Just realized I've been sharpening my chisels wrong for 5 years

Took a class last Saturday at the local Woodcraft in Austin and the instructor watched me sharpen for 2 minutes before he pulled me aside. Said I was putting a micro-bevel on the wrong side of the blade the whole time. Has anyone else found out they've been doing a basic skill backwards for years?

2 comments

2 Comments

olivers286d agoTop Commenter

Ha that sucks but honestly dude, how much time did you actually waste? A microbevel is like a few seconds of work, flipping it the other way isn't gonna change your joinery quality.

leo_carr136d ago

@olivers28 my buddy Mike found out he'd been clamping his wood wrong for like 8 years. Took a class at the local Rockler and the teacher showed him he was putting his bench dogs in backwards, so the pressure was going into the tail vise instead of the work piece. He'd been wondering why his dovetails always had gaps on one side. Dude was shook for a whole week after.