That retired cabinet guy told me to sharpen my chisels with toothpaste

Met this old timer at the lumber yard who swore a dab of Crest on a leather strop would bring back a dull edge. Tried it on a beat up Stanley I had, and somehow it actually worked good enough to pare end grain.

2 comments

2 Comments

morganj8113d ago

Tell him he's crazy. Toothpaste is an abrasive, sure, but it's not designed for honing. You're just polishing the bevel, not actually cutting a fresh edge. A real sharp chisel needs to dig into the steel with something like 8000 grit stone, not rub off the oxidation with paste that's meant for teeth. You'll end up with a shiny edge that feels sharp to your fingernail but folds under pressure on hard maple.

jenniferwells13d ago

Same here, tried it on a crappy chisel out of curiosity and it did make it passably sharp for soft stuff. Definitely works better than it should but I'm not trusting it on my good set.