Thread: Sharpening a chisel

Originally Posted by Happy Jack

I sharpen my working chisels with a slightly shallower angle and always by hand on my oilstone as I have done for 30 years. That is a good looking finish though.

What angle do you go for, I have heard some people go for 20 for a hand held chisel, others go for 30 for a hammer hit chisel, I usually set mine to 25 as a happy medium, I can do full flat grinds but have found a slight hollow grind seems to get better results.

I do not round the edges as seems popular overseas but go straight from edge to edge, seems to work well, I can do a slight secondary edge but have never needed to, sharpen a little often seems key to me, but occasionally you need to go back to basics as with this chisel.

I now need to find someone with a lathe to make a new handle.