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I just used the 3M lapping films on float glass and holy )&@:t I’ve never touched a chisel so sharp. It’s like a light saber!
I should have tried this a long time ago


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Scary sharp is just that! If you didn’t already find them, taytools is a seller on Amazon and usually has nice prices on the films and Amazon’s prime shipping.


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Specifically what did you use - 3M makes so many different ones.

Thanks

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I'm not a luthier.
I'm just a guy who builds guitars in his basement.
It's better than playing golf.

Welcome to the club of sharpening snobs
Your life will be much easier from now on.

Kevin, the one I use is from Taytools on Amazon. They put together a kit of 1/3 sheets that fit the float glass they sell - https://www.amazon.com/3M-TM-Microfinis ... ls+&sr=8-7

Here is the kit that I bought, it has 3 pieces of glass and comes with 7 grits. What I did was put one sheet on each side of the glass skipping the finest grit. Works good for me.


https://www.amazon.com/Taytools-279205- ... ls+&sr=8-8

Hope that helps.

Brad


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I love water stones and tormet but yes scary sharp works. Todd stock has a video out there on the subject

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FWIW taytools on amazon above sells the narex cryogenic chisels exc . for luthiery

Yes I used the ray tools set of lapping sheets stuck to a float glass. I had a piece large enough to get all 7 on it (back and front). I used water as lubricant.
The chisel that was sharpened is a BlueSpruce 3/4 “ bench.
It will be interesting to see how long the films last


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Can you expand on that a bit, perhaps with pics? What is float glass and holy?

Float glass from the production method. The melted glass is floated on molten metal, this produces the flattest form of glass plate.
I think holy )&@:t just may be an expletive......

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Anybody interested in a fun and funny read, here is Steve Lamantia, the guy who fully developed and named the scary sharp (tm) method about 1995- always use the (tm)

https://swingleydev.com/ot/get/261749/single/

I have used it since I joined that list in 1997. I use wet/dry emory paper because it is readily available, on 2 discarded glass cabinet shelves. I always sharpen to 600, and then depending on the task I might go to 2000, then the green compound in a piece of pine. Luthiery gets the full treatment. And always with vintage tools - we have to recycle, right?

Ed

Ah ok I see. So regular thick glass is not good enough?

Most modern window glass is float glass, and you can back it up with a piece of melamine or other reasonably flat substrate. You could probably get away with just using the melamine in a pinch. Most sharpening systems rely on holding the angle more than absolute flatness.

I think the glass came in because you can use water to stick sheets of paper to it, use the sheet, lift it off, then stick on the next progressive grit. A piece of MDF would be flat enough for the widths that we use.

Ed

I used to use glass for my sharpening until I looked at the broken edges on the piece I use in the shop (I keep it leaning against the wall and put it on the bench only when I sharpen). I hardly ever wear shoes. I realized that someday the odds would catch me. I bought one of those flat granite blocks from Woodcraft and keep it on the end of my bench. The glass is retired.

A regular piece of double strength window glass contact cemented to a slightly larger piece of MDF should work fine and not be too much of a hazard.

I’m sure you could just stick it to a granite slab too.


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MDF and water don't go together very well though. Does anyone know how to cut thick glass? A while back I found a 1/2in glass table top in a barn in my backyard. I'm thinking a regular old glass cutter aint gonna work on that and I won't touch it with my band saw

Be careful admitting things like that, Bob. People will either give you grief for the inherently unsafe nature of being barefoot in a woodshop or mistake you for being from West Virginia.

I've lived here for over 20 years, so I'm allowed to make those jokes.

When I lived in northern KY and worked in Ohio my co-workers asked the same thing every day.... "Any issues putting your shoes on while driving across the bridge in Cincinnati"? Now I live in Cincinnati and my co-workers (company is based in Seattle) ask what it's like to live in "the south". Can't win.

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Brad--

Yeah, I grew up in Western Kentucky and went to college in Central Kentucky. I heard more than one joke about the need to check out some shoes from the shoe library.

On topic (sorry for the tangent)--I like my Worksharp. It works on the same Scary Sharp principle of progressively finer grits of sandpaper attached to glass. I'm impatient, so having a powered sharpener is good for me.

If it is tempered glass it may be very difficult to cut (tempered glass has smooth edges).

I am always barefoot in the shop, but I am a Hoosier.

I have found a bunch of ways to get chisels and plane blades really sharp, including lapping paper on a granite slab. The main thing I learned about having sharp tools is to have a setup always available to at least touch up the edges of the tools while working with them. A leather strop and polishing compound is one way. This may be just me; while I will mostly start with a sharp tool I am very reluctant to stop and sharpen a tool while working with it if it is a hassle. I will work with relatively dull tools. Now, I have a Work Sharp 3000 (sandpaper or lapping film on tempered glass) always setup with 6000 micro-mesh on both sides of a glass disk. I will stop and touch up an edge of a tool even in the middle of working with it. Once I stop if the edge needs more than a touch up. I may re-sharpen starting at 400P or 1000P. I used the tool for a few years now and it not only sharpens well it also broke me of my habit of working with dull tools.

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"I hardly ever wear shoes. I realized that someday the odds would catch me."

I would worry less about stepping on a piece of glass and more about knocking a scary sharp chisel off the bench and trimming your toenails!

Was sanding in sandals and felt a sharp pain. Looked down to find my small kiridashi stuck in the top of my foot after vibrating off the bench.

Scary sharp is a gateway drug, just wait until you discover ceramic waterstones.