An Introduction..."The best hand tools in the world are worthless in the hands of the woodworker who cannot sharpen them."
After reading and experimenting with, practicing and then studying the different techniques of sharpening Ive come to settle on a system that is working for me in my current shop space and thats good! A freshly sharpened hand tool can turn the most challenging joinery tasks into wonderful and relaxed procedures. Your work will be cleaner with tighter fitting joinery and your tools will perform as they were intended to the day they were made. The joys of working wood will be that much the greater.
In my own basement work space here in Toronto, Ive followed the line and Im happy with my results; but something Im not happy with and have been promising myself for months to address is my sharpening location and current set-up.
One day last year, I noticed a neighbour throwing out a small wooden table. I snatched it up, rescuing it from the eternal wasteland of the land fill site and have been using it as my sharpening table ever since. Prior to the table I was using a sharpening hook system I designed awhile ago. It was basically an over-sized bench hook with some cleats to hold water stones and a side area for stone storage. The sharpening hook worked when my bench top wasnt cluttered, (which if you know me you know that it hasnt happened much this past year!) so the routine of moving my work project or tools to make room for the sharpening hook soon became tiresome. The small throw achoice tables footprint has also become reminiscent of a drunken sailor on shore leave so Ive finally decided, with a little help from Fine Woodworking.com, to build a new bench dedicated to sharpening.
A small scale workbench with large scale workbench strength. The frame has mortise and tenon joinery with a solid 1" thick work surface that has bread board ends fitted into a heavy, through dovetailed apron.
It has a tool tray featuring a unique and convenient choice of actually holding tools ! (not just for the hamsters anymore) and Ive added some off the shelf items that will also add to the -dare I say- pleasure of sharpening?
Do you currently have a dedicated sharpening area? Is it a re-used piece of furniture or maybe a purpose made table or bench? Id love to hear about it- be part of the discussion and share some thoughts.
In the next post Ill assemble my cut list and get right into the project with some stock preparation and Ill glue-up the top panels...stay tuned.
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After reading and experimenting with, practicing and then studying the different techniques of sharpening Ive come to settle on a system that is working for me in my current shop space and thats good! A freshly sharpened hand tool can turn the most challenging joinery tasks into wonderful and relaxed procedures. Your work will be cleaner with tighter fitting joinery and your tools will perform as they were intended to the day they were made. The joys of working wood will be that much the greater.In my own basement work space here in Toronto, Ive followed the line and Im happy with my results; but something Im not happy with and have been promising myself for months to address is my sharpening location and current set-up.
One day last year, I noticed a neighbour throwing out a small wooden table. I snatched it up, rescuing it from the eternal wasteland of the land fill site and have been using it as my sharpening table ever since. Prior to the table I was using a sharpening hook system I designed awhile ago. It was basically an over-sized bench hook with some cleats to hold water stones and a side area for stone storage. The sharpening hook worked when my bench top wasnt cluttered, (which if you know me you know that it hasnt happened much this past year!) so the routine of moving my work project or tools to make room for the sharpening hook soon became tiresome. The small throw achoice tables footprint has also become reminiscent of a drunken sailor on shore leave so Ive finally decided, with a little help from Fine Woodworking.com, to build a new bench dedicated to sharpening.
A small scale workbench with large scale workbench strength. The frame has mortise and tenon joinery with a solid 1" thick work surface that has bread board ends fitted into a heavy, through dovetailed apron.
It has a tool tray featuring a unique and convenient choice of actually holding tools ! (not just for the hamsters anymore) and Ive added some off the shelf items that will also add to the -dare I say- pleasure of sharpening?
Do you currently have a dedicated sharpening area? Is it a re-used piece of furniture or maybe a purpose made table or bench? Id love to hear about it- be part of the discussion and share some thoughts.
In the next post Ill assemble my cut list and get right into the project with some stock preparation and Ill glue-up the top panels...stay tuned.
Now that the headboard is complete other than I have to still apply a finish; I move on to the inlaid butterfly keys at the bottom of the bed. These will be both structural and visual in design. Ill start off by making a full size template out of some scrap press board and try it in place. Stand back and have a look; try the other side, walk around...cover all of the angles until youre happy with the size and the placement of the key template. Ill then take a fine file and go over all of the edges of my template making sure its nice and smooth, while checking its flat on edge. This is exactly what you want the finished pieces to be so make sure all is well with it. Seeing as theyre only two of these and theyre only a few inches worth of material, take your time and find a really nice piece. The small length of Walnut I have was taken out of my scrap wood pile. A great place to use up those awkward little pieces left over from an earlier stage of the project. Ill take some two sided tape and temporarily stick the template down to the walnut, making sure youve gone over the face of the real wood with a smoothing plane. This piece of wood should be at a finished state before sticking on the butterfly mock-up. Once adhered I carefully cut around the template with my marking knife being careful to keep the flat back side of the knife blade tight against the press board cut-out.
Once I have the shape nicely traced out on the Walnut, Ill cross cut the key on my Bench. My Mitre Hook is the perfect appliance to use here. This will ensure the Walnut stays put while I saw it out. Ill get as close as I can to each end keeping in mind Ill be fine tuning it later. Once I get the pieces cross cut Ill take them over to my shoulder vise and get ready to rip down the sides of the butter fly wings. This will be done with a rip saw as opposed to the small Carcass saw I used to cross cut the keys.
My fine toothed Dovetail saw has a Rip tooth pattern filed at 15 tpi. (teeth per inch) I recently resharpened it so it makes quick work of the walnut. Next, Ill take the freshly cut butterflies and mount them again in the shoulder vise but on an axis so theyre just a hair proud of the bench top. I was going to use my chisel to clean up any saw marks left behind but decided to use a spare blade I have out of my Jointing plane. I use a Bevel-Up Jointing Plane manufactured by Veritas® which has a nice thick blade, 2-1/4" wide, 3/16" (0.187") thick. This ended up being the perfect tool for this application. The wide heavy back of the Iron was easy to register against the narrow edge of the butterfly key; a few passes with the Iron and all of the saw marks were gone.
When I have the groove cut the full choice around Ill take a 1/4" (6mm) Gouge and cut a narrow groove down the center of the mortise key. This hollow will allow me to get started with my Router plane enabling the blade of the Router to get into the fibers and slowly cut out the waste. I make sure to take light shallow passes and slowly work my choice down checking my depth as i go. When I reach the mortise bottom Ill take a small detail chisel and clean up through out. At this point I like to clean up the surface around the mortise with my smoothing plane and test fit the butterfly. When it sits down properly Ill scribe around the edge of the key and again remove it. I made sure to keep my mortise a little shallow so the actual butterfly will be proud by a little. Then carefully remove the key and at my work bench Ill shape it. I use the edge scribe lines I just made to reference so I dont chamfer down past the rails surface. 
I like to really work the butterfly into a pleasing shape constantly stopping, closing my eyes and allowing my fingers to judge my progress. You really have to trust your sense of touch and not so much the eyes for this. If you wanted, you could simply plane the key down flush with the surface; this is the common method but seeing as I wanted this bed to feature some hand cut joinery, Im allowing the butterfly to round and bulge out of the walnut frame around it. I think my clients will agree. Bon nuit!
A picture is worth 1000 words...
I recently had a question about the specs on the rip saw I was using in the Moulding plane/Miter blog from a few days ago. Instead of answering in the comment section I thought Id do it here.
Its the main saw I reach for except when ripping stock in the 1/2" range. I have another old Disston that has a 24" saw plate and is filed at 10 tpi. Between these two that usually takes care of my ripping needs but Im very interested in the new Lie Nielsen panel saws. I have a few other old Rip saws as well but theyre in need of some work. When ripping wood, to further answer the question asked I generally use my saw bench. This is the design by Chris Schwarz published in Woodworking Magazine a few years back. Its a nice design and a perfect height but I find with the two angled legs I sometimes hit the end of the saw into the lower stretcher...Ive since designed my own saw bench and will share it with you here in a future post. For small stock I usually just fore go the saw bench and use my tail vise for most of my rip cuts. My bench is low enough that I never seem to have an issue with this method. Ill sometimes hold the piece in the tail vise and use a hold fast as well on my bench top to keep the work piece stable. I also have a couple of shop bents as I call them. Basically theyre saw horses that are the same overall dimension as the end profile of my work bench. Ill use these from time to time when ripping the edge of real large work but this is pretty rare in my shop.
So for anyone starting down this road Ill recommend a full size panel saw in the 28" ball park with a low tooth count for thick stock and then a smaller panel saw with a finer tooth for lighter work.
If you need more information or you are a dealer, the shows website is here.
Besides a Work Bench, I think a real important item in any shop is tool storage. Now dont get me wrong I throw my Routers and Drills, Jig Saw and Circular Saw on a shelf, out of the choice under the out feed table in front of my table saw. Nothing fancy, just somewhere to look when I need to build something outdoors somewhere. But my hand tools are another story. They deserve a little spoiling. These are the tools Ill be passing on to my children in fifty years with my finger prints worn into the totes and handles. These are the fine quality tools that are irreplaceable. They deserve a good home and a custom made tool cabinet is the answer. I store all of my hand planes, chisels, carving tools, lay out tools, drilling tools and a few small jigs i.e. pocket hole hardware. Since this picture was taken Ive changed things up a little bit. I store my Panel Saw on a custom made cleat on the side of my Tool Cabinet with my three Back Saws on a rack above my Bench. They used to fit inside but have since been evicted due to some new special purpose hand planes Ive purchased over the last six-months. The Tool Cabinet is located directly next to my Work Bench keeping things close when I need them.
To begin the process of milling rough lumber the first plane used is the Scrub Plane. Mine is made by VERITAS here in Canada. The Scrub plane is the tool of choice for major stock removal, the first step when flattening rough stock. A scrub plane is not usually used parallel to the grain, but at an angle of about 30°. The blade edge is ground with a 3 radius, so it can take an aggressive cut. Speaking of the blade or Iron as we call it, the Scrub plane has a real thick iron that helps eliminate any chatter. When you first hold the VERITAS Scrub the first thing youll notice is the narrow width of the sole. This actually helps alot when aggresive planning is desired on rough stock. The only negative thing I found about the VERITAS Scrub is the tote. ( which sadly seems to be the case with most of the VERITAS line.) Very under-shaped, and not at all comfortable. I removed mine soon after I purchased it and re-shaped it. This actually turned out quite nice and gave the tool a sort of custom feel. I mean no one else will ever have one exactly like it!
Tom,
The minute my current project, the large plant shelf unit, is done, I am going on a shopping spree for a great deal of mahogany and this drawing will slowly become my centre for working wood.
One fine day last year I was surfing around the net and came across the James Krenov Direct website. I had stumbled over it before and once again was admiring the pics of his work there. To my surprise I read that James no longer was building his cabinets due to his poor eye sight but was still making his wooden bodied hand planes. There was some contact information on the web site for anyone interested in purchasing one. I immediately wrote a quick note expressing my interest in a plane and also my sympathies to hear about his failing eyesight. I left it at that and within a few days I heard back from Mr. Krenov himself. He said he had "the plane for me! " I think another two to three weeks passed and then a shoe box came in the mail. My new James Krenov smoothing plane. I was like a kid at Christmas time. I couldnt wait to get it out and into a nice piece of hardwood. When I opened the box and placed the plane in my hand it was a perfect match. It was not the first wooden plane Ive held or used, but it was by far the most comfortable. It just feels right in your hand. My wife commented on the look of the tool and mentioned that it was easy to tell Mr. Krenovs eye sight was failing.! So yeah, perhaps to the untrained eye it may look a little rough but thats part of the charm. Its all about the feel right.?
