From Fine Woodworking #165

I’ve accumulated a motley collection of handplanes and chisels over the years. Some are decent tools (a set of Stanley chisels made in the 1940s), some are strictly utilitarian (solid-steel Klein chisels made for electricians who need to chop out floor joists), and until recently, none of them were razor sharp.

As a matter of fact, I confess that I’ve used those chisels to open paint cans rather than walk the length of the shop to retrieve a screwdriver. In the never-ending debate of hand tools versus machine tools, I’ve always leaned heavily toward the latter. On an average day, you’d find my jointer knives in a lot better shape than my handplane blades.

To me, sharpening always seemed to be a dreadful chore—in part, I think, because I never had the luxury of a good instructor. Also, I was using some of the wrong equipment. I had bought a 3,600-rpm grinder that came with two silicon-carbide wheels. If I were buying a new grinder now, I’d get an 1,800-rpm machine. For stones I owned a cheap oilstone with a medium grit on one side and a fine grit on the other. I destroyed a chisel by overheating it the first time I used the grinder, and it wasn’t long before the oilstone, which sat out on a workbench, got clogged with fine sawdust and dished in the center on both sides.

In no time and out of desperation, I turned to my 6-in. edge sander to sharpen the edges of chisels and plane blades. Call it overkill, but a worn 120-grit belt on the edge sander worked well enough to bring a really dull edge back to a point where it could at least cut wood.

In the process of organizing a new basement shop and fed up with dull tools, I decided to improve my sharpening setup. Of all the articles about sharpening that this magazine has published over the years, the one that intrigued me most was in FWW #140, and it documented Mike Dunbar’s system of sandpaper glued to a 3⁄8-in.-thick by 40-in.-long piece of glass. I liked his no-nonsense approach toward keeping tools sharp. But considering some of the obvious consequences, even Dunbar’s method had its drawbacks for me. My new basement shop is small and has a concrete floor—40 in. of bench space is a lot of dedicated real estate in a small shop, and it’s not hard to envision a future of sweeping up shards of broken glass.

For the full article, download the PDF below.

Fine Woodworking Recommended Products

Veritas Micro-Adjust Wheel Marking Gauge

The adjuster runs through the beam from a small knob at the back end right to the cutting wheel, which moves in and out as you turn the knob. This arrangement works well but makes adjustments a two-handed operation, requiring a little more effort.

Buy at Lee Valley

Compass

An essential tool for drawing circles and curves accurately. Also good for layout.

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Preppin' Weapon

The Preppin' Weapon allows you to use a 1/4 of a sheet of sandpaper, incredibly comfortable to use, and you can switch out sandpaper easily.

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