Perhaps I should have sent this tip to one of the woodworking magazines and won myself an apron or some other token but I just discovered it and want some feedback. I’ll let someone else take credit and win the prize. Now, should the prize happen to be a Lie-Nielsen plane (dreamer) I might feel differently.
Anyway, here’s the tip: I normally use the scary-sharp method for sharpening. I settled on this method after years of using other methods. I think I tried them all. Now I usually migrate to Florida in the winter and have a reduced shop down here. I try to bring essential tools for which I have no duplicates. This year I forgot to bring my microabrasive paper and plate glass so I was forced to turn to a DMT diamond stone I keep here. As I was using it I remembered how useful a nogura (sp) was to whip up a slurry on my Jap water stones. Then it dawned on me that I might get a nice slurry if I poured a bit of my wife’s “Soft Scrub” onto the diamond plate.
It worked! A great slurry that not only aided the sharpening but did a nice job of cleaning my diamond plate. Try it! If it works for you, send in the tip! Win an apron! Win free plans for a bird house. Win an embroidered cap. Or, post a reply here telling me I don’t know what I’m talking about. I just know it works for me and I do like sharp tools and, after a very long learning curve, pride myself in my sharpening skills. I don’t know the size of the abrasive in Soft Scrub but my guess is they are probably less than 5 microns. I know you can use the product to polish metals. Try it! You might like it.
Joe
Edited 1/9/2007 11:10 pm ET by joeBleau
Replies
Is a nogura(sp) something like a lugie(sp) ?
Omah,
A Nagura stone is a softer chalky stone that is rubbed on a fine/extra fine water stone to produce a mud-like slurry. It speeds the sharpening and polishing of the plane iron, chisel, etc.
BTW, where in northern NM do you live? Albuquerque here.Beste Wünschen auf ein glückliches und wohlbehaltenes Neues Jahr!
Tschüß!
Mit freundlichen holzbearbeitungischen Grüßen aus dem Land der Rio Grande!!
James
The Beautiful Espanola Valley. I actually live in La Mesilla. Sorry about the lugie comment but that's what my dear old dad used to do. I used to get so mad, now I'd give a millon bucks to have him lugie up my sharpening stones again. We have a little shop up here and make all kinds of furiture and cabinets. Eclectic stuff you know how that
Santa FE market is. Any way if your around the area do drop in. visitors are always welcome.
Saw your tip. I'm in Canada and wew don't always have access to goods you have. My question is: what is Soft Scrub?
scrub?
Soft Scrub is a cleaning agent sold in most supermarkets in the U.S. I just saw in another thread that someone else was stating that another U.S. product called "Barkeepers Friend" did the same thing but I can not vouch for this. I suppose it comes down to the fineness of the abrasive used in the cleaner. Part of "Soft Scrubs" sales pitch is that "it never scratches." I guess this is an indication of the fineness of the abrasives used. Look for a similar abrasive household cleaner in Canada and give it a try. It wont be hard to tell whether or not it is working. If it is leaving scratch marks and not polishing the steel then the abrasive is too coarse. Good luck.
My guess was that it probably would resemle a canadian product called "Bon Ami", which you don't get down there (their motto is "Hasn't scratched yet!" with a picture of fresh-hatched chick right above). I'll try it soon and see what goes.
Bon Ami! It used to be very popular in the U.S. Don't see it around so much anymore. Somehow I do not think it originated in Quebec (Good Friend). Rather I think it is a very old American product. Mais, peut-etre je me trompe et c'est un veritable produit Quebecois. Qui sait?
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