05-08-2021, 08:57 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-08-2021, 08:58 AM by adamcherubini.)
(05-05-2021, 01:41 PM)5thumbs Wrote: My Grandfather, who served in WW1, spent his entire life as a finish carpenter. He worked in some of the finest houses on the main line in Philadelphia. When he passed, he had a coarse and a fine stone in a can in his workshop. Both were rounded but he could put an edge on a chisel or plane that would shave hair. (He used to do this to me when I visited him.)Yeah and chestnut I’m sure in philly.
He once told me that the shape of the stone didn't matter, it was the angle of the steel to the stone. The old man didn't spend any more time than necessary sharpening his chisels, he counted that time as wasted, so he evolved an efficient method of sharpening that worked for him.
By the way, he mostly worked with oak, birch, and cherry. I think he would have laughed at modern sharpening methods.
I asked Underhill if he ever flattened his oil stones and he looked at me like I was speaking some space alien clicking language and walked away.
Flattening the back of an iron isn’t really necessary or rooted in science. We do it and it works okay, but it probably isn’t something people have ever worried about. I think we have put a tremendous effort into something that gives us very little benefit. The act of working a large area of hardened steel has created the need for exceptionally fast cutting abrasives. Our technique has produced the problem and given rise to an industry.
Last, I’m particularly tickled by “new” techniques like the ruler trick which is just one more nod to the old ways, but now “discovered”. Freehand sharpening isn’t that hard. I encourage folks to do what I did; Try it for some extended period of time. Don’t give up after your first attempt results in a poor quality edge.