On the strip sander the belts that shopsmith sells stop at 600 grit. At 600 grit you have a fine edge and for some uses just a simple deburring will give you what you want. I go to to a 1200 grit using belts (which I buy else where) at 1200 you have a very very sharp edge and again depending on what you are looking for this might be the last step. We are talking a mirror finish and you will be able to see yourself very clearly on the sharpened surface. From 1200 the use of felt or leather will polish the edge farther... some people feel that this is what they need others will never go this far. I use a green stick but you can go even finer. So how far can you go? That depends on the steel used and how it was made into the tool.
One thing that beginners often fail to do on bench chisels and plane irons is to not flatten the back of the tool much less polish it. The cutting angle needs to have the back done to make an edge.
On my glass sheets I go to 2000 grit. If I wanted to I have paper to even finer grits but have never seen a reason to go past 2000.
If you want to see how your tools stack up take a small square of plate glass and using say 400 grit paper get it milky looking, then take it your stones or what have you and get it crystal clear again. If you can do that you have what it takes equipment wise.
Since people like to test how sharp their tools are one test we use to use was gelatin capsules. Use some old pills, start by pull the capsule apart and dumping out the contents and you have a good test bed. If you can cut the capsule without crushing it and without sawing it you have a sharp tool. It can be done.
Ed
beeg wrote:It sounds like a few people here use grinder/strip sander/disk sander to sharpen the tools. Then use a leather strop to finish it off? Wouldn't you use finer steps between the grinder and strop?
