MDF Sharpening Wheel

[GuzziPaul]

Anyone use and MDF sharpening wheel? I have multiple stones and a leather strop and a couple of different compounds. I also have a bench grinder and a few offcuts of MDF. I'm thinking of cutting out a couple of 15cm circles of MDF with a jig saw. Glueing them together. Sticking in on the bench grinder and trueing it up by using a chisel and the grinder rest like a lathe, then a bit of compond and try and hone some knifes and chisels.

I can see knife sharpening not been a problem but chisels being a bit more awkward. Suppose I can turn the grinder around so the top of the wheel is spinning away from me to the chisel dosn't get grabbed and end up in my chest.

[iansoady]

Never heard of this myself - I just use an oilstone. Mind you, I rarely use wood chisels and the stone is in use mostly for kitchen knives.

[demographic]

Ive heard of people doing this by cutting them to round on a jigsaw/bandsaw/big holecutter and then trueing them on a wood lathe before giving em a quick sand whilst its turning.
Then using polishing compound (the green on that I have bit of but can't remember what its called, maybe Chromium oxide?) to put a final polish on an edge.
You deffo want it turning away from the sharp edge.
It will likely be mentioned somewhere like Sawmill Creek woodwork forum.

I have a strip of inch thick MDF that I've used the green compound on and thats pretty good for finishing off blades I've sharpened on my Faithful diamond hone. Seems faster than dicking about with Japanese waterstones.
Not totally against waterstones, its just that I'm not a workshop joiner and they aren't as suited to my mobile working.

[Yambo]

I like waterstones and I have half a dozen chisels and two plane blades sitting waiting for me to wet them out and use them!

[GuzziPaul]

You buy them ready made

But seems a waste if I have some MDF and green compound.

[demographic]

I like waterstones and I have half a dozen chisels and two plane blades sitting waiting for me to wet them out and use them!

It's just another layer of faffing about that I can't be trashed carting about in my van.
I used to have an old style oilstone, then I dropped it and I had two oilstones.
Been mostly diamond hones since then cos they can handle a little hammer and a splash of hot water out of my flask lubricates it then washes it off after Ive used it. Quick dry off after that and its done.

If I had a workshop I'd maybe have a sharpening station but a corner of my toolbox doesn't really count.

[GuzziPaul]

Had an hour between WFH and tonights tea (dinner for southerners) so cut out four 6" disks of 12mm MDF which are now glued and clamped together. I'll try and get some time in the week to get them mounted and smoothed off by the weekend. I've got an old gardening knife and a home made marking knife I've made from an old hacksaw blade to sharpen up.

[demographic]

Had an hour between WFH and tonights tea (dinner for southerners) so cut out four 6" disks of 12mm MDF which are now glued and clamped together. I'll try and get some time in the week to get them mounted and smoothed off by the weekend. I've got an old gardening knife and a home made marking knife I've made from an old hacksaw blade to sharpen up.

This is worth a read about HSS hacksaw blade knives being used in bookbinding and how they are tested against O1, A2 and T15 steels.
https://jeffpeachey.com/tag/knives-made ... aw-blades/
In short the HSS hacksaw blade steel fairly pisses over O1 in terms of edge retention and T15 is even better for edge rention.
Old hacksaw blades are cheap though.

Having said that, I have attacked a power hacksaw blade with a grinder and made a plane blade out of it.
Jury is still out on that one as I've never used it yet, its bastard hard and took a bloody long time to grind a bevel onto it and grind the slot for the lateral adjust and cap iron screw.
Possibly diminishing returns on that one.

I have another plane blade with a HSS tip brazed onto it and thats tempered to a softer state than the power hacksaw blade, that ones a belter and I really rate it. I've been using it on endgrain oak for a while now
This gives an overview of the HSS Mujingfang pane iron I have and its performance compared to other steels commonly used for plane irons.
http://www3.telus.net/BrentBeach/Sharpen/mftest.html
I still had to alter the slot in it as it wasnt designed for Bailey pattern planes.

Possibly more info than you want but I found it interesting.

[GuzziPaul]

My blade/Knife is still a work in progress. Made from a reciprocating saw blade. I don't know if I got it hot enough to temper properly but it has a decent point on it and marks the wood (and cuts tape holding a box together).

Currently it looks more like a prison shank than a wood working tool. I've gone for sturdy rather than slim and elegant. With my puffy RS hand and fingers I prefer holding fatter things.

[demographic]

My blade/Knife is still a work in progress. Made from a reciprocating saw blade. I don't know if I got it hot enough to temper properly but it has a decent point on it and marks the wood (and cuts tape holding a box together).

Currently it looks more like a prison shank than a wood working tool. I've gone for sturdy rather than slim and elegant. With my puffy RS hand and fingers I prefer holding fatter things.

Doubt you will have done much to temper it assuming its high speed steel, that stuff can be ground dry with no ill effects whereas lower alloy steels like O1 can be tempered to soft in a glass of lukewarm milk*.

There's a lot more to it than that obviously but basically part of the reason its called high speed steel is that its capable of withstanding higher working temperatures.
Well and being very wear resistant as I'm sure you realised as you ground it to shape.

The plane blade I made was from a 23 inch long by 2 inch deep Augusta power hacksaw blade I spotted while browsing Ebay looking for something else.
The plane needed a 44mm wide blade (Number 3 Record) which meant I could get rid of the teeth and have enough flat steel after grinding it down from 52mm.

I only did it because I was being daft and I dropped the rest of the power hacksaw blade in the bin so it tortures no other optimistic eejit.

*Ok, possibly a slight exaggeration there.

[GuzziPaul]

Got fed up of WFH yesterday afternoon so took my remaining half day leave and went and had a play in the garage. Outside actually. My origanal plan of sticking 4 bits of MDF together made it too wide to fit on my bench grinder, So I cut it in half and I now have two wheels.
Using the side of the grinder with a tool rest and the one and only turning chisel I have , never used and been in my draw for 30+ years, I bolted the rough cut blank onto the grinder and turned it down round and smooth.

turning small1.jpg (181.65 KiB) Viewed 2695 times

I then swapped the now smooth disk to the other side without the rest so I could work with the wheel spinning away from me and use the wheel from left and right. In my search for the big chisel I also found a smaller rustier chisel to use as my test piece.

Turning small 2.jpg (155.88 KiB) Viewed 2695 times

Took about 5 minutes to get it like this and although I havn't got all the pitting out, its nice and sharp and the bevel is mirror like and a useful experiment. and a chisel i can use for rough work.

[demographic]

I don't know much about woodturning but that chisel looks like an old style mortise chisel to me.
Put Vintage Mortise Chisel into Google Images and see what you think.

[GuzziPaul]

I don't know much about woodturning but that chisel looks like an old style mortise chisel to me.
Put Vintage Mortise Chisel into Google Images and see what you think.

Yes, you are right. I was the biggest handled strongest looking chisel I have so hoped it would be ok against a bit of MDF spinning at 3000rpm.

[demographic]

Looks like its done the job just fine.
Nice to make something that you would usually pay good money for.