3D Analyzer Software Woodworking Tip: A troubleshooting guide to sharpening woodworking tools

Sharpening is one of the most fundamental woodworking skills and using sharp tools is what makes a woodworker’s job stimulating and pleasurable. While learning how to sharpen woodworking tools appears to be simple in theory, it often turns out to be frustratingly difficult when put into practice.

Knowing when a tool is sharp is difficult because it is subjective and the definition of sharp can vary between woodworkers. As a rule of thumb, woodworkers often go by the shaving test – if the blade is sharp enough to shave with, it is probably ready for use. Provided of course it is sharp enough for a clean sharp shave. The back of the hand I commonly used for a quick check to determine the sharpness of a blade.

Woodworking blades need to be more than just sharp. Each blade is designed for a purpose, which imposes functional requirements on the blade. These functional requirements revolve around bevel angles, edge shapes, blade flatness, steel quality and more.

With reasonable steel, if two intersecting surfaces are polished to a mirror finish, the line of intersection, the edge, will be razor sharp. The angle of intersection does not affect the sharpness, but affects how strong the edge will appear and how it can be used. The flatness of the surface only affects how the edges can be used.

While the functional requirements have nothing to do with the sharpness of the edge, they have an effect on how we as woodworkers sharpen them. You cannot get a flat surface off a soft buffing wheel or hollow stone.

Sharpening also requires a compromise. This is most noticeable in the choice of bevel angles. A low angle of about 25 degrees or less will give an easy blade to use, but the edge will be weak. A high bevel of 35 degrees or more gives a strong edge but a hard blade to use as it takes more power to push it through the wood. The best angle is a compromise between ease of use and blade life. This depends on how and on what the blade will be used. While this can become an area of endless experimentation, for most woodworkers, a few variations will suffice – 25 percent for endgrain pairing chisels or bevel-up low angle plane blades for use on soft woods; 35 degrees for chisels and plane blades used on very hard woods; 48 degrees for bevel-up low angle plane blades for use on cranky wood and 30 degrees for everything else.

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For more information on how 3D Analyzer Software can help improve your company please have a look at our website www.3danalyzersoftware.com

3D Analyzer Software was created by woodworkers with a lifetime of experience in the woodworking industry.

Close to the top of every woodworkers wish list is the seamless transition from solid model to CNC program.  3D Analyzer has made this goal a reality. With the ability to import solid models from CAD programs such as AutoCAD, 3D Pytha and Solidworks, 3D Analyzer is ideally suited to help any woodworker.

3D Analyzer Software is a customized woodworking software program that has been evolving since 2000, to enable woodworkers to produce and deliver individual pieces with dramatic time savings and near perfect accuracy. The Idea for the software program began as the owners sought practical solutions for their own woodworking manufacturing problems, needing software that would translate 3D images into specific manufacturing data.

We are proud to say that our software is now being used across the woodworking industry by:

- Architectural joinery companies
- Custom furniture manufactures
- Office fit-out suppliers
- Store fixture companies
- Exhibition companies
- Suppliers of display cabinets and
- High-end kitchen cabinet manufactures

Our Company is based in Sydney, Australia and has customers in Australia, and around the world in New Zealand, Europe / UK and the USA.