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re: Work Sharp
That unevenness you’re seeing is one of a couple things:
1) The bevel on the chisel wasn’t square to begin with and now you’re making it square.
2) Uneven pressure applied across the face while being ground. I find this happens of you’re not using a good guide and/or are rushing. Let the grit cut at its own rate, don’t apply much pressure at all. If you’re holding the chisel pointed at the center of the disc, then the disc is cutting cross the face of the bevel, and you tend to get more pressure applied to the left side than the right in an attempt to keep it secure against the disc. If you’re holding the chisel so that the disc is cutting along the long axis of the chisel (the chisel is pointing at an area to one side of the disc center) then the cutting speed on the left and right of the bevel are different which can lead to uneven cutting or drift. Maintaining even pressure side to side is very important!
3) you’re presenting the bevel to the disc at some weird angle, which causes uneven pressure (see #2).
If you’re not using a guide like the MkII, I find you need to hold really light pressure and be very consistent with placement. I started this way and burned up the paper really fast because I was holding the iron in one spot to keep things consistent and that wore down the paper in that spot. Once I started using a guide and the homemade table, I could use the whole width of the disc and got better longevity from it. The MkII also had an automatic micro-bevel setting which is really nice to.
Once the Primary grind is cut in, you should only ever sharpen or hone the micro bevel, and that micro bevel only needs to be like 1/32” wide. It’ll get wider over time as you sharpen, but there’s no sense sharpening the Primary bevel every time… You’re just spending extra time and putting extra wear on the paper. The issue with a micro bevel is that it’s so small that it can be hard to hold the chisel manually at that angle since you can’t feel it resting on the micro bevel face like you can on the Primary bevel…which is why I use a guide!
Whatever you do, be consistent. Other wise you’re always trying to make a correction for the previous grinding.
Keep on it, you’ll get out!
1) The bevel on the chisel wasn’t square to begin with and now you’re making it square.
2) Uneven pressure applied across the face while being ground. I find this happens of you’re not using a good guide and/or are rushing. Let the grit cut at its own rate, don’t apply much pressure at all. If you’re holding the chisel pointed at the center of the disc, then the disc is cutting cross the face of the bevel, and you tend to get more pressure applied to the left side than the right in an attempt to keep it secure against the disc. If you’re holding the chisel so that the disc is cutting along the long axis of the chisel (the chisel is pointing at an area to one side of the disc center) then the cutting speed on the left and right of the bevel are different which can lead to uneven cutting or drift. Maintaining even pressure side to side is very important!
3) you’re presenting the bevel to the disc at some weird angle, which causes uneven pressure (see #2).
If you’re not using a guide like the MkII, I find you need to hold really light pressure and be very consistent with placement. I started this way and burned up the paper really fast because I was holding the iron in one spot to keep things consistent and that wore down the paper in that spot. Once I started using a guide and the homemade table, I could use the whole width of the disc and got better longevity from it. The MkII also had an automatic micro-bevel setting which is really nice to.
Once the Primary grind is cut in, you should only ever sharpen or hone the micro bevel, and that micro bevel only needs to be like 1/32” wide. It’ll get wider over time as you sharpen, but there’s no sense sharpening the Primary bevel every time… You’re just spending extra time and putting extra wear on the paper. The issue with a micro bevel is that it’s so small that it can be hard to hold the chisel manually at that angle since you can’t feel it resting on the micro bevel face like you can on the Primary bevel…which is why I use a guide!
Whatever you do, be consistent. Other wise you’re always trying to make a correction for the previous grinding.
Keep on it, you’ll get out!
Ryan/// ~sigh~ I blew up another bowl. Moke told me "I made the inside bigger than the outside".
