I like your take on the sharpening station. I've never been a fan of recessing a trio of stones in a board, because it makes working the back of the blade awkward...your idea of having an overhang is excellent and I shall shamelessly nick that idea for my version of a sharpening station. As for methods of sharpening, the very best one is the one that gives you the edge you want with the amount of effort that you are prepared to put into it. I've tried free hand, and I can't get on with it, but a simple, old Eclipse honing guide with a couple of diamond stones has worked perfectly for me for thirty years.
Yeah I do say at the end of the video that for my chisels and planes I ended up reverting to a cheap honing guide for the primary bevels. Thanks for the comment.
Your name is not really Captain Mikey. Anyway, I’m quite glad to see a bunch of honing guides on the market - don’t know about this one, but I’m getting something out of the cheap one I have, and I made a pretty angle guide for it out of wood. Works fine, and I use it as a helper: I always check the bevel during sharpening, and if it’s off, I adjust by lightly pressing down on either corner with a finger. I just don’t use my chisels and planes enough to get good at freehand sharpening, and I think honing guides get a bit of a bad rep - they’re quite useful.
I looke dat the jig you showed, but it looked so easy then i know its difficult. I did buy a honing guide, now i wonder what kind of lube you use. I saw a bit of white foam, so thats why i ask. Thank you again for a nice video! Stay safe.
maybe you just get a bad batch. I free hand sharpening my blades for 5 years with no issue, but I like the banggood jig which is no no-brainer to use. the result is pretty much the same
17:00 the way you’re holding the chisel looks awkward, with your left hand controlling the angle. You appear to be right handed so I’d recommend gripping the chisel in you right hand as if it’s a pen with the shaft resting on the web between thumb and forefinger. With this grip you’ll have more control and you can put pressure on the apex with your left hand. You’re stropping of the plane blade looked ok but the 2 knives were hard to watch. Stropping should be done at the same angel and direction as sharpening, not that slicing motion you were employing at almost 90° to the blade, that will damage your leather in no time.
Thanks for the tips. I think probably a hand held strop would be easier for the knives. I’ll practice with your chisel holding suggestion and see how it feels. Do you mind me asking what experience backs up your advice so myself and others reading can have confidence in the source? Thanks again. M
@@CaptainofmyShed I hate it when people introduce themselves with their expertise, but you did ask😆. I'd call myself an enthusiastic armature, rather than a professional, coz I do most of my sharpening for free or a token £1 to cover my material costs. I’m a sharp tool obsessive that has sharpened by various methods for 45years for my friends, family neighbours etc, now I’m retired from my day job and in my 60’s I sharpen knives, chisels, axes, machetes, swords (less of that now they’re illegal in the UK), plane blades, nail clippers, scissors, hairdressing sheers, mandolin blades, saws, hedge sheers, lawnmower blades, scissors, secateurs etc. I have a few private paying customers and the rest are free for volunteers and customers at 3 food banks and a commercial kitchen that makes 30,000 meals a week for the food banks, so as you can imagine their knives take a beating. Shaving sharp is my minimum standard and when I’ve run out of hair on my arms and lower legs I slice the thinnest cigarette papers. My favourite is putting a mirror-polished edge on whatever I’m sharpening (especially axes), totally unnecessary but I enjoy seeing the look on the customer's face when I whip out a chopper that was chipped and rusty-edged and it's transformed into something not only functional but beautiful. I also repair knives with broken tips and chips and have started to teach people too. For most of my life, I've freehand sharpened but in the last 5 years, I've largely switched to fixed-angle machines, whetstone grinders (similar to Tormek but a quarter the price) and belt a grinder for restoration and convex sharpening.
@@CaptainofmyShed I forgot to say, I'm subbed to literally dozens of sharpening channels but if I could only recommend 2 it would be Paul Sellars for woodworking tools, look for “Sharpening a chisel in under a minute for a no-nonsense quick method similar to yours, and for a more in-depth lesson look up “Preparing and sharpening a woodworking chisel” and Outdoors 55 for freehand sharpening of knives. You'll notice Paul keeps his strop separate from his stones. This lets him use it in the vice or hold it freehand.
Agree to a point, i have had a couple of things from Banggood which were excellent quality. This could be a great set if not for that one flaw which probably is a batch issue. I think I got unlucky.
I like your take on the sharpening station. I've never been a fan of recessing a trio of stones in a board, because it makes working the back of the blade awkward...your idea of having an overhang is excellent and I shall shamelessly nick that idea for my version of a sharpening station.
As for methods of sharpening, the very best one is the one that gives you the edge you want with the amount of effort that you are prepared to put into it. I've tried free hand, and I can't get on with it, but a simple, old Eclipse honing guide with a couple of diamond stones has worked perfectly for me for thirty years.
Yeah I do say at the end of the video that for my chisels and planes I ended up reverting to a cheap honing guide for the primary bevels. Thanks for the comment.
Your name is not really Captain Mikey. Anyway, I’m quite glad to see a bunch of honing guides on the market - don’t know about this one, but I’m getting something out of the cheap one I have, and I made a pretty angle guide for it out of wood. Works fine, and I use it as a helper: I always check the bevel during sharpening, and if it’s off, I adjust by lightly pressing down on either corner with a finger. I just don’t use my chisels and planes enough to get good at freehand sharpening, and I think honing guides get a bit of a bad rep - they’re quite useful.
If you watch to the end. A slog I know. I do concede this point and have used a cheap honing guide for the primary bevels on my planes and chisels.
And you are correct my name isn’t Captain Mikey really. 🤫
I had the same issue twice and sent them back
Interesting. Did you finally get a good one?
I looke dat the jig you showed, but it looked so easy then i know its difficult.
I did buy a honing guide, now i wonder what kind of lube you use. I saw a bit of white foam, so thats why i ask.
Thank you again for a nice video! Stay safe.
The spray I use is just glass cleaning fluid.
@@CaptainofmyShed Ok, tnx will try that.
maybe you just get a bad batch. I free hand sharpening my blades for 5 years with no issue, but I like the banggood jig which is no no-brainer to use. the result is pretty much the same
17:00 the way you’re holding the chisel looks awkward, with your left hand controlling the angle. You appear to be right handed so I’d recommend gripping the chisel in you right hand as if it’s a pen with the shaft resting on the web between thumb and forefinger. With this grip you’ll have more control and you can put pressure on the apex with your left hand. You’re stropping of the plane blade looked ok but the 2 knives were hard to watch. Stropping should be done at the same angel and direction as sharpening, not that slicing motion you were employing at almost 90° to the blade, that will damage your leather in no time.
Thanks for the tips. I think probably a hand held strop would be easier for the knives. I’ll practice with your chisel holding suggestion and see how it feels.
Do you mind me asking what experience backs up your advice so myself and others reading can have confidence in the source?
Thanks again. M
@@CaptainofmyShed
I hate it when people introduce themselves with their expertise, but you did ask😆.
I'd call myself an enthusiastic armature, rather than a professional, coz I do most of my sharpening for free or a token £1 to cover my material costs.
I’m a sharp tool obsessive that has sharpened by various methods for 45years for my friends, family neighbours etc, now I’m retired from my day job and in my 60’s I sharpen knives, chisels, axes, machetes, swords (less of that now they’re illegal in the UK), plane blades, nail clippers, scissors, hairdressing sheers, mandolin blades, saws, hedge sheers, lawnmower blades, scissors, secateurs etc. I have a few private paying customers and the rest are free for volunteers and customers at 3 food banks and a commercial kitchen that makes 30,000 meals a week for the food banks, so as you can imagine their knives take a beating. Shaving sharp is my minimum standard and when I’ve run out of hair on my arms and lower legs I slice the thinnest cigarette papers. My favourite is putting a mirror-polished edge on whatever I’m sharpening (especially axes), totally unnecessary but I enjoy seeing the look on the customer's face when I whip out a chopper that was chipped and rusty-edged and it's transformed into something not only functional but beautiful. I also repair knives with broken tips and chips and have started to teach people too. For most of my life, I've freehand sharpened but in the last 5 years, I've largely switched to fixed-angle machines, whetstone grinders (similar to Tormek but a quarter the price) and belt a grinder for restoration and convex sharpening.
@@CaptainofmyShed
I forgot to say, I'm subbed to literally dozens of sharpening channels but if I could only recommend 2 it would be Paul Sellars for woodworking tools, look for “Sharpening a chisel in under a minute for a no-nonsense quick method similar to yours, and for a more in-depth lesson look up “Preparing and sharpening a woodworking chisel” and Outdoors 55 for freehand sharpening of knives.
You'll notice Paul keeps his strop separate from his stones. This lets him use it in the vice or hold it freehand.
@@Therapistinthewhitehouse to each his own.
@@CaptainofmyShed
I'm not sure what you mean by that?
You might get some good information from Rob Cosman’s sharpening videos.
Yeah I agree, he has some great videos. I think I’ll watch again as a refresher.
Banggood price = Banggood quality
Agree to a point, i have had a couple of things from Banggood which were excellent quality. This could be a great set if not for that one flaw which probably is a batch issue. I think I got unlucky.