"Dan Dresner" wrote in message news:ZwzYa.91128$o%2.40784@sccrnsc02...
I just finished sharpening my first chisel with Steve Lamantia's Scary Sharp
method and now stand before in stunned testimony: this technique is
life-altering! I now have an ordinary, off-the-shelf bench chisel (Stanley,
for Pete's sake) that is at least as sharp as any razor blade I've ever
used. It's going to take a month for me to regrow the hairs on my arm after
"testing" the edge over and over again. I'm not kidding, folks: it slices
them off just by pressing the edge - lightly! - against the base of *a*
hair.

(I know, I know - I need to get a better life, but still....)

The only change to the system that I made was to add a final polishing with
crocus paper, which seemed to improve the sharpness somewhat over the
2000-grit level.

DanD

For anyone who doesn't know what the heck I'm talking about, here it is:
snip
I have a question about sharpening in general. I have used the scary
sharp method with amazing results on cheap chisels as well as my plane
irons. What I need to know is if I'm doing it correctly. My question
is: Do you both push the blade down the paper as well as pull it
back, or do you only move the blade in one direction (eg push the
blade down the paper)? I know that when I sharpen my kitchen knives
that I only hone in one direction, but wanted to verify the same
information for chisels and irons.

TIA
Bill