Australopithecus scobis wrote:
In article tLVEf.138$0i1.136@trnddc04,
"Billy Smith" wrote:

I was having trouble getting a chisel blade sharp. Out of
frustration I took the chisel out of the jig and honed it freehand
and voila, the blade got plenty sharp.

Watch out that you're not raising the angle of the blade with respect to
the stone. You'll get a sharp edge, but the cutting angle might not be
what you want. Swipe the blade crossways a couple of times. If you've
put a curve on the bevel, the lateral scratches will be in a narrow
band. You want the lateral scratches to cover the whole width of the
bevel. Of course, this tip is only for testing your technique. It'll
play hob with a working blade.

I haven't ever done that, but I really like the idea - and I'm fairly
confident of what it would reveal if I were freehanding. I do believe
that one can become very proficient and efficient using the freehand
method - like Kirby. For me, however, I'd rather toss it in a good jig
(Veritas MKII) take a few quick passes on a few different grits and get
it perfect, with no rounding and with consistent bevel/microbevel
angles.

JP