EricP wrote:
On Tue, 07 Nov 2006 22:32:19 GMT, "The Medway Handyman"
wrote:

In the workshop I use a Stanley honing guide & a cheap set of diamond stones
like these
http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/...38070&id=10468
Not the best in the world, but cheap enough to chuck when they wear & much
easier to use than an oilstone.

Wow. Aldi sell that exact set for a couple of quid. I bought two last
year to use. Very useful they have been to, from sharpening to
flattening the surface on disk pads.

I bought a set of them some years ago and just couldn't get an edge. I
think the tin must have flexed in use so rounding my efforts off.

I got a slab of a diamond stone with one face so fine I thought it was
just the back of the bar. The other cuts like broken glass through
chalk. Getting diamond grits is one thing but keeping them flat is
another. they re only as good as the backing strip they are laminated
to.

No messing with oil is the best thing about them. Having said that my
old oil stone is still perfectly flat after years of use.

*******

I've got one of those clamps that you can fix a blade to in order to
hold it at the right angle but have yet to use it. I've had it so long
I doubt I could find it without a rigorous sort out.

The problem with them is that you need a slight curve in a plane blade
and for sharpening chisels, it isn't worth the effort of getting it set
up.

The best thing if you need sharp chisels at all times is a tool roll
and use it meticulously. Which -after a while, you just don't bother
with. It takes five minutes to get an edge on a chisel and the more
often you do it, the easier and quicker it is to do.