My shaptons are coming

I hope it goes well!

Scott Burr in Ben Lomond CA

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Re: My shaptons are coming

Rick Hoppe (Los Angeles)

>You won't be sorry, Alan. I've tried a number of highly regarded waterstones and IMHO Shaptons are far and away the best.

Don't forget, these stones are a bit different from the waterstones you may be used to. DON'T use a nagura and keep rinsing the stones as you work so they will cut faster (advice from Harrelson Stanley of JapaneseTools.com).

Re: My shaptons are coming

Brad in Ottawa

>Great buy Alan! I will say that after buying my Shaptons last year I have never been happier sharpening. Your wonky blade should be in super shape in no time!

Brad

Re: My shaptons are coming

alan womack

>Thanks for the buyers reinforcement guys..

How many of you made the change to hand sharpening from a jig when you went waterstone?

Currently I have the veritas, but my No8 won't fit, so I figure it's a good blade to learn the hand sharpen with too.

Alan

Re: My shaptons are coming

William Duffield, on the Cohansey

>If your #8 has a standard, thin Stanley blade, it's not a good blade to learn on, because the bevel is too narrow to get a good feel for when when you've got it flat against the stone. The thicker L-N blades, especially those for the L-N planes, are a lot better subjects to learn on, but one of the LABU planes from L-N or LV, or one of Steve Knight's woodies, with really thick plane irons, would be ideal.

Re: My shaptons are coming

Jim in Burlington Ontario

>I learned how to freehand sharpen from Rob Cosman and it's a fairly simple technique small circles with your arms locked. Then I watch David Charlesworth's DVD's and him using a jig with a certain degree of precision that appeals more to me now than freehand.

Re: My shaptons are coming

arw01

>I have the same DVD's and they are great for when you are tired and need a nap.

The part about freehand appeals to me to just rehone the edge every once in a while without setting up the jig precisely each time.

Alan

Re: My shaptons are coming

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>When I started sharpening I used an oilstone, didn't know about sharpening jigs; but it was so slow (bad stone bought about 20 years ago) that it was hard to mess up. Moved to Shaptons and natural waterstones during the last four years, bought a jig, which I never used, it just wasn't necessary. Now it's in the box ultimately bound for ebay.

Pam

Re: My shaptons are coming

Steven Roxberg

>I would recommend a small water spray bottle from the hardware store. They are in the gardening area and designed to mist/spray water on plants. The one I purchased holds about 1 liter of water. The one thing I have found is to constantly FLOOD the surface of the shaptons with water they cut better that way.

In the shapton video they actually pour water on the stones from a cup. You will love them.