The Complete Guide to Sharpening

There was an inadvertent glitch when I paced my order, and the seller resolved it faster than I could have imagined (within < 24 hours). The ordered book was described as "Like New" and when I received the book, it was in perfect condition. The book is incredibly thorough, covering all aspects of sharpening all types of equipment (drills, saw blades, chisels and other woodworking tools, knives for cooking and other uses, etc.). It also discusses the different types of equipment needed to achieve the sharpest edge possible. Paul R. Paquin

I bought this book pretty much not knowing a thing about sharpening other than knowing I needed to know how to sharpen my tools if I intended to keep them fine tuned. In the past, I've used hand held kitchen gadgets and bench grinders. Little did I know the damage being done with a bench grinder. Since I knew next to nothing, I started at the beginning. It gave me a very good understanding of the "how's" and "whys" to the shapes and angles. The chapters are laid out for specific tool sharpening, so if you wanted, you could go straight to the section your most interested in. If there is something you need to be aware of, handy references are inserted in the text to point you back to important topics. I like that, the author assumes you don't wish to read the whole book at that moment, and makes sure you get the information you need. I don't know if this guide is the end all book of all sharpening guides, but its been a 5-star to me.

You have to admire the author. He is very experienced and he packs a huge amount of detailled and easily read information in this book. The electron photomicrographs, showing various sharp (and not so sharp) edges using various abarasives are excellent. Leonard demonstrates how to sharpen metal tools to a higher degree of sharpness than Wilkinson Sword razor blades. (about 0.4 micron edge thickness if you are technically minded - that is 0.0004 millimeters thick at the cutting edge.) This is SCARY sharp !! Mr Lee also seems to know everything there is to know about the history of steel making, and abrasives. There are excellent chapters on just about every kind of woodworking tool imaginable, with plenty of excellent photographs. If I were a woodworker I would regard this book as being the one and only complete reference and how-to-do-it text.BUT... my personal interest is in sharpening kitchen knives. And the chapter on knife sharpening is the least informative in the book, and really tells the reader nothing new that is not already available on many web sites.In fact the Mr Lee actually says he only included this chapter because nobody would take his book seriously if it didn't have a chapter on knife sharpening. As a result, the chapter is too brief, and in fact contains some wrong advice. eg using plastic book binders as edge guides: - Sorry Mr Lee, but flimsy, floppy lightweight plastic strips along the back of a knife as edge guides just don't work.For a complete KNIFE sharpening book, you would be far better off with Chad Ward's new book "An Edge in the Kitchen".I don't mean to disrespect the author, or this book. But it is really for woodworking tools, not kitchen knives.

Covers all the basics of sharpening tools in depth and detail. Starts with the basic concepts of sharpening steel - then goes into a very detailed coverage of the different types of abrasives ( diamond hones / wet stones / oil stones / natural stones / etc ) with their advantages & disadvantages.Finishes with thorough techniques for sharpening the various types of tools 1 by 1 - including jigs.As far as one book that covers everything - this one has about everything you can ask for. There are probably soem specialty sharpening books that could expand on one topic but this one covers most that's out there.The only thing lacking was scary sharp sandpaper method which wasn't covered much in the book. I use sandpaper primarily b/c it's inexpensive - but having read this book - I no longer question what to use for sharpening handtools - what grits to use - or - why?

I have not read this entire book, as 10 to 15 minutes of reading anything puts me to sleep. Now then, that being said, I learned to sharpen knives and tools an early age, and in that order. I am now 74 years old and have a lot of experience in learning to sharpen and in sharpening. The parts of this book that I have seen and 60 or more years of sharpening makes me believe that this book is a good one, I especially like the line drawings, they make things really clear. I like all things that cut, I like sharpening all things that cut and I like this book. Hopefully I can read the entire book even it is 10 to 15 minutes at the time.

Tool sharpening is one of those things that it is extremely worthwhile to take the time to learn to do correctly. You can master the basics of knife sharpening in an afternoon and never have to suffer from dull kitchen knives again. This book goes into the finer points of sharpening any tool you might have in your home, not just basic technique but theory. It's one of those books that describes the art as well as the science. Highly recommended. Got it for me, then got another copy for my dad for Christmas.

Excellent, useful, detailed book. My husband even got me interested in some of the diagrams of the effect on wood grains of different types of blade and so forth. It would be of special interest to any dedicated woodworker, but it is also very good for anyone who wants to keep various kinds of tools working as well as possible. It explains very clearly why you want to do things in certain ways without bogging you down in too much information.

I just started reading and already found lots of helpful information. Worth the purchase price for sure.

Has great pictures from an electron microscope, so you can see the difference stones make in sharpening. Whether or not you're into woodworking, if you sharpen then this is a book you want in your collection.

O livro trata em profundidade de afiação de muitas ferramentas usadas quando se trabalha com madeiras. O autor é muito bom. Como sugestão, eu recomendaria que quando fizerem nova edição idem mais imagens coloridas. Eu recomendo às pessoas que se interessam por marcenaria.

Libro fantastico, molto completo ed esaustivo, ber corredato di immagini e fotografie esplicative dell'argomento. Assolutamente un "must have"!!!

livre extrèmement complet sur l'affûtage des outils. de la fabrication des alliages, les différents types de "pierres" d'affûtage, les façons d'affûter. écrit par le fondateur de Lie Valley, donc en Anglais.

With so many books on sharpening, which one do you go for? I do woodturning, carving and general woodwork and found this book superb. It has some theory - metals, hardness, the principles of cutting which were easy to undertsand and very useful - new stuff I have not seen before - and I have a production engineering background! A thorough practical guide of what abrasives, what types of grinding wheel, diamond stones, water stones and how to use them is particulary good. Lasty good advice on the "jargon" ie when you go to the shop to buy something specific - ie instead of "I would like a fine grinding wheel", you can now ask for a 38A80-H8VBE wheel and get exactly what is wanted - sounds a bit over the top, but the book desribes why you should not just go and order a "fine grinding wheel" as it may be totally unsuited to the type of tools and the use you are putting it to. A really good book