04-25-2020, 11:12 PM
I got interested in woodworking when I was still living in Europe and restored a beautiful dresser from the 1700s that had been painted at least 10 times.
Over the years I developed an admiration for woodworkers who use hand tools for their craft. I tried my hand on a few saws, planes and chisels myself but used neither much in my attempts to build useful things. Mostly, because I couldn't figure out how to get a sharp edge on chisels and blades.
So far, I bought around 20 different planes - I like to look and restore them. I also have about 30 different chisels. All of those, with very few exceptions are very old.
My real abilities, I found out, are in buying expensive stuff. I have several honing guides, I bought several different types of wetstones, honing film for the 'scary sharp' edge, and I attended a weekend class. A cranky old guy did a good job explaining all the types of planes and scrapers and how to use them. We learned how to sharpen chisels and planer blades with nothing but water safe sandpaper glued to boards. Unfortunately, during the class I didn't get my blades as sharp as I wanted them. So I went out and bought the same slow speed grinder and the same tool holding setup Mr. Cranky had.
That didn't make any difference at all. Not once did I pass the ultimate test, shaving the hair off my hand or arms.
So now, with plenty of quarantine time on my hands, I decided to do ignore all past frustration and finally master the art of making metal edges. I pulled out the worst blade I had sitting in a drawer. And I also got out a 1000/6000 wetstone and, for the first time, a leather strip (genuine horse butt) and some green stropping paste. In the countless videos I watched, there was either no stropping or it was mentioned very briefly and at the end. So in my mind - probably not a game changer.
I was so wrong all these years. After getting the rust off that blade, I got it into the fancy 100+ bucks honing guide and did what I've done many times - back and fort on 1000, then 6000 grit. When I was done the blade wasn't dull, but the hair on the back of my hand was safe. Nice polish on the edges, not super sharp.
Then the stropping. Green paste on the leather, freehand backwards and forward. Then a couple of strokes on the compound-less side. My attempt to shave my left arm left me with a big bald spot. I was ecstatic to say the least. The piece of skin that I also shaved on my arm did not matter one bit.
On a prominent shelf on my wall of tools rested a brand new Clifton 5 1/2 plane, made in Sheffield, that I picked up for a good price a while back. I had promised myself then not to touch that blade unless I had figured out how to get it really sharp. I felt, that time had come today.
I admired its beauty as I had done several times before, while I disassembled it and separated chip breaker and blade. While I applied the same technique with stropping at the end to that virgin piece of metal, I noticed that strange lip on the flat side of the blade. 'How am I supposed to give this the flat side treatment, I need to email the factory and complain', I thought while I tried to be as precise as I could on wetstone and horse butt. Same beautiful result - very sharp. I was more careful shaving my hand this time.
Boy was I looking forward to trying this on that piece of maple I had dug out of the wood pile for that purpose.
Turns out I couldn't do that right away, though. Because when grabbing all the parts for reassembly, I realized that I had sharpened, really really sharpened, the chipbreaker.
After sitting down, pondering the possibility to maybe do stamp collecting or knitting instead of wood working, I decided to sharpen the blade too.
What do you think?
Over the years I developed an admiration for woodworkers who use hand tools for their craft. I tried my hand on a few saws, planes and chisels myself but used neither much in my attempts to build useful things. Mostly, because I couldn't figure out how to get a sharp edge on chisels and blades.
So far, I bought around 20 different planes - I like to look and restore them. I also have about 30 different chisels. All of those, with very few exceptions are very old.
My real abilities, I found out, are in buying expensive stuff. I have several honing guides, I bought several different types of wetstones, honing film for the 'scary sharp' edge, and I attended a weekend class. A cranky old guy did a good job explaining all the types of planes and scrapers and how to use them. We learned how to sharpen chisels and planer blades with nothing but water safe sandpaper glued to boards. Unfortunately, during the class I didn't get my blades as sharp as I wanted them. So I went out and bought the same slow speed grinder and the same tool holding setup Mr. Cranky had.
That didn't make any difference at all. Not once did I pass the ultimate test, shaving the hair off my hand or arms.
So now, with plenty of quarantine time on my hands, I decided to do ignore all past frustration and finally master the art of making metal edges. I pulled out the worst blade I had sitting in a drawer. And I also got out a 1000/6000 wetstone and, for the first time, a leather strip (genuine horse butt) and some green stropping paste. In the countless videos I watched, there was either no stropping or it was mentioned very briefly and at the end. So in my mind - probably not a game changer.
I was so wrong all these years. After getting the rust off that blade, I got it into the fancy 100+ bucks honing guide and did what I've done many times - back and fort on 1000, then 6000 grit. When I was done the blade wasn't dull, but the hair on the back of my hand was safe. Nice polish on the edges, not super sharp.
Then the stropping. Green paste on the leather, freehand backwards and forward. Then a couple of strokes on the compound-less side. My attempt to shave my left arm left me with a big bald spot. I was ecstatic to say the least. The piece of skin that I also shaved on my arm did not matter one bit.
On a prominent shelf on my wall of tools rested a brand new Clifton 5 1/2 plane, made in Sheffield, that I picked up for a good price a while back. I had promised myself then not to touch that blade unless I had figured out how to get it really sharp. I felt, that time had come today.
I admired its beauty as I had done several times before, while I disassembled it and separated chip breaker and blade. While I applied the same technique with stropping at the end to that virgin piece of metal, I noticed that strange lip on the flat side of the blade. 'How am I supposed to give this the flat side treatment, I need to email the factory and complain', I thought while I tried to be as precise as I could on wetstone and horse butt. Same beautiful result - very sharp. I was more careful shaving my hand this time.
Boy was I looking forward to trying this on that piece of maple I had dug out of the wood pile for that purpose.
Turns out I couldn't do that right away, though. Because when grabbing all the parts for reassembly, I realized that I had sharpened, really really sharpened, the chipbreaker.
After sitting down, pondering the possibility to maybe do stamp collecting or knitting instead of wood working, I decided to sharpen the blade too.
What do you think?
To do is to be (Camus)
To be is to do (Sartre)
Doo Bee Doo Bee Doo (Sinatra)
To be is to do (Sartre)
Doo Bee Doo Bee Doo (Sinatra)
