I am a bit of an obsessive character. I get going on things and want to understand it to the full and really get to the bottom of it. A current obsession is sharpening. Not in the "I give mine a touch up every time I slice a piece of paper with it because I like to know it's scary sharp" kind of way. I only sharpen tools for woodworking and like to spend the minimum time getting to a good workable edge.
Any way the reason for the post is to brag about a new toy (well at least I am honest)
To really understand what you are doing with your stones, grinders, hones, strops or whatever there is nothing better than seeing the edge under great magnification.
I first saw Japanese woodworkers doing this at a meeting in Germany in 2005. They used a cheap little hand held microscope, easily available off ebay for £10 like this.
Well I got one and they work OK but have poor light and very narrow depth of field so they require a fair skill level to examine the length of the edge of a knife. Still recommended though. I teach basic sharpening on spoon carving courses but had been considering teaching a pure sharpening course and so wanted something that gave a much better view of the edge without being so fiddly.
After ages trawling ebay I bought a new binocular microscope and it is simply fantastic.
This one http://uk.farnell.com/duratool/59-020-060/microscope-stereo/dp/7222300
Great lighting and great depth of field. 20x or 40x magnification is perfect and you can see precisely what you have done with each stone before deciding whether to move to the next. There are other ways of knowing when you have done enough work on the each stone, the Japanese woodworkers I have worked with tend to feel for a bur with wet fingertips but this requires a lot of experience to feel particularly when you get down past 5000 grit.
So my evenings at the moment are spent sharpening my collection of antique Japanese axes and peeking at them under great magnification, the time flies by. Am I a bit sad?
Any way the reason for the post is to brag about a new toy (well at least I am honest)
To really understand what you are doing with your stones, grinders, hones, strops or whatever there is nothing better than seeing the edge under great magnification.
I first saw Japanese woodworkers doing this at a meeting in Germany in 2005. They used a cheap little hand held microscope, easily available off ebay for £10 like this.
Well I got one and they work OK but have poor light and very narrow depth of field so they require a fair skill level to examine the length of the edge of a knife. Still recommended though. I teach basic sharpening on spoon carving courses but had been considering teaching a pure sharpening course and so wanted something that gave a much better view of the edge without being so fiddly.
After ages trawling ebay I bought a new binocular microscope and it is simply fantastic.
This one http://uk.farnell.com/duratool/59-020-060/microscope-stereo/dp/7222300
Great lighting and great depth of field. 20x or 40x magnification is perfect and you can see precisely what you have done with each stone before deciding whether to move to the next. There are other ways of knowing when you have done enough work on the each stone, the Japanese woodworkers I have worked with tend to feel for a bur with wet fingertips but this requires a lot of experience to feel particularly when you get down past 5000 grit.
So my evenings at the moment are spent sharpening my collection of antique Japanese axes and peeking at them under great magnification, the time flies by. Am I a bit sad?
