My Sharpening Regime

Much has been written over the years about sharpening hand tools and it seems that everybody has their preferred method but much of it seems to me to be trying to design a better mouse trap. A lot of fuss and effort to produce an exact same result as the old traditional method. Some of them are really expensive but do no more than the traditional sharpening method. For instance someone on Gumtree was selling his old sharpening station for $1,800 second hand which still required you to use a sharpening stone and/or strop after you had finished there. 

In this entry I will describe what I do to sharpen and why I use that method. Although I could spend many pages going through all of the various methods devised over the years most people would not bother to read it and this has been done so many times elsewhere.

The principle I adopt is simplicity coupled with tradition. The method I use has been used since time immemorial in both the western and eastern tradition in one form or another. It was the method my dad used and the method I was taught at school will little variation.

It is basically a two step method. A rotating stone for rough grinding to establish a bevel then stones to refine the edge. If you want a super sharp edge then stropping can provide a third step which is useful for knives or razors but I don't bother for hand tools. There may be a pre-first step of linishing for restoring old tools such as in the picture to the left but that is not part of an edge maintenance regime.

Step one is grinding the primary bevel. I do this on a grinding stone on a medium speed grinder. This is often mistakenly called a high speed grinder, it is not. An 8" high speed grinder uses resin wheels and spins at over 6,000 RPM. Your medium speed grinder is the most common type and runs at about 1800 RPM. The best grinder for this step is a slow speed wet grinder that runs at 600 - 800 RPM and runs in a bath of water. This keeps the steel cool and produces a much finer edge but is very expensive and can cost up to $1,000.

The grinder I use is an 8" medium speed grinder and uses a white aluminium oxide wheel. They can be had for $100 for a cheapish unit up to several hundred for a name brand. The white wheel runs cooler and creates a finer finish but does wear more quickly. I use a $20 diamond dresser to maintain a clean wheel and a slightly convex face on the wheel. The convex face will help prevent burning of the edge. I also keep a pot of water next to the grinder and dip the tool into the water after every pass. I set the tool rest angle by eye against the existing bevel, but if I need to reset the primary angle I can use a protractor. I then grind the bevel by hand resting the chisel on the toolrest and continually dipping it in water.

Step two is the actual sharpening. I was taught with oils stones sharpening freehand. Although with careful attention I can still sharpen freehand I find that I get more consistent and faster results using a jig. Since it is not my day job (if it was I would refine my free hand skills) I cheat and resort to a jig. I now use a double sided water stone, 1000/6000 grit. The oil is somewhat messy and requires more careful cleaning so as not to transfer the oil to the wood. If I was super keen I could get an 8000 or 10000 grit stone but I get acceptable results from 6000. This combo stone is about $86 from Carbatech which is pretty good value. Ceramic stones do not require soaking, you just need to spray them with water but they are much more expensive. I use a 400  grit diamond plate to keep the water stone flat. A few strokes after each sharpening is sufficient. I use a $40 stone holder which is quite convenient. I keep a spray bottle of water next to me to make sure the stone is kept moist, especially if I am sharpening a number of tools at the same time.

The jig I use is the Veritas Sharpening Jig Mk II which is $109. It comes with a gauge to set the angle accurately. I also added a camber roller for $38 which allows me to round the edges of smoothing plane blades.

I use a few strokes to establish the secondary bevel at 1000 then flip the stone and apply a few strokes to polish the bevel. If you apply a gentle pressure to the tool then you will not round over the edge. This is one of the biggest mistakes at this stage. Too much pressure may cause the bevel to distort and round over the edge and create a large burr which will produce a less than perfect edge. The burr must be extremely fine, almost impossible to detect. Once the edge is polished remove the tool from the jig and polish the back on the 6000 stone. Job done.

Using this method your ongoing costs are nil. After your initial outlay your grinding wheel, stones and diamond plate should last indefinitely. You do not need the more expensive Veritas jig, your side griping jigs which can be had for under $20 are just as effective if you are careful. You can set up a wood jig with depth stops for your common angles to make setting your bevel angles faster using the side griping jig. Although a wet grinder is better it is a lot more expensive compared to your regular medium speed grinder. The only thing I need now is a dedicated sharpening station. I really only need a small wet area with a laminex bench top set to a convenient height to allow me to lay out my water bath stone lapping plate and jig. If it is relatively close to your working area, but not close enough to get covered in shavings you will be into the semis without dropping a set.

My sharpening resources are;

• 1000/6000 combination water stone
• 400 diamond lapping plate
• Sharpening jig
• Stone holder
• Water bath
• 8" bench grinder with fine white stone

 Also when I get around to it a sharpening station.

Wood Lathe Tool Holder Repair

I was foolishly trying to round a large piece of tree stump which was out of round and the roughing gouge caught on the wood and broke my cast iron tool holder. The tool holder (as I discovered) was probably not flat and not very heavy so it was really only designed for lightish work.

When I looked up replacements they were of the order of $160. After some research I decided to fabricate one from bits of steel I had lying about the place.

Parts list

• Length of 15mm square steel
• 75mm x 5mm flat steel
• 3/4" water pipe
• 10mm nut
• Eccentric bar and circlips (recovered from  the old tool rest)
• Bed securing assembly (recovered from  the old tool rest)

I started by cutting the 15mm steel square into two lengths  the length of the old holder less 10mm for the two end plates. I put a small 45 deg chamferon the corners of the bars to take the weld. From the flat steel I then cut two pieces one for each end, the one at the tool rest end being higher to cater for the tool rest. I then cut a short piece of the 3/4 water pipe for the tool rest.

I drilled two 20mm holes in the end places centered across and 5mm up from the bottom. I then welded these plates onto the 15mm bars I cut previously. This left a gap of about 50mm in the center for the eccentric bar. I then welded the piece of 3/4" pipe to the inside of the longer end plate to take the tool rest. After drilling a 10mm hole in the side of the pipe, using a short piece of threaded rod as a gauge, I welded a 10mm nut to the pipe to take the tool rest securing screw. I used a 10mm tap to clean up any splatter that obstructed the thread and to cater for any misalignment with the 10mm hole in the pipe.

The assembly was now complete. I then reassembled it and tested it on the lathe bed.

My thanks to Kryn over at the Woodworking Forums for the idea.

Veritas Scrub Plane

The scrub plane is not so much as a particular plan design so much as a method of preparing and using a regular bench plane. The purpose of a scrub plane is to easily remove a lot of stock to either thickness a board or to remove surface irregularities such as cupping or twist.

A scrub plane is identified by the severe radius on the blade, typically about 75mm. This allows the plane to rapidly remove a lot of wood very fast. In the past timber framers would use a scrub plane to size timbers for sockets or joints. Also cabinet makes would use a scrub plane to size timers before finishing them with the jointer and smoother. Any bench plane (except perhaps a jointer) could be made into a scrub plane by simply shaping the blade with a sharp radius. In fact many hand tool woodworkers keep separate blades for a bench plane with a severe radius to use as a scrub.

Since the scrub is pretty much "brute force and ignorance" it does not need any of the refinements and sophistication of your regular bench plane so Veritas has produced a bare bones plane that has a very simple body a single securing screw and an iron radiused at 75mm. They call this the Veritas Scrub Plane.

The body is about the same length as a jack so it is ideal for flattening boards as well as thicknessing. My old bench consists of three planks of 50x200x2000 jarrah and the centre plank has about a 2-3mm cup. I used my new Veritas Scrub Plane to flatten out this cup before smoothing it in preparation for jointing the edges for a glue up.

The scrub plane was a dream to use and made very short work of the section in the photo to the right.

I had a chance to pick up this plane second hand for the price of a quality plane iron which saves having to reset the plane every time I want to use a scrub plane.

The Veritas scrub plane is simple easy to use and is an excellent addition to the hand tool workers kit.

Jarrah Modem Shelf

My ADSL modem was sitting on a music stand in the laundry And looking rather untidy with cables going every which way. A friend gave me the idea of making a custom shelf for it.

I have a load of jarrah paneling which was recovered from the Port Adelaide wool sheds in the 80s.

I took a piece of this, about 100 wide and 1200 long and cut it in three and jointed four edges. I then glued the two pieces together to make a piece that was about 250x400. I wanted the shelf to be about 200x300 wide. After resurfacing the faces on the thicknesser I cut out the piece to length and then cut it length wise which  gave me one piece for the top then another which I could glue to the bottom of the back edge which I could use to secure the shelf to the wall.

I wanted a cut out at the back to take the cables so I made a template which would make about a 25x50 mm  cut out on both pieces. This would allow all the cabes to be routed via the back of the shelf to keep it tidy. I had to buy a 40mm x 12 mm patten bit since my patten bit was not long enough. I secured the patten to the pieces using double sided tape and then routed out the recess.

I then routed a 12mm round over on all of the edges except for the front top of the rear piece and rear edges of the front piece where they joined and the back of the rear piece which sat against the wall. I then glued the rear piece to the bottom back of the top at right angles. Once the glue dried I Used a couple of pocket hole screws to reinforce the joint.

After scraping off the excess glue I used a small block plane to clean up any slight overlap of the joint.

I finally sanded to 320 grit using a random orbital sander and applied 2 coats of a home made wiping oil varnish mix. This left a film of oil after it dried so I wiped that off using a clean cotton rag and then applied a finishing wax which I buffed in by hand using a cotton rag.

I mounted it to the gyprock with  some wall board fasteners. I did not bother locating it to the studs since the modem is just a few hundred grams.

The wood ended up with a nice deep red look with a natural finish. It is not subject to rough treatment so I thought that this was sufficient.

The finishing touch was some flexible cable ducting to keep it looking tidy.

It still has the marks of the various uses that the wood has had over the years which speaks of the history of the wood. I took no pains to disguise that since it does not detract from its purpose and adds character to the whole project.

I have more ideas for how to reuse the wood I have recovered as well as other unused pieces that the original owner and builder (now sadly passed) has left behind. All of the projects will have a similar character and I may even make a mounted plaque telling the story, just an idea at the moment.

My next project using this wood is a little more ambitious and will be a bathroom cabinet with glass doors.

Bandsaw Discovery

I have been looking for a bandsaw for a while now, or to be exact two bandsaws. I wanted a larger one for resaw and a smaller unit for cutting curves. There was a bargain 14" that went on Gumtree a month or so ago but I missed that one by hours.

On the other hand there was an old 24" cast iron monstrosity in Gumtree for a number of weeks. I looked it on numerous occasions but it never really struck me until I took a more detailed look. It appeared to be ok so I rang up and arranged to see it in person. It ran fine so I agreed a price ($350) and proceeded to try to get it onto my 6x5 trailer. An hour later and after some considerable exertion we had it loaded onto the trailer. Gee it is heavy!

When I got it home I then began the task of extracting it from the trailer. I backed it up to the shed and started moving the band saw back off the trailer. A torn tendon in my right elbow did not make it any easier. When it was far enough back the base lowered onto the concrete of the shed. But it was still too heavy to lift up to the vertical. I then used some trailer tie downs secured to the shed beam to lift the top of the frame until it was balanced at which point I was able to easily move the band saw into a vertical position.

Two 6" square beams were welded to the base of the saw some time in the past and using these I was able to use a long wooden pole to maneuver the band saw round and get it onto some small round bars. Using the bars as rollers I was able to move the saw into position then I used the wooden beam again to get it into its final position and remove the rods.

The saw had a 1" (25 mm) blade and a single phase 2.5 HP motor. My first few tests proved that the blade was blunt, covered in resin and the motor was under powered. The blade drifted randomly and quite markedly to the left which I believe was due to a nice band of resin on the left side of the blade, the side that rids on the wheels. On investigation it transpired that the run capacitor on the motor was open circuit which caused the motor to run at roughly half power. After replacing the capacitor ($16.50) the saw started to operate without the motor constantly cutting out. I sent the blade off to get sharpened for $15. I also ordered a 5/8" (15 mm) blade for $45.

The upper guide consists of a rear bearing and two blocks of mild steel angled down to about 45 deg. It was set quite well by the previous owner. The lower guide needs some attention since the rear bearing is seized. I am contemplating replacing both the lower and upper guides with bearing guides. Whether I make a custom assembly or buy one is yet to be decided. I quite like the idea of custom making something and I am sure I have the necessary skills to do this.

 The lower cover is held on by two studs. Each stud was fabricated from a length of 3/4" round mild steel with a 1/2" W thread turned on either end. One end was screwed into the casting above either side of the lower wheel and the cover sat on the screws on the outer end of the studs on which was screwed using hand nuts to secure the cover. One of these studs was broken off in the casting. I used an easy out to remove the broken off stud from the inside of the saw. I then ground that end of the rod flat. I then used a drill and tap to create a 1/2" W thread in the stud. I cut a length of 1/2" threaded rod then re-secured the stud. However when I secured the cover it was rubbing on the lower wheel. I therefore placed a washer between the stud and the inner casting then another washer on the inside of the cover which spaced the cover perfectly.

The pulley cover (not pictured) no longer fits since it was designed for the original ,three phase motor which had a much lower mounting position. I would have to weld some studs or drill and tap new holes if I was to fit the cover to the machine as is. The other alternative is to weld some slotted mounts to make the cover adjustable.

All in all I am really pleased with the condition of the saw and how well it runs. It has a resaw capacity of just under 300mm and I think with a nice sharp blade I will not have any issues resawing very heavy timbers.

I am now in the market for a smaller saw for curved work.

Update: I got the blades back from the sharpener today and it cuts like butter with zero drift.

Veritas Minature Router Plane

I bought this plane to route a shallow (0.5mm) mortice for a label. I have only had it a day and used it on a test cut.

The plane is made from Stainless steel with bubinga knobs and A2 hardened steel blade. However the ferrule is aluminium which could be a concern considering the stability of the blade. The presentation box is a nice touch and should protect it (and prevent it from being lost in a junk drawer!)

It feels nice in the hand but I do not have overly large hands, I could imagine that if you have beefy hands it might be an issue. In use it is easy and convenient for those small jobs where space is an issue or more delicate jobs where a full sized router plane is too large.

The only issue I have is the stability of the blade. The blade needs a bit of fiddling to get it locked and stable. Every time I tightened it the blade worked its way loose. I found that I have to continuously move the blade slightly whilst locking it in with the securing screw to ensure that the blade was secured properly. I found this somewhat annoying and this made it difficult to adjust the depth accurately. This has the potential over time to wear the thread inside the aluminium ferrule. I am hoping that over time as the edges of the adjustments smooth over or I become more used to the securing mechanism it will be more reliable to secure the blade.

I paid AU$65 at my local woodworkers store which is rather expensive. Apart from the blade securing issue - which makes it feel lower quality than it really is - it is a very nice tool.

It is an extremely useful tool for doing those small jobs in tight corners.

My first project - ancient history

I took woodworking at school where I learned basic skills such as sawing, chisel, planing, sharpening and carving. After I left school I had some of my dad's tools which I supplemented with some basic tool purchases from an engineer's supply company where I worked at the time.

After I married we were not particularly well off so I decided to build a lounge suite to replace the various "fall apart" hand me downs. Since money was limited I used construction pine and selected pieces for their purpose. The lounge suite has long since gone to meet its maker so I cannot show you pictures of it.

The arms were wide 5x2 and the legs were 3x1 1/2. The cross members were 3x1 1/2 and the back frame was about 3x1 I think and the slats for the back were 1/2" by 2" and morticed into the frame for the back. The joinery was all mortice and tenon. A lot of the wood sizing is guesswork at this stage since it was built over 35 years ago. It consisted of a 2/3 seater and two singles. The 2/3 was wide enough for 3 average sized people or 2 larger built people. The image here is vaguely similar in style just to give you an idea. The legs were set back. The legs were narrower than the arms and the arms were curved in at the front outer edges to make them narrower at the front which gave it more of a sculpted look.

All of the joinery was hand cut and used resin glue for strength. It was finished with several coats of clear semi gloss poly.

The front and rear cross members were slotted using a circular saw for seat bottom straps and the wife made cushions for it using blocks of foam.

As I recall it did not cost a lot to build, the timber was extremely cheap. I spent more on the glue, poly and sundry tools than the timber. I was rather pleased despite my rather rudimentary skills. I recall that my joints were not particularly skilfully done but they were sound. The only annoying aspect was that the slope on the back was too steep and when you sat down and leaned back it was difficult to actually get out of it. You did not have the web sites specifying good furniture angles and dimensions as you do today. I used a lot of guess work. However I was really pleased with it as a first attempt and there were some design aspects that I was rather pleased with.

It actually (IMHO) looked quite nice and with nice cushions it functioned quite well except for the too steep back angle. It looked in proportion and did not look either clunky or spindly. It looked and felt solid. I made the arms especially wide to take a cup of tea or glass of beverage so they were in effect mini tables. It held together quite well considering the battering it got from one house move, two adults and four children. I had it for maybe six or seven years before being replaced by another second hand hand-me-down, and maybe for some time after to server as a backup.

I have rather nostalgic memories of it despite its limitations and I may make another attempt at re-making it this time with a better ergonomic design, nicer wood, more skilled joinery and nicer cushions.