How to Sharpen Wood Chisels

There’s an old saying: “A good workman never blames their tools,” – and there is an element of truth to it. However, we prefer to say: “A good workman takes excellent care of their tools,” – that way they’ll only ever have themselves to blame. If your wood chisel has been feeling a little blunt lately, it’s time to remedy that. Perhaps you’ve been using it to pry open paint cans and haven’t used it for woodwork in some time. Whatever the case, a blunt wood chisel can be dangerous to use, so you must take excellent care of it. In this article, we’re going to focus specifically on how to take care of your wood chisels – by sharpening them. Here’s everything you need to know…   What you’ll need

• A honing guide.
• Sharpening stone & oil.
• A vice.
• Your wood chisel.

 

How Sharp Should a Chisel Be?

Even if you’ve bought a brand-new wood chisel and it’s fresh out of the box, don’t assume that it’s perfectly sharp and ready to use. It is more than likely the case that it isn’t – and could do with a quick sharpen before use. Stick around and we’ll tell you how to add a properly sharpened bevel to the blade of your wood chisel…  

Sharpening Your Wood Chisel

Step 1 – Set the Honing Guide to 30°

Your honing guide will enable you to view the proper angle of the bevel for your chisel. Certainly, the more experienced will be able to achieve the correct angle by eye, however, if you aren’t quite 100% confident yet, the honing guide will be incredibly useful for achieving the ultimate cutting angle for your wood chisel. Most wood chisels will come out of the box with a cutting angle of approximately 25º, however, we recommend that you have yours bevelled to a nice round 30º.  

Step 2 – Keep the Chisel Perfectly Parallel and Straight

When you put your wood chisel into the honing guide, be mindful not to tighten in too much with the fixing screws – simply keep the blade exactly straight and parallel to the guide itself. Line it up with the 30º marker on the guide, tighten it with a firm grip, and then you’re ready for step 3.  

Step 3 – Oil Your Sharpening Stone

The next step is to ensure that your sharpening stone is nice and secure. We recommend tightening it in a vice. Following that, oil the stone up sufficiently.  

Step 4 – Use the Grit-Side of the Stone

Make sure you use the grit side of the sharpening stone first.  

Step 5 – Move Your Wood Chisel Along the Length of the Sharpening Stone

Once your stone is secure, oiled, and facing grit-side up, begin moving the wood chisel along the length of the sharpening stone with steady and consistent movements. As you continue to grind your wood chisel, ensure that the rollers on the underside of your honing guide remain in constant contact with the stone to ensure a perfect bevel of the desired 30º.  

Step 6 – Flip the Stone Over and Repeat

Once you are happy with the angle of your bevel, flip the sharpening stone over so that the fine-grit side is facing upwards and repeat the process:

• Secure sharpening stone in a vice with fine grit facing upward.
• Apply oil.
• Steadily and consistently move the wood chisel along the surface.

In completing this process, you will have a clean and fine edge to the wood chisel’s blade.  

Step 7 – De-burr the chisel

Once completed and having removed the wood chisel from the honing guide, you may notice some rough edges on your tool. Using a scrap piece of wood, you can de-burr the tool quite easily.  

Step 8 – Flatten the Underside of the Chisel

Finally, you’ll want to make sure that the underside of your wood chisel is smooth and flat, thus sharpening the blade itself. Simply apply some more oil to the fine-grit side of your stone, then gently apply the flat underside of your chisel, moving it gently in a circular motion.   And voila! If you follow these steps closely, you will end up with a perfectly smooth and sharp chisel, ready for action!