Bill Tindall, E.TN
>Had the person(s) that claimed invention of "Scary Sharp" method (I found reference to using sand paper in a Fine Woodworking letter years earlier) bothered to learn anything about abrading hardened tool steel they would have learned that silicon carbide is an especially poor choice in the coarser grits. In spite of it being harder than aluminum oxide, it is brittle and crushes readily when challenged by a hardened steel, thereby leading to the short abrasive life people complain about.

I agree that abrasive sheets and a jig are a reasonable starting place to learn sharpening. It is cheap and easy to learn. However, one's satisfaction will be greater with proper choice of abrasive.

Any sheet abrasive can be made PSA with a high quality spray-on adhesive. The less aggressive products designed for remounting things (for example 3M 75) are more convenient than the often recommended 3M 77 which is too aggressive for my taste.

I have not tried the 3M 3X paper but it may be a best choice considering its composition and structure.