Warning: Long

A little late getting in on this one, but here goes nonetheless…
I researched the sharpening question for what turned out to be
ridiculously long time. In the process, I formed the opinion that
many people regard their particular sharpening system with a nearly
religious devotion. After thorough consideration I finally committed
myself last month, sending off a flurry of orders to various catalog
outfits. At this point, furniture making and finish carpentry are my
pursuits and my basic needs are to sharpen plane irons, chisels, and a
few carving knives. I don't do woodturning right now, so gouges are
not a consideration.
For cutting the basic bevels, I chose a Baldor 7-in slow-speed
grinder. I decided on this sometime back, after visiting a good
friend at the North Bennett Street School in Boston. I saw several of
these units in use during that visit and my friend heartily endorsed
this particular tool. I replaced the stock gray wheels with 60-80 and
100-120 grit aluminum oxide wheels by Norton. For anyone
contemplating the purchase of a 7-in grinder, go forewarned that the
selection of wheels is somewhat limited compared to the 6 and 8-in
units. For example, I was unable to source white aluminum oxide
wheels and ended up going with tan wheels that have a slightly harder
bond. Between the slow speed and light cuts however, I've had no
problem so far with overheated edges. This same friend made me feel
better about not being able to find the white wheels, when he told me
what went on at his school. He said going in, he was a "wheel snob",
but once there he watched the craftsmen at North Bennett use great
technique to put razor sharp edges on their tools using even the
skankiest of gray wheels.
As the next component in my "system", I went ahead and replaced
the stock Baldor tool rest on my fine wheel with a Veritas adjustable
model. This coupled with their sliding tool holder allows more
precise control of the basic bevel angles. This is one area I
deviated from the "North Bennett" philosophy. My friend advocates
both free-hand grinding and honing. Maybe it's the engineer in me, or
maybe it's Leonard Lee's sharpening bible, but I just can't give up
the idea of using jigs for better control. I just think without jigs,
my edges wouldn't be as straight and all my bevels would creep toward
some median value that may not be ideal for the particular tool. On
the other hand, it's hard to argue with the fantastic work my friend
turns out with his "sloppy" edged tools. He also does this stuff for
a living, so speed is more of a consideration for him. For me though
it's a hobby, so I don't mind taking some time to set up a jig. For
truing the grinding wheels, I got a single point diamond dressing
stick. Mounted at a negative angle in the Veritas sliding tool rest,
this stick makes short work of truing up the wheel.
As far as honing goes, I went with Arkansas stones. I lubricate
these with a 50/50 mixture of kerosene and commercial honing oil. I
chose 8x3 wide bench stones to make it easy to do my largest plane
irons. I obtained one each in the Hard and Hard Black (Surgical)
varieties. I strongly considered going with water stones, but I guess
I'm a traditionalist at heart. Water stones offer greater cutting
speed, but as I mentioned this is a hobby for me, so that's not much
of a consideration. I like the idea of having stones that will
probably outlast me and not having to flatten them as often. Also,
putting oil on steel tools makes more sense to me than water.
Again for honing, the idea of using a guide appealed to me. I
chose the Veritas model along with their nice aluminum angle-setting
fixture. This guide fits all the tools I currently own and is pretty
easy to set up. I really like the cam-action on the roller that
allows you to dial in a 1 or 2-degree micro-bevel.
For initial flattening of plane beds, chisel faces, etc, I went
with a 9x12 (?) granite surface plate from WoodCraft. This just fits
a full sheet of wet-dry sandpaper. Lubricating the paper with that
same mixture of cutting oil and kerosene also serves to stick the
paper to the granite. The plate quickly get tools pretty flat, but in
most cases I've been following up with a little work on the stones for
a finer finish.
Using this "system", I've been able to tune up my tools and put
nice sharp edges on all my blades. I'm sure I still have a ways to go
with my technique before my edges are "scary sharp" but so far so
good. I don't think I'll have any regrets about the methods I chose.
Right now, the grinder and tool-rest are attached to an old scrap
of 2x10. All the rest of the stuff is in a box on the shelf. I just
move everything to the bench to do my sharpening and put it away when
I'm done. The long-term plan is to build a dedicated sharpening bench
to eliminate the setup time. The design I'm thinking of would be
about 2x4 feet on top and only around two feet tall. This would allow
me to pull up a chair and easily get over the work. I plan to mount
the grinder facing one of the 2-foot sides and another high-speed
grinder/buffer combo at the opposite end. Baldor makes a nice combo
unit like this. The second unit would be for coarse work and metal
polishing. This should leave just enough room between the grinders to
lay out the stones and the surface plate. I plan on having one or two
drawers below to help organize and keep clean the various sharpening
tools and supplies.
Before this bench gets built however, I'd better first turn out
some real furniture. My wife has been very patient as I've put
together my shop. It wasn't the most direct path. Off and on over
the last five years I've restored a 1950's era Craftsman 8-in table
saw and 14-in drill press, a 1960's Power-Craft 4-in jointer and 12-in
band saw, and another 1950's K-line 12-in surface planer. Each of
these was a project in itself. I replaced nearly every bearing and
fastener, re-painted most of the castings, and added numerous upgrades
along the way. I've rounded out this unusual cadre of vintage tools,
with an assortment of newer machines and hand tools as well. Through
all this, the shop itself has been the project and now it's time to
turn out some "real" work. I'm now well equipped to take on the
furniture and carpentry projects I've had in mind all these years. I
really think my wife believes this has been one big black hole of time
and money. I hope to change her mind when I surprise her with a
Greene & Greene inspired full-length mirror this Christmas. Thanks to
my newly tuned-up cutting tools, this first "real" furniture project
is now nearing completion.

Richard Johnson
Camano Island, WA