Duke, Take a day off... then try again.
Sharpening tools is much like the art of working wood. It's learned through
practice and patience, and if your new, ya have to start at the bottom and
work your way up. As a learning exercise, I'd suggest taking a chisel (any
chisel) and learn to scary sharpen it with the veritas jig you have and just
focus on making that chisel the sharpest tool in your shop. Very
Important - Make sure you have a flat surface to work on to start with. A
piece of glass, MDF or whatever, so long as it is dead flat. Start by
lapping the back of the chisel until it's flat. I'd suggest starting with
400 grit for a new chisel, but you'll have to determine how much metal needs
removed and the best grit to use here, however, I wouldn't suggest anything
coarser than 220. Did you get the angle gauge with your jig also? This
really helps in keeping things consistent. (I like to put a 25deg angle on
my chisels) Anyway, after the back is flat and honed, chuck the chisel in
your jig. Make sure it is as square in the jig as possible, and work it
over the sandpaper (I'd start with 220g and then 320, 400, 600 etc..) Make a
few strokes and check to make sure the edge is straight with the jig. I
usually take about 30 strokes on each grit up to 1500g to get a scary sharp
edge, finishing it off with a few strokes on the back to get the wire edge
off than it's off to the bench grinder that's fitted with a buffing wheel.
A charge with some polishing rouge and after a few seconds buffing, I have a
chisel that is shiny as chrome and could shave a hair off a gnats ass. Once
you have it sharpened, try slicing off a little endgrain of a board. It
should go easy with a little force or light tapping with a mallet, but
should slice the wood nicely.
This is the method I use for plane irons also. Your #7 may have other
issues besides the sharpness of the iron.
I do use my bench grinder to sharpen many other tools, such as turning
tools, but I really like the results I get from the sandpaper. I don't know
if a Tormek is the answer to all the sharpening situations, and for what it
costs, I may never.
Hope this helps, --dave
"Dukester" wrote in message
. ..
First, let me say this isn't meant to be a whining post, just looking
for
guidance. I'm running into what I can only describe as sheer frustration
lately with getting anything right in the woodshop. My jointer knives need
sharpening so I got the Veritas honing jig (don't ask me why I didn't just
get new blades). I thought sharpening should be easy using this. I was
doing the Scary Sharp thing for what seemed like hours and could not get
one
knife sharp. No they aren't carbide blades. I mean it may as well have
been
an eraser on the end. I could not even get the wire edge with 60 grit
sandpaper so I went to the bench grinder...mistake. Shwoop, into the
trash
they go.

Well I have some hand planes I wanted to try anyway, maybe I can joint my
project edges by hand. I picked up some planes off Ebay, and a couple at
flea market sales. I spent maybe $150 on a #4, 5, 6, 7. But getting them
in working order has been a,..umm.challenge. The frog on the 7 won't keep
the iron straight - I have to move the adjustment lever waaaay over almost
bending it in half to getthe bevel sticking out straight and not skewed.
Then it won't stay this way. I can't get the sharpening thing down on any
of the blades. I have Lee's book on sharpening, but can't find anything
on
how you grind the initial bevel? No way I'm trying the bench grinder
again.
I tried the stationary belt sander and did nothing but make a mess. I
got
what I thought was a close bevel, but using the Veritas honing jig the
honed
line always seems skewed - I could never get it perpendicular to the blade
edges.... Finally I got close (after 3 hours), then tried planing the
edges...but my jointed edges do not make an invisible seam when glued
together...argh..saw it in half...start over.

I go in there thinking that I have to do all these things like the pros
do..
sharpen like a wiz, plane like a pro. And I know I'm trying this all on
my
own without anyone to guide me along. So, is it better to toss the old
tools, start with new planes and get new blades etc., and a Tormek or
Makita
wet grinder for sharpening? It seems like I've spending way more time
just trying to fix and fiddle with stuff or tools that are already
crippled
and attempt to learn repair, sharpening etc. than actually working wood.

Sigh.