Craftsmanship in Wood

Any updates Jack? Interested in hearing/seeing how they are coming along.

I just finished getting all the chisels set up, got the hoops on and made a new bag for them. Doing all 10 took some time, but I am excited to be able to have them all ready for work. Thanks for all the replies. They were very helpful. I did end up trying to move the steel with a wooden drift per Brian's articles. I had some success, but was unable to take all the warp out -- I decided to lap them flat regardless as the chisels will be most useful to me that way. It would be nice to have the backs in perfect condition, and maybe someday I will have the skills to set them up that way. The reality is that in my work as a site carpenter, in addition to wood, these chisels will probably encounter MDF, plywood, gluelines, dirt and, god forbid, stray nails. As a result they tend to get touched up often, and maintaining a perfect shape was never in the cards for this set anyway. So here they are + an extra 42mm Iyoroi that I already owned.

Nice work Jack. Glad you are putting them to use.

Good luck with them!

One thing to remember, always put the entire back on the stone. It's a western thing to work just 1/2" area of the back, but for Japanese chisels you'll get a more consistent wearing and more importantly a more consistent reference by working the entire back...finish stone only.

Hi Brian -
Just to be clear -- are you saying to work the whole back through all the stones, or just the final stone?

Jack Straus wrote: ↑

Sat Sep 16, 2017 11:10 am

Hi Brian -
Just to be clear -- are you saying to work the whole back through all the stones, or just the final stone?

x2 Brian, please clarify.

I really don't use rough stones on my blade backs anymore, so I may start at 8k minimizing risk of the sides coming in drastically at setup stage.

That said, yes from the first stone through finish. The most important aspect of prepping the back is to create a flat reference, IMO. You're making it easy for your future sharpening endevours to simply work the bevel to remove wear on the tool and remove any remaining burr quickly and completely on your finish stone.

A sexy ura helps, but being able to return to the same reference is most important.

The entire back need not be flat, so the most reliable reference is the extreme edge and back ledge. The sides will wear rapidly so you will lose your reference quickly and create a divot along the sides.