05-19-2016, 10:29 AM
One day long ago, the bright and shiny Veritas tool rest leapt from its shipping box--ready to go to work. Eighteen years later, it is tired and sad. It is time to move on.
I began woodworking as a small child but was a late student of metalcraft--backing in sort of. I had a small collection of combination planes which had very few blades to share. It seemed to me that making some cutters would be simple. Ha! Thus began an adventure. My first tool rest was a wooden dowel. I built a frame around my grinder and positioned the dowel appropriately for freehand grinding. It was a wooden dowel but it worked great for touch up work. Of course, it lit up once I started doing serious grinding. Lee Valley came to my rescue with their adjustable tool rest. I upgraded my grinder from a 5" Craftsman to a 6" Wilton and added the Veritas jig.
Blade production picked up over time and somewhere in the 500+ range, I noticed that the aluminum surface disliked rough hot steel. I replaced it with a steel plate and continued.
Later I upgraded to an 8" grinder for rough work and added a Wolverine jig for heavy duty work. The little grinder was repurposed for finish work. But everything comes to an end. Even though I freehanded thousands of cutters and plane blades on that little jig, it was beginning to fail me. Or was it my failing hands? The freehanded edges were not coming out square without lots of effort. Time to replace the Veritas and use a blade holder.
A sad sight indeed. What a hard working little tool. But alas, nothing lasts forever. There is always a new kid who has fewer barnacles and more energy. This one has been hanging around the shop for years. It is his time to go to work.
So here is the old dude passing the torch to the new kid. Time for the next thousand blades.
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Please visit my website
splintermaking.com
Please visit my website
splintermaking.com
