Removing the Grinder Marks

Now that I've got the basic bevel established, it's time to get to work on removing the marks the grinder left behind.  Sharpening a gouge by hand takes a little bit of practice... sharpening the rounded edge evenly across it's entire width requires an even hand.  But it's not really as tough as it sounds...

There are two techniques you can use to sharpen a gouge.  The first is to sharpen parallel to the cutting edge, running the gouge in a "W" shape on the stone (to lessen the dishing out affect on the stone), such as in this graphic:

You slowly curl the iron in your hand as you move it across the stone.  You have to do it evenly, as you go back and forth over the stone, never holding the gouge in one position too long, always rotating it.  This method is mentioned as preferable in several older texts I have read.

I don't like that method for gouges, myself, though it does work well for flat tools such as chisels and plane blades.  The edge tends to want to dig into the stone, and it can be hard to maintain a uniform, smooth curve on the cutting edge - at least for me.  I prefer a method that, while more difficult to do, achieves a more uniform curve, at least in my opinion.  I run the gouge perpendicular to the stone, rotating it as I go:

It's also a good idea to move around on the stone, and try to use as much of the surface of it as possible to avoid unnecessary wear patterns developing on its face.  You can alternate using a figure eight movement, an elliptical movement, and/or a straight across movement to reduce as much "dishing" of the face of the stone over time as is possible.  In the end, however, it is more important to make sure you are grinding the bevel of the tool evenly across its width.  To do this properly it is necessary to move the edge using a flowing motion across the surface of the stone.

The motion isn't all that tough to master (with a bit of practice, of course) if you follow a few basic tenets... First, use both hands to guide the gouge along it's path.  If you're left handed, reverse the direction I give next.

First, put a few drops of honing oil on the stone... Honing oil can be purchased, or be a 50/50 mix of mineral spirits and mineral oil - avoid water, as the oil will float away the swarf where water doesn't, and the stone work better - at least in my experience.

Then, hold the gouge perpendicular to the stone, off to side of it at about 90 degrees.  Using your left hand on the blade, and your right hand on the handle, move the gouge along the stone as shown in the diagram above.  Your right hand will turn the gouge as you go through the stroke, and your left hand will apply pressure on the stone as well as move the gouge back and forth.

It's easiest if you have the stone up so its about at or just below elbow height, and the stone is set parallel to the edge of the bench.  I took these photos afterwards, because the originals didn't come out right, so there isn't any oil on the stone, but this should give you an idea of what I do:

If you use your body some to make the right to left movements, it's easier to hold the gouge at the proper angle to the stone.  When you reach the end of the stroke, reverse it and go the opposite direction.  Continue until a wire edge begins to form on the cutting edge of the gouge,

To set the proper angle (about 20 degrees or so for gouges used for carving) its usually enough to rock the gouge up and down before you start, feeling the "flat" where the gouge is laying flattest on its bevel.  If you do it properly, the hollow ground bevel will begin to flatten out on it's outer edges, like in this photo where you can still see the grinder marks in the center of the bevel, left over from the hollow grind:

The India stone leaves a nice, dull sheen across the sharpened sections - I usually don't worry about removing absolutely all of the grinder marks - they don't affect the performance of the gouge, and chasing them down might lead to making more mistakes, so when you get it to a point that will maintain a good edge, it's better to leave well enough alone.  I would usually leave even more than what's shown here - but I was chasing down that errant corner, hoping to square it off better than it was.  I really should have spent just a little more time at the grinder for this, but that's how it goes, I guess.

Speaking of making mistakes - the easiest one to make is where you round off the edge - if you don't keep the cutting edge perpendicular to the centerline of the gouge, it won't cut into corners properly, and is tougher to sharpen evenly across.  Keep an eye on it, checking your progress frequently.  You'll know your ready for the next step when you see that wire edge begin to form along the entire length of the cutting edge - it's the ragged cutting edge in the shot above, and you can also see it in the reflection right at the cutting edge in this shot:

There's more there than you might find normally, because I'm chasing down that errant corner.  Nonetheless, the wire edge is just where the blade has gotten so thin along the edge that it can no longer support itself - a good thing.  The next steps will remove it, but first I need to use a slip stone to establish the bevel in and also clean up the concave part of the gouges cutting edge.

Also make sure you don't overdo it at the end of the stroke - keep an eye out that the corners of the gouge square and perpendicular to the axis of the body of the tool.