Sharpening

A well sharpened blade requires less effort to push through the timber, the less effort you are exerting the more control you have and the better your results will be.

Sharpening can be divided into grinding and honing - grinding is removing lots of metal fast to establish or restore an angular relationship between two surfaces with no regard for surface finish; honing is all about polishing two surfaces to establish a sharp line of intersection between them.

If your tools are correctly prepared to begin with, they should take very little work to maintain. A dull edge can be stropped back to perfection perhaps five or ten times before it requires honing. You should be able to hone a blade at least 10 times before you need to regrind the primary bevel, so with the right technique and the right kit, that's conservatively 50 sharp edges between grindings.

Whether you choose Japanese waterstones, 3M lapping film, diamond stones or a combination of media, the basic principles are the same. With good technique any of these methods should enable you to hone or regrind a properly prepared blade in about a minute.