Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Sharpening board get its first test drive

Did not get any shop time at home today, but I did work a supervisor shift on the base woodshop.

Took my board out of the clamps at home and brought everything I needed to finished it and the honing guide jig.

After a quick sanding and glue clean up, I screw on the bottom cleat, got a first coat of poly on both the grip mat hold down piece and the 1/8 degrees spacer.

Tried the gripper mat under, it really secured it very well 


Figured out my angles for the plane iron and attached 3 stop blocks at 25, 30 and 35 degrees on one side, then switch the plane iron for a bevel edge chisel and repeat the measurements for the other side for 25 and 30 degrees stop block. I gave them a dab of glue and secured them with two nails in each blocks.

Labelled one side "Plane Iron" and the other "Chisel" and marked the angle blocks on each sides accordingly.


Why only two on the chisel side? Because I am reserving 
the third stop block for my mortise chisels. 

Then I gave it a test drive on my chisels that I need for finishing my dovetails on the plane till No 2


As usual, finished on my 6000 grit Japanese waterstone then a quick honing 
on my strop charged with LV Green compound


I check the finish angle with my Veritas angle checker, on both a chisel and a plane iron after sharpening, bang on 25 degrees, I'm happy :-)


The board lip around the three sides register my slab of stone securely for using sand paper, and between the front cleat and the gripper mat, I can push all I want it is very secured.


All that is left to do, before carrying out an overdue sharpening marathon, is to put some poly finish on the wooden parts of the board to seal it against water damages, attach the 1/8 spacer with a string to my honing guide setting jig, and secure the gripper mat with the cleat to my board.

I will call that a success and move on back to my plane till No 2 joinery, now that my required chisels have been sharpened.

Plenty of room for everything I need

Bob, sipping a cold one while admiring his latest creation :-)

4 comments:

  1. Bob,

    Having a dedicated place to sharpen is the best thing you can do for your woodworking. No more putting off sharpening because it is a "pain".

    ken

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  2. Hi Ken. Yes very much so, why it was such a long overdue project...so many blades, so many edges :-)
    Bob, who will shortly undertake a marathon sharpening session, yet again...

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  3. Bob what is that black thing with the rectangular piece of metal in it. It's in the first pic lower right corner?

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  4. Hi Ralph
    It is my Veritas sliding square http://www.leevalley.com/en/Wood/page.aspx?p=32598&cat=1,42936
    When it first came out years ago it was called cabinetmaker square, it is a very handy measuring device. I used it to set my blocks, not that I cared about the actual measurements, just that It replicate the distance of the blade and gave me a straight surface to set my blocks against. BTW there is a slight differences between both honing guide, maybe because my old one has lots of wear on its wheel? If you make one, forget about published measurements, make it for your guide, by setting the angle on a protractor then sliding the blade to it, then used whatever distances it gave you.
    Bob

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