Sharpening...yeah, everyone has to do it.

So here is a quick little note about what I do with sharpening. I figured since I got to experience it first hand (pun kind of intended), I would spend a few minutes on it. It seems like everyone does, so why not. In general, the method that I currently use is sandpaper. It works, and to start out, it's nice and inexpensive. In the long run...not so much. My more permanent method will likely include diamond stones, but I still have about 6 months of good paper left to use, so until that time, no life-altering decision required.

I keep all my sharpening supplies in a little cabinet I made when I first started a little over a year ago. It is actually the only thing I've made out of plywood. It keeps all my sharpening tools clean, organized, and near-to-hand. It's not perfect in form, but its function is spot on.

There are three removable trays sitting on guide rails that contain all of my grits glued to sheets of glass and mounted on 3/8" plywood. At the top is a removable drawer that holds my sharpening jig, polishing compound, a small screwdriver for removing cap irons and tightening iron in the jig.

I also set up a jig to maintain consistent angles when sharpening. This makes sharpening sessions repeatable which is incredibly important. I have one station set up for establishing a primary bevel on planes. Another station sets the secondary bevel, and the final station is for chisels. I do the secondary bevel on chisels by hand. This is on the right in the picture, held in place by the holdfast.

Someone may want to know how often I sharpen...well, that depends on the tool, the type of wood you're working with, how much you used the tool, and how hard you are on the tools and the tasks being performed. My chisels I sharpen constantly. No, I do not start at 220 up to 2500 and then polishing on the strop every time. Instead, I keep the strop handy, and when I start to feel a difference in the chisel, I polish it. A couple quick swipes is generally all I need. When more than that is needed, I'll usually start around 1000 and work my way up 2 grits to the 2500 and then polish. You'll find that sharpening can be super fast if you stay on top of it. The more dull the tool is, the more time it takes to get it sharp again because you have to start at lower grits to reestablish the bevel edge.

All together, my 4 Stanley plane irons and 5 chisels take about 45 minutes for me to sharpen. If I've got some heavy sharpening to do, that could easily double my time (nicks or establishing a new bevel). This is why I generally sharpen before any project begins or when I can notice a difference in the working of the tool--I don't like to spend a lot of time sharpening. A good time for me is at the end of a project. Since I pull my irons and clean all the shavings and dust out of my planes, 1/3 of the job s already started. Keeping everything pretty sharp and never letting my tools get dull means I am not forced to spend a lot of time mid-project on re-sharpening. Cleaning an edge up a little? Sure. Not full-on sharpening, though.

So, I guess that's about all I can think of right now on this subject, unless someone asks me something that I missed. Oh, what is sharp? It changes the more you do it. The better I get at sharpening, my mark for sharp tools keeps moving up. I have a feeling it will keep doing that.

Until the next one,
Josh