Paul Sellers sharpening system, which diamond stones?

[adamcherubini]

Until Warren starts posting videos, the pikers on YouTube are all we have for occasional entertainment.  Shall I hold my breath? 

Allow me to enlighten you, Charles. I’ve known Warren for many years and he has informally taught many of us and I feel quite privileged to have worked with him, learned from him, and call him friend.

Long before I met Warren, while exhibiting hand made furniture on the reproduction furniture circuit, I got to rub elbows with some of the industry’s best. I invited them to my booth, where I was demoing 18th hand work, thinking all those repro guys would get a kick out of repro tools*. Long story short, all those builders advertised hand made furniture, and many or most made gorgeous pieces, with beautiful carvings and hand made features. But those builders were not hand tool people. Few could operate a hand saw. Chuck Bender was there that day and was an obvious stand out among them.

I later learned the best parts of the best pieces were farmed out to a hand tool woodworker living in the Lancaster Pa area. Guess who that was? Some of the best builders were hiring Warren to do the tricky parts.

Warren’s work and influence may not be obvious. Blame me for that. When I get a chance, I’ll try to get an invite and I’ll shoot some video. Warren’s hand skills are the real deal. He’s an outstanding carver, and spring pole turner, and he’s got the muscle memory and dexterity of a master with a lifetime of experience.

There used to be hand plane competitions. I think they put the planes on an inclined board and they’d measure how far they would travel on their own, taking super thin shavings. Warren won every year with an old Stanley #4. He out sharpened the competition.

Like Chuck Bender, Warren also has an artistic eye, able to dissect curves, patterns, and proportions. He’s seen and owns a good deal of 18th century furniture. They call that a “trained eye” in the industry. For me, it’s a game changer. We don’t really talk enough about that subject because most woodworkers I know hate the art history stuff. But it’s so important. Combine that with even hand tool competency, and I think you’ve got something. Not easy to make a YouTube video about that. I’ve tried writing about that a couple times.

*the tools I brought to the designer craftsman show that year (1999, 2000?) included repros of the Kenyon saws which I built and tested for years before sharing the designs with Mike Wenzloff (who made prettier and better versions than I ever did).

One of the things we did that day was try to saw the thinnest shaving off the end of a board without breaking it. This was my brother’s trick, who was also a phenomenal boat builder and woodworker (Google Cherubini yachts to see his work). That trick was the start of the hand tool Olympics. I enlisted Mike Siemsen at the first Woodworking In America to try it, we got Rob Lee to join in. That was really all my brother teaching that if you saw a board to length and get it wrong, it can be very difficult to make a small change with a hand saw. Takes skill and muscle memory.

Sorry this was so long, but hopefully stories long overdue telling.

[Ricky]

..............
Not a bad idea...particularly since it's getting a little snarky in here.

You gotta tread carefully when discussing politics, religion or sharpening.

[Timberwolf]

You gotta tread carefully when discussing politics, religion or sharpening.

,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

[ChuckHill]

Thank you Adam, very enlightening.

[Derek Cohen]

Thank you Adam. It is good - even heartwarming - to hear such a positive review of Warren.

Warren, I know you will read this: if I give you a hard time, it is because it is evident to all, even Blind Freddy, that you have much to teach, but on the fori you only point out failings, and not what specifically to try instead. In my world, a mentor supports but also actively guides another. It would be a great learning experience to have your constructive criticism.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Danny in Houston]

One thing I don't get about Sellers - when I used to visit Homestead Heritage, everything there was organic and home grown.  After a morning of woodworking class we would eat lunch at the restaurant,  fresh lemon aide using lemons grown organically on the property, with sugar from cane grown on the property, water from a well, beef raised by the site, fresh bread created by Amish-looking women.  It was a utopia!  

But then I see Paul using WD-40 as a lubricant for sharpening - OMG that stuff smells horrible!  Makes me sick thinking about it.  I use Jacoba oil (spelling?) or sometimes mineral oil but OMG WD-40???  Reminds me of my Dad using gasoline to clean paint brushes when I was a kid.

[Ricky]

But then I see Paul using WD-40 as a lubricant for sharpening - OMG that stuff smells horrible!  Makes me sick thinking about it.  I use Jacoba oil (spelling?) or sometimes mineral oil but OMG WD-40???  Reminds me of my Dad using gasoline to clean paint brushes when I was a kid.

I've seen a lot of his sharpening videos but I missed that one.  He normally recommends auto glass cleaner as the lubricant. Not exactly Amish and organic but not WD-40.  

[CStan]

Allow me to enlighten you, Charles. I’ve known Warren for many years and he has informally taught many of us and I feel quite privileged to have worked with him, learned from him, and call him friend.

Long before I met Warren, while exhibiting hand made furniture on the reproduction furniture circuit, I got to rub elbows with some of the industry’s best. I invited them to my booth, where I was demoing 18th hand work, thinking all those repro guys would get a kick out of repro tools*. Long story short, all those builders advertised hand made furniture, and many or most made gorgeous pieces, with beautiful carvings and hand made features. But those builders were not hand tool people. Few could operate a hand saw. Chuck Bender was there that day and was an obvious stand out among them.

I later learned the best parts of the best pieces were farmed out to a hand tool woodworker living in the Lancaster Pa area. Guess who that was? Some of the best builders were hiring Warren to do the tricky parts.

Warren’s work and influence may not be obvious. Blame me for that. When I get a chance, I’ll try to get an invite and I’ll shoot some video. Warren’s hand skills are the real deal. He’s an outstanding carver, and spring pole turner, and he’s got the muscle memory and dexterity of a master with a lifetime of experience.

There used to be hand plane competitions. I think they put the planes on an inclined board and they’d measure how far they would travel on their own, taking super thin shavings. Warren won every year with an old Stanley #4. He out sharpened the competition.

Like Chuck Bender, Warren also has an artistic eye, able to dissect curves, patterns, and proportions. He’s seen and owns a good deal of 18th century furniture. They call that a “trained eye” in the industry. For me, it’s a game changer. We don’t really talk enough about that subject because most woodworkers I know hate the art history stuff. But it’s so important. Combine that with even hand tool competency, and I think you’ve got something. Not easy to make a YouTube video about that. I’ve tried writing about that a couple times.

*the tools I brought to the designer craftsman show that year (1999, 2000?) included repros of the Kenyon saws which I built and tested for years before sharing the designs with Mike Wenzloff (who made prettier and better versions than I ever did).

One of the things we did that day was try to saw the thinnest shaving off the end of a board without breaking it. This was my brother’s trick, who was also a phenomenal boat builder and woodworker (Google Cherubini yachts to see his work). That trick was the start of the hand tool Olympics. I enlisted Mike Siemsen at the first Woodworking In America to try it, we got Rob Lee to join in. That was really all my brother teaching that if you saw a board to length and get it wrong, it can be very difficult to make a small change with a hand saw. Takes skill and muscle memory.

Sorry this was so long, but hopefully stories long overdue telling.

At this point, it would take a portfolio stuffed with the most breathtakingly difficult Georgian and other period English reproductions to move the needle for me.  It's all a bunch of blather on endless loop about tool steel, cap irons, Roubo, and seminal moments from 1974.  Everybody who's ever set up a shop has done Shaker, American Country, and stripped down Federal.  Couldn't care less about it.  I'm sick of it myself.  Aren't you? I also couldn't effing care less who can take the thinnest shaving with a Stanley No. 4, and the inanity required to actually find out is really just off the charts, except maybe for some late Friday afternoon horsing around before quittin' time.

Leaving today on the first real vacation we've had in a while. A break from my own mediocrity will be most welcome. So, won't be here for the follow-up. We'll pick it up again later, or not.

FWIW, posting Doucette and Wolfe videos from YouTube works like Kryptonite when the BS starts getting too deep. Nothing like "sub-standard" Lie Nielsen tools being handled flawlessly and cheap Irwin bench chisels cutting perfect dovetails to *magically* get certain people out of a thread. :-)

Adios!

[bandit571]

Hey...J.A.S.T.


Just
Another
Sharpening
Thread

Same Old,Same Old.....

If'n ya can't dazzle them with your Brilliance..Baffle them with.....

[adamcherubini]

Leaving today on the first real vacation we've had in a while.  A break from my own mediocrity will be most welcome.  So, won't be here for the follow-up.  We'll pick it up again later,
Adios!

Enjoy your vacation, my friend. I’m going to try to sneak out in September. Like you, it’s been a while.