Some
sharpening stones are an inexpensive and easy way to
keep many of the tools in your shop working at their
peak efficiency. You can use sharpening
stones to care
for fine woodworking tools such as chisels and planes,
or you can sharpen
heavier duty tools like chainsaws.
Many different types of stones are available,
and in fact, you might use several different types to
sharpen a single tool.
Sharpening
or also called honing stones are made of many different
materials. For example, diamond stones are
made by mixing ground diamond powder with a stone material.
The resulting sharpening surface can hone even the hardest
of metals. Two of the most useful types are the Arkansas
sharpening stone and the ceramic one. A
look at the attributes and composition of each of these
two will show their uses.
Arkansas
sharpening stones are simply Novaculite, sedimentary
stones mined from quarries in the State of Arkansas, which
are then cut and shaped as whetstones.
Considered to be some of the finest honing stones available,
they are best used to hone a fine edge on a blade after
it has been pre-worked with another type grinder. Although
the Arkansas
is an natural occurring sharpening stone,
manufacturers sift through the raw rock to find different
grades of grittiness. Interestingly, the finest of
these are used to hone surgical instruments.
Ceramic
sharpening stones are produced by kiln-firing
gritty particles with a ceramic bonding agent. Because
they are manmade, ceramic stones tend to have
greater accuracy in the grit rating. Additionally they
use metal particles such as alumina or steel, which
makes them last longer than naturally occurring
once.
Quality
honing stones are an essential
part of any wood shop and with a good set of these a
woodworker can put a fine edge on most cutting tools.
The time saving and quality benefits of having sharp
tools are what make it important for any woodworker.
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