1st of,what wood are u cutting.30`grind &25 hone is general wood butchery.soft wood of the crap availiable now needs a more acute angle for fine slices.hard wood (oak)may need a steeper angle.grinding is an aid to honeing.the idea is that u have less metal to sharpen off.eventually they need reground or your trying to hone off so much to get an edge that you arms drop off.Set your grinding jig so that when u begin the stone touches th bottom 3/4 of the ground face,then retract the chisel in the jig 1/8 or 3mm.all you want is for the least amount of steel to be removed from the very bottom of tool less than a mill.provided u can feel a wire edge on the back you've done enough.where most go wrong is the chisel has 2 faces.the back must be smooth.If i can see my eye reflected in it then i know its right.If its dull and showing factory grinder marks,you will never be able to pare with it.my dovetail chisels took 2-3 hours to get acceptable from new.The golden rules are.Only remove as much metal as you need.and if you can see the edge,it's blunt.Always spend as much time flattening the back as the face(helps to keep stone flat too)Additional.try using japanese water stone's(Axminster machine tools/rutlands)they are cleaner,faster,easy to flatten and the gold standard ones produce an edge that just makes you want to go find something else to sharpen as well.so much fun it's probably perverted.bliss.
caine
August 2008
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