Hollow Grinding:

Necessity or Relic?

Just received my new set of chisels from you guys, and I understand they need sharpening before they're ready to use. I've learned enough about sharpening to know that I need to hollow-grind the bevels before I hone them. Just one problem: I don't have a grinder. Can you suggest another way to create a hollow grind?

Better yet, we'll suggest that you dispense with hollow grinding entirely. Despite what you may have read or been told, hollow grinding isn't a necessity; it's simply an unavoidable by-product of using a bench grinder. Luckily for you, you're decades beyond being stuck with technology that mandates using a grinder to speed up the sharpening process. Waterstones, diamond stones, ceramic stones and even sandpaper available these days make sharpening so fast and efficient that you can sharpen most tools from rough to razor edge entirely by hand, working the entire surface of the bevel, without ever feeling the need to resort to a grinder. Technically, of course, a flat bevel is stronger and stiffer than a hollow ground bevel anyway. But by all means, order a bench grinder from us at once! They're very useful tools, and they're the right choice for major re-grinding work when tools are broken or badly misshapen.