How to sharpen a chisel

04-08-2018
Cutting

When working with a home tool you should always keep it in perfect condition. This does not require a lot of effort, but otherwise the work will not move much. Before you sharpen the chisel, you need to carefully review the options for this work.

Chisel device

Chisel device.

Training and work activities

Tools and materials:

  • stones;
  • chisel;
  • water or oil;
  • leather;
  • paste GOI.

Before you begin, you need to clean the chisel from dirt and rust. Sometimes chips appear on the worn tool, which must also be leveled with emery stone. Otherwise, the result of the activity will be very sad.

Chisel sharpening tool

Tool for sharpening chisels.

Sometimes there are situations when it is impossible to manually remove the top layer from the metal, because of which you have to resort to using an emery wheel, literally cutting off all the particles from the surface. Usually you have to use this method to remove rust and stubborn dirt.

There are 2 types of grinding stones, which are used for manual and mechanical sharpening, each of which has 3 levels (small, medium and large):

  1. Water. Before use, they are soaked in a water bath for a few minutes. This type is most often used in countries of the East, except for particularly arid (Mongolia).
  2. Oily. Before you start using them, you need to lubricate the stone with oil. Only petroleum-based synthetic oils are used, which is why Westerners have become supporters of this method.

Now you need to properly sharpen the cutter. For this you need to perform the following sequence:

Chisel sharpening process

The process of sharpening a chisel.

  1. Work in progress with the flat side. The movement occurs uniformly back and forth along the same path, after which the result is mirrored. Movement occurs from the beginning to the very end of the stone so that wear is even.
  2. Now you can turn the chisel to work with the main part. The cutter moves on a stone with high grain without jerks, but quickly enough over the entire surface. The angle is desirable to observe from 20 to 35 degrees, depending on the desired result. If a chisel is needed for cutting work, then a sharp angle will be needed, whereas grinding and cutting do not require such high sharpness.
  3. After a large grain becomes superfluous (scratches appear), it is necessary to switch to an average, and then follow the same pattern to the smallest. Some craftsmen can sharpen their cutter to such an extent that it cuts paper no worse than a blade (micron sharpening), but this is only needed when performing extra fine work, so you can do with just a fine grain.
  4. Sharpened chamfer. For this, 1.5–2 mm stand out, which run at a very acute angle (5–7 degrees), but here the quality must be unquestioning. This chamfer is formed in just a few movements, so a lot of time will not go away.
  5. At the very end, you will need a piece of leather (it is optimal to have an old leather belt for this purpose), which is rubbed with GOI paste, after which the newly cut chisel is ruled. The process itself is performed with your own hands with fast enough movements, but without much haste, so as not to cut through the skin.
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Summarizing

In order to properly sharpen the chisel, you do not need much time, because the whole process takes no more than 7 minutes. If the tool has not been used for a long time, you can freely spend more than 1 hour.

To use hand stones or special machines everyone decides for himself. The effect is the same in the end, but the machine allows you to reduce the complexity of the work activity, and with it to make a perfectly flat angle. But here it should be remembered that with the error made, you will have to redo a lot.

After the tool has been used, it is necessary to clean it of dirt and dust, then fix it and leave it in its place. If it becomes necessary to wash the instrument, then exceptionally warm water is used, since cold has a negative effect on the sharpness of the blade.

And most importantly, all work is done in protective glasses, since from the grinding stone while working flies debris, which can injure the retina.

Gloves are only needed when working with the machine.

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