Sharpening station requirements

With my saw bench project winding down, time to move on the next one.
Starting to define my requirements.

Having a dedicated place always ready for sharpening is a real must, if you want to get seriously into hand tools woodworking.
Why?  Because sharp tools are a must and then you don't put off sharpening too long and have to go into a marathon sharpening session. Of course, the other approach is simply to have lots of tools to choose from, like 47 chisels, 118 hand planes, 68 handsaw etc :-)

But eventually all these puppies must take their indoctrination into my sharpening regiment.
I wont bore you with yet, another, guy dogma of what sharpening ought to be, but suffice to say that you must first flatten the back side (at least once) before working on the bevel then raise a burr, and cut it off on your finer media. I also got into the habit of using a strop, from my carving days, and do stop and strop often. It put off the inevitable trip to the sharpening station longer :-)

So what do I need to take into account here, for this dedicated area?
Although I most prefer hand sharpening versus powered grinders etc, sooo much easier on the edge and you don't quickly grind away into oblivion your precious tool steel, I do have a need for it.
If nothing else to rehab my rather large coll... err... "assortment of users tools".
I own two small 6 in grinders, one will be permanently dedicated to buffing/stropping, the other for grinding, edge dressing etc.

Discovered this paper wheel system called Razor sharp via my carving clubs.  Similar idea to the Tormek system, you change the grease to change the grit on it. Works really well.

Its an 8 in wheel but work fine on a 6in grinder, without the guard, and like any buffing system, on a grinder, you must approach the wheel from behind, or the wheel will grab and turf out your tool. 

There is another tool I am lustering about, the Worksharp 3000.

I prefer it to the WS2000, because it is slow speed and therefore can take glass platen with sharpening paper, bonus! I like a flat platen, I dislike the concave shape left by wheel grinders, I could then also speed up my back flattening tasks.

Like any self respecting Galoot, of course I got a hand crank small grinder.

Then there are the spot for three of my sharpening stones. Which ones? Throughout the years, I have tried pretty well every sharpening system knows to mankind. Oilstones, waterstones, diamond stones, sandpaper etc.
I like them all and prefer some to others depending on the tool and what I'm trying to accomplish.
As a general rule, I tend to finish off on my 6000 grit waterstone with a natural Nagura, then strop.
I read somewhere, long ago, that you should not ever use diamond stones on fine Japanese laminated tools. No ideas why? If any of you could shed some light on it or dispel this myth (?) please let me know. I tend to use my diamond stone for quick flattening job on chisel and plane iron.

While I'm at it I should also have a spot for plane sole flattening (disclaimer, I do not subscribe to the flat sole society, but rather to the Schwarz) I just so happened to have some pieces of granite left over from recent house renovation projects, bonus :-) Including a long back splash piece which we did not uses, went with mosaic tiles instead. I'm thinking a chunk of that would make a perfect surface for truing long jointer's plane sole, but it would be kinda long...

Trying my long granite piece on a No 8 jointer

Granite topped sharpening bench, from Lie-Nielsen site. I played on it during a recent visit this fall. This thing is massive. 

And there are all the small paraphernalia that comes with sharpening, jigs, angle gauges, files, cones carver's slip stones etc, etc. These should probably go into a drawer. 

Some of my most used sharpening paraphernalia.

I didn't bother show my scary sharp, using a piece of plate glass, pieces of granite, tiles etc 

I have more, mostly various slip stones for my carving gouges, only 3 are shown. There are also the oil stones, water stone flattening stone, honing compound and etc. What is shown in the pic is my usual portable kit. The last grey strop on the right is made with a piece of micron self adhesive paper from LV, and looking at it, I'm overdue to put in a new piece on it :-)

I also need some sort of dedicated spot for handsaw maintenance. Are you kidding? I own 68 of them puppies, of course I do :-)

I have 3 antique saw vises, Disstons and Sargent, but still I am thinking of making a wooden one. Why? Because I can :-)

Saw maintenance tools. The wooden stick is my Paul Sellers teeth cutting guide.

My 3 antique saw vises from L-R 

Sargent 103, unmarked No 19, Disston No 1

A quick roundup of my powered sharpening accessories 

Since I own two of these small Delta grinders, one will be permanently equipped for grinding: coarse carborundum for general shaping, and a Norton white cool wheel 60 grit.  It will also held my metal brush wheels. The other will be used for buffing, paper wheel and various buffing wheels.

To save space, I'm wondering if I should put them on a rotating table?

I recently got into wood turning, so will need the room to sharpen those long gouges. Thinking something like the Wolverine attachment. This will require lots of room in front of the grinder

There is one last piece of powered kit I am considering besides the Worksharp, it is the Ultimate power honer for carving gouges, available in kit form or fully assembled. The beauty of it is the maple shaped wheels, used with honing compound.
.

Ultimate power honer. Available from Chipping Away

Now, my only problem, is that all of this must fit into a small area, hum. I think I need a bigger box. (remember that Taco Bell commercial?) Maybe what I need is more than one dedicated sharpening station??

I am still in the requirements stage, and a long way from actual design of such an animal.
If you have one dedicated area, I would love to hear about yours and see pictures of it, along with your comments. Thanks

Bob, still sharpening his pencil and getting ready for his supervisor shift tonite.

Quick update and a video

Back from the base, saw bench has its sides on, and a quick plane down.
And talking of planes, until my next post, please enjoy this other kind of planes.
Pretty neat video.

The Royal Canadian Air Forces  Snowbirds 431 Air Demonstration Sqn

Bob, 37- 1/2 years RCAF veteran

Saw bench almost completed

My first draft title was completed...
For a quick project, it still managed to slip over a few days, I don't know why ? :-)

I had previously machined the parts on Wed, Fri I cut half the joints. Tues I finished the joints and assembled it for the first time.

It is a bit hard on my small dovetail saw, it is thick and wetter than seasoned hardwood for sure.

They are quite thick, so I must make double sure they are straight.

Half way done, Friday nite. We had company over so that's where I stopped.

Then we went to supper with friends Sat so Sun no loud noises were allowed :-) 

One joint fitted, working on the last one. At that thickness you don't get much room for error.

For a small project it is sure making a mess on my bench :-)

By the time I'm done, I will have to sharpen my chisels for sure. And should probably touch up my dovetail saw and check if I killed the small set on it. I am gonna have to dedicated a dovetail saw for softwood.

I'm working a shift Wed at the base wood shop, surely, I would be able to finished it then? 

I will glue it after my afternoon tea, then all I got left for tomorrow is to put in the sides pieces, that will require a small dado on each leg, attach the foot and tada!

I will later put in a few holes for my holdfast, not sure where yet, so I will wait until I used it for a while to decided where. Similarly I may put in a large hole on the top as a handle, will see.

Bob,  who is banging away both on his workbench and his sawbench

Ah, the smell of WD-40 in the morning...

Besides coffee, it a sure way to wake me up :-)

Today, for some strange reasons, I can't be bothered making too much noises, like banging dovetails in 1-1/2 thick construction lumber! So I figured I'll just take it easy and do a quick assessment of my newly acquired tools; planes No 116 to 118. Like every new/old tool coming in, they are inducted in the same way. Quick initial clean up, to assess the condition, take pics to document it and update all my files. That is all I do initially, the next time I take it out to play, I'll sharpen the blade then.

First one I did was the small Sargent. Cleaning it up, I found a model No on the blade, it is No 206

And that is about all I did to it. Still need the blade to be sharpen.

Next time around I will probably remove the red paint on the cap.

Took it all apart soak the parts in Water Displacement formula No 40 (you may know it better under the name WD-40 :-) The sole was given a quick rub on my long piece of granite with sand paper on it. Not much, just to assess the condition and erase trace of rust. It was in good shape. Everything has been cleaned, lubricated and put back together then, I could not resist and plane off the corner of my wood arm rest on my office chair. Works great :-)

Like I mentioned earlier I dated it to be between 1910-1918, the Very Best Made (VBM) years, at Sargent.

Next up was the Woden No 130, a clone of the Stanley No 130. It received the same treatment.

It was also interesting to compare it to my previous No 130, which was Made in Germany. Dad bought it in the 60s I believe?

There is a small difference in size between them.  The Woden (British one) is closer to the original Stanley model.

You can see the small differences between the blades, Woden at the bottom.

Looking up Woden , also found out that mine is a newer type, the cap locking screw being die cast and not brass as it was originally. The blue colour, the logo on the blade and the markings on the bed, all point toward the Record purchased periods, transitioning from No W130 to No 0130

Eventually, it was the Record No 078 turn. At first I was going to put the pieces in Evap-O-Rust, but seeing the results on the two previous one, I decided to just soak them in WD-40. That did the job.

It needed a spritz anyway to separate the parts. And besides, I felt lazy this morning :-)

I'm happy the way the parts came out.

Now the real fun begin, the plane parts transplant.

First I gather all my spare parts and bodies for a family portrait

The Record 078 accepting body is on the left, the donating body is on the right.

The Stanley is in between, it is also a blue painted tool from the 70s, they were black prior.

These 3 posts have 3 different diameters. Threads look similar. 

Smallest on the left, biggest on the right.

The middle one fit my Stanley body, the right one is the one removed from the auction's plane.

The smallest one only fit the fence that came with it, which do not clear the body of the Stanley nor the Record. I believe it is a Sargent No 79 fence (?)

The depth stop are the same except the Stanley on the right is black , 

it is a spare I bought earlier with the supposedly fence for a No 78 and a black Stanley lever cap.

See the differences between the fences? Sargent on left, Record on Right.

I do not have a Sargent No 79 body to try it on, nor is the fence stamped No 79, like I've seen before on the web, but until proven otherwise, I will assumed that it is a Sargent No 79 fence. It does NOT FIT Stanley's nor Record's 

When I first tried the Record rod unto the accepting Record body, I could only thread it so much, so I got out my thread restoring tool to cleaned the threads good and lubricated and cleaned the female threads also on the body. That work!

The final reveal

Now all I need is a screw for the depth stop. Oh, that and a fence for my Stanley No 78, I have a rod that fit. And I am left with spare lever cap, a smaller rod and fence, and a Record's brazed body 

And actually, make that 2 screws for the depth stops, both for the Record and the Stanley.

Bob, coming back slowly to life :-)