [Also: glass makes a nice surface for a backer block. And use vegetable oil (like rapeseed/ canola) for preservation- it works better than petroleum-based oils. Also works great for sharpening as a honing oil, so you don't have to mess with 2 different oils. Vegetable-based honing oils are also commercially available, but vegetable-based chainsaw oil is as good as anything for the pros.] Cheers.
Love all these thoughts, and echo them, as I also say: stay tuned for the next video in this series! There’s only so much that can be covered within the attention span of most viewers, so I made 3 ;)
👏👏👏👏👏 Now I wanna see you make the same thing with hand plane😀
Great news, it’s already in the archive ;) go back to “can you make your plane do this?!” And “sharpening and setting up handplanes” 😉
A chisel row is a must
Curious what you mean by a chisel row? Perhaps a chisel roll? For storage?
Very good explanation. It should be noted that many of the less expensive chisels will use softer steel that dulls faster.
Agreed! I’ve got another video going over this in more detail coming soon ;)
They work fine. I use one for a framing chisel. Just have to sharpen them more often due to the cheaper metal.
#127 & totally new subscriber also. Fabulous description & teaching chisel sharpening! Great video.
Welcome aboard! Thanks for being here 😁
Thank you for letting us newbies that chisels are not sharp when purchased. I had no idea and would have used it right out of the package. Did you get some good work done on your truck? I think adding in restoration vids on your truck could be a popular subject, who knows?
I did! I’ve put out a few videos of the project in the past and still intend to do more but I’ve got to work through the backlog of Videos I’ve currently got on my plate first ;)
I actually like sharpening, but I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone to rehab a cheaper chisel or plane blade and found that the back is convex rather than concave. It makes a huge difference in how much fun this is. 🤣🤣
Can it be hammered concave? I mean even expensive japanese steel is hammered concave
Wicked timing. Needed a very narrow chisel for a project, way to much money online, saw this, presto! Was able to turn a small screw driver into the chisel I needed. Thank you, have a great Halloween. Peace.
Yay! That makes me happy!
@@AnneofAllTrades LOL. And that made me happy. were just a couple of happy people!!! :-)
Five minutes to sharpen a chisel from a home center? You got a really decent chisel. My general experience is that it can take upwards of a half an hour per chisel depending on the factory edge and the hardness of the tool steel. I would also recommend new handtool users to use some sort of sharpening jig to hold their chisels/blades at the correct angle to the sharpening stone. Hand sharpening is one of those skills developed over a long period of time. That being said, once you can hand sharpen the process of touching up an edge is way faster.
I know! I sharpened 3 thinking I’d find a lemon 😂 usually it doesn’t go that fast. Honing guides are great for beginners-experts, but I still recommend folks learn how to do things by hand first so they understand what’s actually happening. The inexpensive jigs need some significant modifying to make them work the way they should even to make them safe to use (nearly lost a finger when a chisel slipped out of an $8 honing guide I was testing for a magazine article). The one guide I can strongly recommend is the Lie Nielsen, but it is a steep investment at $125.
@@AnneofAllTrades I totally agree about the cheap guides. I got the Veritas system and it’s awesome. Tool sharpening can be such a rabbit hole with all of the different options. I think your video was a great primer.
This becomes a lot easier, if you support the handle so that the back of the chisel lies flat on the stone/diamond plate. To keep the angle constant on the other side, there are little cheap devices, that will keep the angle constant with ball bearings rolling on the abrasive surface.
I believe you’re referring to honing guides, and, to be honest, you are far better off learning proper body mechanics than going with the cheap guides. The lie Nielsen guide paired with a series of stop blocks for various cutting angles is pretty fantastic, but it starts at $125 plus shipping. And, for whatever it’s worth, I like folks to understand what’s happening before going straight to the jigs.
@@AnneofAllTrades Honing guides can be a lot cheaper than that; I built mine out of waterproof plywood, two ball bearings and some screws. I think it's really a matter of personal preference and once you get the correct "dance move" dialed in, there's always the option to freestyle it. Whatever way someone wants to do it, your very clear explanation what needs to be done and how is the essential part towards sharp tools.
@@Makatea I love that you figured out how to make your own! That is super rad.
@@AnneofAllTrades It's really not that complicated, perhaps an idea for another video targeted at people who have no talent for the chisel-sharpening-dance?
Them cheap chisel are great made a skew chisel out of one .
Ha! Great minds think alike. I mention that in an upcoming video :)
I bought several cheap Chinese Diamond "stones" off eBay, smaller and more basic quality than pro ones. They seem to do a decent job, for a small amount of money. They should do the job for now.
Have you tried harbor fright stones? Super cheep yet alright ✌
I haven’t but I’ll check them out, if for nothing else but research!
Mantap sobat..👍
what grit is your diamond stone
It’s 300 on one side, 1000 on the other
You should call these segments "Anne's Tool Time"... :):)
Ha! Great idea
You can get almost anything sharp. The question is how long will stay that way?
Absolutely true! Stay tuned to find out ;)
Do you also use a strop?
It depends. When used correctly it’s a great last step/failsafe. But it’s a tough thing to teach beginners because it’s soft enough it’s really easy to round the edge and undo all the sharpening you just did
The back of the chisel should be flat all the way to the socket for maximum sharp
Technically speaking, the sharpness won’t be affected at all by flatness anywhere but right at the cutting edge. Flattening all the way to the socket requires the removal of a significant amount of material, and while there’s no reason *not* to flatten the entire back, there’s also no real benefit. Few people will use a chisel enough over an entire lifetime to justify the time/effort of flattening more than an inch or two.
miss Anne how is your school coming along?
One step at a time, I’m working on an update video now!
@@AnneofAllTrades Anne thanks
Were can I get that shaping stone
Here’s a link :) Check out this list Spoon Carving from Anne Of All Trades www.amazon.com/shop/anneofalltrades?listId=3EO5LOCO3XS76&ref=inf_list_pub_anneofalltrades
@@AnneofAllTrades Awesome 👌 👏 👍
I found that with chisels you can sand down the metal all day long and still not get a chisel that can effortlessly glide through wood. The secret is honing the edge with leather and a good polishing compound. You so that and your chisel will be terrifyingly sharp.
I get why you’d have success with that method, but to be honest, that’s less about the method of sharpening, and more about your technique. The reason strops tend to work for folks that struggle getting consistent results with sandpaper or stones is because the softness of the leather brings those abrasive compounds up and around inconsistencies along the entire radius of the cutting edge. What starts out as a keen cutting edge will get increasingly rounded out and cutting angles that are harder and harder to replicate with continuous strop usage. I have a whole class on this topic if you’d like to learn more, but ultimately, if it works for you, it works 😉
@Anne of All Trades Thanks for your input! I hadn't thought about rounding out the edge. I usually strop between projects and sharpen with a couple of different fine grits on a whet stone followed by a couple of strokes on the strop. I'm not sure if I'm doing something wrong but it always seems like I need to do an excessive amount of sanding to get a decent chisel when I get a new one.
🙌🙌🙌
The 9 must-have tools URL has 404'd for me and I don't see it on your blog either. :/
anneofalltrades.squarespace.com/blog/must-have-woodworking-tools try this one 😉
@@AnneofAllTrades Thank you!! ❤️
But will it keep its edge ?
It depends- the cheaper chisels tend to use more brittle steels, so the edges do tend to break down faster, but that just provides more opportunity to practice sharpening!
👍👍👍👍👍👍
Harbor freights got a four-pack of diamond for about$11
I’ll have to check those out!
👍👍✌
The way this is explained and presented is very good. However the sharpening instruction has a major flaw. You should definitely not sharpen a part of the back, but the entire back. The entire backside must be dead flat. By removing material only near the edge you won't be able to pare. When you press the back flat on the woord, the edge does not even touch the wood because you removed the material.
This is a bench chisel not a paring chisel, and even if it were, unless the chisel back is massively, massively out of flat, we are talking about fractions of ten thousandths of inches here. While in theory you are technically correct, human error and natural body mechanics will introduce more error naturally than a perfectly flattened back would save, if it’s only nominally out of flat.
Ditto that. Most of us use only their bench chisels whether it's mortising, paring, dovetails, etc. I would add that, obsessing about perfect edge geometry while ignoring the rest of the geometry is myopic at best. At the same time, don't worry so much about perfection but get the whole chisel to feel good and work well - the handle should fit your hand, the back should be relatively flat, the edge should be in the neighborhood of 25 degrees (don't sweat it though) and the edge should be as sharp as you can get it without wasting all day on it. With forty plus years of woodworking experience, my 2 cents is this: woodworking, like many things in life is ten percent theory and ninety percent experience. Don't obsess over anything other than safety with woodworking - you will most likely continually improve over time.
...⚒
You said it: a dull chisel is just a wedge. Insanely sharp tools make woodworking a joy, not a job.
Heck yes!!!
@@AnneofAllTrades Let's hear it for cellulose therapy, lol
Wait.....we need tight abs to sharpen? Looks like I’m out... 😂
Hahahaha just tighten what you’ve got ;)
@@AnneofAllTrades lol I’ll do my best!😄
First
that`s fun to see 2 CCP poster on the back wall XD
A little reminder of the time I lived in China.
You think diamond plate sharpener is pricey but you spend $ 85 on a chisel. The sharpener is more important if you want to keep the chisel sharp 🤷♂️
The chisel was $55 and I’ll spend a lot more than that on tools that I use to make a living. This is a video for beginners, and if you’re sharpening an $11 toolset, like I am in this video, a Diamond plate is a big investment. That’s why I recommend starting with something less expensive that will still be useful for other things later on as you upgrade your equipment.
Why do you think the chisel is so cheap? Because the steel is miserable and if the steel is miserable, then the chisel does not have a long service life and so you can grind it no matter how sharply it becomes dull again in no time. That's a fact ... by the way ... who buys cheap buys twice
I wholeheartedly agree with you there, especially about buying replaceable junk- except that it is a really good thing to have some cheap chisels to learn to sharpen on and then keep around as beaters for less refined building tasks after you’ve upgraded. I, for one, don’t want anyone framing in a window with my Lie-Nielsen’s, but I’m happy to lend a Stanley.