Lie-Nielsen Honing Guide

[woodworkersteve]

LOML bought me the LN honing guide for Christmas
.  Any tips for use?  I sharpen currently with sandpaper and by hand.  I saw in a blog, that the author recommended the 30* sharpening angle and that seemed to be the recommendation from LN as well.  Considering getting stones to sharpen with.  Are combination stones worthwhile or should I stick with individual stones?  Any other tips?
Thanks,
Steve

[Philip1231]

I never graduated from the scary sharp method of sharpening: still works for me. One trick I came up with: use a piece of 3M
post-it note on the sandpaper and run the wheel of the guide on the paper: this helps to avoid cross contamination when you move
from grit to grit. If you are happy with results from sandpaper sharpening, no need (IMHO) to switch. You will also want to make a simple jig that
gauges the projection of the blade from the guide: allows repeatable results each time you use the guide.

[woodworkersteve]

Good ideas - thanks!

[AHill]

As far as the angle goes, that depends on the steel and the function of the tool.  LN recommends 30 deg for their A2 blades.  O1 can stand a 25 deg bevel.  I have some Japanese paring chisels that are 20 deg.  If chopping, add a secondary bevel about 2 deg higher than the primary bevel.  If paring, leave the bevel alone.  I've seen A2 used for paring chisels where the bevel is 25 deg.

As far as stones go, the combos will work fine, but IMO you need at least 3 stones.  I recommend 1000, 3000, and 8000 grits or thereabouts.  If you strop, you can get by with a 1000/4000 combo and then strop with the green honing compound.  

There is no need to switch from scary sharp to stones if that's what you're comfortable with.  I've tried scary sharp, and it works, but for me, it required a lot of space, and I kept having to replace the paper.  Stones make more mess, but I like the feedback I get from stones.  Pros and cons to either method.

[Strokes77]

I am an advocate for diamond stones, ala Paul Sellers.  

As i'm working, i'll take a blade out, walk over, spend 20 seconds on each stone, hit the strop, go back to work.  No more no less.  The more you sharpen, the better you get... only makes sense to sharpen more, so you get better faster.  You can involve the LN jig to this process no problem, just use a setup block to set the angle.  only adds a few seconds to the process.

To me, Diamond plates lend themselves to this, as they are always ready.  I leave them out on the bench behind me.  Don't need water or cleanup or whatever else.  no flattening.  

I have no idea if what I do is any more or less sharp than what I could get if I spent more time with more sophisticated stuff, I just feel like it works for me.

[Downwindtracker2]

Paul Sellars is great, isn't he. But if you watch him work, there is lot more stropping with green compound than honing on stones.

[AHill]

Paul Sellars is great, isn't he. But if you watch him work, there is lot more stropping with green compound than honing on stones.

I got Sellars' book just before Christmas and flipped through it today.  The very first chapter is about sharpening.  He offers several alternatives, but his method of choice is the diamond stones and the strop.  His ideal strop is 3/4" thick leather.  Yes, that thick.  Not sure why, because he doesn't explain why so thick.  One of the reasons he likes diamond stones is that as a teacher, his students seemed to have a propensity to damage stones in use.  He's not a fan of waterstones.  It should be noted most of his edge tools are plain O1 steel.

[Mike Brady]

What animal has a hide 3/4" thick?  An elephant, maybe....or the Brit cows are really big!

[Admiral]

  His ideal strop is 3/4" thick leather.  Yes, that thick.  Not sure why, because he doesn't explain why so thick. 

Perhaps so he doesn't have to mount it on a board?  That's all I got; otherwise, he's a creature of habit and has likely had one that thick for a while, I see no possible benefit.  Again, we all know why we like Paul, and I do, but like any creative sort he does have his brain fart moments . . . this might be one of them.

[C. in Indy]

What animal has a hide 3/4" thick?  An elephant, maybe....or the Brit cows are really big!

I'm envious.... so I'll probably use Hide Glue for a lamination of my thinnish hides