Sharpening systems

If you ask ten woodworkers, "How do you sharpen a tool?" You will undoubtably get ten different answers. There are as many "sharpening systems" for woodworkers on the market today as there are different types of tools that need sharpened. A woodworker looking for the answer to the above question can quickly find himself lost in a sea of wet grinders, wet-dry grinders, diamond stones, Washita, Arkansas, Ohio, Japanese, man-made and natural stones, silicon carbide--the list goes on.

Whenever someone asks my opinion about "sharpening systems" the image of my Grandfather, "Pop" we all called him, always comes to mind. Whetstone is plentiful where I grew up in Ohio. That is where Pop's "sharpening system" came from. We would find smooth, fairly flat stones down in the creek behind his house. I can distinctly remember him whittling away on the model sailboats he used to make for us kids. The model making required very sharp carving knives (which we weren't allowed to touch) and precise fittings. I would watch intently as Pop would spit into a small, flat piece of whetstone, rub it around with his finger and proceed to draw one of his knives across it slowly and evenly, switching one side then another.
I would count out twenty strokes then hold out my arm. Pop would smile and carefully draw the knife across my forearm, shaving a spot bare, "Yup," he would say, "sharp as your Granma's tongue."

There is a moral to this story. You can get just as sharp an edge from a $300.00 "sharpening system" as you can from my Pop's whetstone and spittle. I have watched in amazement while a woodworker sharpened a chisel using nothing more than a piece of plate glass, water, and a sheet of automotive sandpaper. It is not the money you spend that will get your tools sharp, it is the skills you acquire learning how to sharpen and care for your tools properly.

Here are some basic's to help you get the best results from your sharpening efforts:

1. Protect sharpened edges. A pile of chisels in a tool box will not stay sharp. Edges should be individually protected.
2. Use some form of wash to draw spent abrasive away when sharpening. Use water with natural stones, honing oil with synthetic abrasives.
3. With stones, you want to use the entire surface when honing. Keep from putting grooves in the stone.
4. Keep your sharpening stones, wheels, abrasives, whatever you use free of dirt and dust. Keep them closed in a container and out of the way when not in use. Oil stones can be stored submersed in oil. Water stones should be stored dry.

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