Instructions for use, Maintnance and Storage

With proper maintenance and use, our tools can serve for several generations of woodcarvers.

Tools are made from tool-steel which is not resistant to corrosion and in a humid environment can become rusty.
Therefore, we recommend storage in a dry environment.

Wooden handles are made of hornbeam wood. For the mallet, please choose same or softer material to prolong the
handle life.
After the work it is recommended to clean and dry the tool and to apply the conserving oil on the blade. Place in order
to avoid mutual abrasion of metalic parts or contacts of blades.
Tools that will get into your hands are already sharpened and polished. By using the blade dulls and work with tools becomes more difficult. For quality carving sharp tools is a necessity, and therefore I offer you a gude and recommended way for their sharpening.

HAND SHARPENING

The gouge blades which are very blunt after regular whetting have a rounded blade or they are jagged, we begin
to grind with a rough grinding stone. We run the tool edge with circular movements on the stone with water. For better
rinsing of debris from the stone, it is suitable to add a few drops of detergent or fine mineral oil alternatively diluted with turpentine. We sharpen the cutting edge at an angle of 25°-30°(for soft wood a thinner angle).
We sharpen only from the bottom side for as long as thedamaged blade is not straightened and until a needle, a thin soft part of steel at the end of the edge appears.
For grinding use harder stone with grid around 150 ,then proceed to a finer stone with grid around 350. To remove the needle we use a very fine whetting stone (Rozsutec, Arkansas, optionally Synthetic Corundum). As a substitute of whetstones the fine sandpaper of a grit more than 1000 can be used. At the end we polish the edge on the leather using a polishing paste (silichrome or other paste for polishing metals). During whole process keep the selected angle of the cutting edge. Less-blunt or not jagged edges is sufficient to whet with a very fine stone and finally also polish on the leather. After grinding we recommand to clean sharpening stones to avoid corrosion of sedimented steel inside them.
The inner part of blade is polished and from this side it is not necessary to hone the tool. It is sufficient to whet them at the end on the leather adjusted to the blade shape. If the tools are damaged or rusty we have to hone this side too, we use shaped sharpening whetstones or very fine sandpaper on the shaped piece.

Other ways of sharpening

Grinding rust damaged tool

POWER SHARPENING

It is significantly faster to sharpen the tools on an electrical grinder with carbon-emery disk. Low-speed grinders are
suitable, their disks are partly submerged in water which ensures cooling. Machines having a horizontally rotating
disc on which the water flows are also suitable. Using conventional grinding machines with a higher speed without cooling can easily cause overheating of the edge which turns blue, therefore the blade is losing the original hardness. Then this part has to be grind off.
After grinding on carborundum disc we whet it at a higher speed on a felt disk, on which we spread the polishing paste. We place the cutting-edge on the disk in direction of disc rotation, so it cannot cut into the disc. The inner polished side of the blade is suitable to whet with a felt disk, which will adapt to the shape of the chisel.

CAUTION

M – Stein is not responsible for damage or injury caused by improper use of tools and other sold products. Tool has a cutting edge, therefore advising consumers to take extra safety at work and handling, use protective clothing.
Abrasives are not edible. Keep out of reach of children. For children and beginners, we recommend working under the
supervision of experienced user.
Well sharpened chisel cuts easily and leaves a smooth, shiny gash.
I wish you much success and I hope that our tools will bring you more pleasure to your work.
Peter Mészáros