Shop Tour

So I have decided that I am going to go out on my own and start my own carpentry company.  I love all things woodworking so making it my career is a total no brainer to me, so stay tuned to see how that all evolves.

To make the transition to full time pro woodworker and not just a weekend hobbyist I have made a few changes to my shop (a commandeered portion of my parents basement).  A little more space, some rearranging, and getting rid of junk should help make this space more effecient and usable.

Here you can see the other side of the space I use which is full of my familys stored items.  YAY for shared space.  At least I don't pay rent. 

 The General layout of the shop 

The newest area of the shop is a combined Finishing and Metal working area (also where I sharpen tools).  It is an L shaped section of cabinets (repurposed after a Kitchen remodel), non of the cupboards actually contain any woodworking or construction supplies (more family storage).

 Left to right; lapping plates, machinist vise, saw vise, high speed grinder.

In back all my finishes I keep in stock.

 The sharpening station.  The tub holds my stones submerged in water so they are always ready to go.

Tool Chest for metal working tools (files, punches, cold chisels, etc.)

Next is my computer/ drafting station.  This area see little use and will probably in the future be removed to make space for a bandsaw.  I do most of my design work upstairs on a small portable drafting table and on a larger desktop computer.

Above my laptop is a Small bookshelf (made of scraps) to hold all my woodworking books and magazines.

Next up is tool storage above and left of my drafting station.  I have two boards of peg board hanging of the basement framing, eventually I would love to have something more like this or like this, but for now this works.  I've got everything from wrenches to planes on these boards.  I do like that the peg board is easy to rearrange to change with new tools.  I still need to move a few things around to make them easier to get at, and I would like to group similar tools together.  Small side note the long shelf is a piece of baseboard on brackets, YAY for recycling.

Next, below the peg board is one of my two benches.  This is the first bench I ever built, it doesnt work great for some tasks but this is where I started my woodworking journey.  Now this bench will be used for power tool work and assembly.

The Bottom Shelf holds mostly power tools (ie. planer, router, sanders) but will eventually store all my on site tools as well (once I purge all the crap out from under there).

Next up shelves of tools.  Pretty self explanitory, most of my tools are stored on these shelfs, as well as supplies and hardware.  The gate on the front which holds the clamps is on hinges so that it get out of the way when I need somethign from in behind.

The left side of the shelving unit also has some french cleat storage.

Finally we come to my new bench (or bench in progress).  A more traditional bench, with a tail vise and eventaully a leg vise.

The workbench half done.  Top needs to be flattened.

 And a base made to get it off the saw horses.

 A bin for shavings my saw bench and bench hooks.

The ugly duckling

Lumber storage was a problem in here.  I have a small are of 8 foot high cielings where I store any sheet goods and long sections of lumber.

 I used the exposed joist bays to store some smaller pieces of lumber.

Finally we have my table saw station.  I used a small portable Dewalt table saw on a work mate table, and for the most part it works great.  I am right now refurbbing an old 8 inch Delta contractor saw which will become my main table saw and the Dewalt will be my own site saw (as it should be).

A mobile base would be nice.

So there you have it my shop in all its glory.  It is a wonderful place that I love working in.  It is constantly evolving and changing to fit my needs.  If you want to see more of it leave a comment or any questions same deal and I will get back to you.

Cheers 

Hans Christopher

A Bright Sunny Day

Now that the back  is flat and the bevel is ground it is time to hone.  A quick note: some people say that honing and polishing are two steps; I flatten, grind and hone (three steps, it may be weird but I like it).  Whatever you call it the final stage is the time to finish the edge of the tool.

The honing setup

Honing is the process of using progressively finer grits to achieve a polished bevel.  I use Norton waterstones and hone on the 1000, 4000 and 8000 grit stones.  Some people go to a higher grit (possibly 150000) some people use fewer grits (maybe just 1000 and 8000) the idea is to achieve a highly polished surface.

Surface after honing on 1000

I move straight to my 1000 grit stone after grinding no need to adjust the jig at all.  I flatten the stone like I flatten my 220 grit stone.  I move the jig the same way I moved it for the grinding procedure, I try to use all of the stone to ensure even wearing.

Surface after honing on 4000

Once the scratch pattern is consistent on the 1000 grit stone I move to the 4000 grit stone and then on to the 8000 grit stone.

The highly reflective surface of honing on the 8000 grit stone

And with that the blade should be sharp and ready for use.  However there is one final step that can be done to make things easier for future sharpening.  A micro bevel is a small area of the primary bevel that is sharpened at a slightly higher angle then the rest of the bevel.  The reason for a micro bevel is to reduce the area needed to be resharpened to achieve a sharp edge.  With my system after I finish the primary bevel I turn a small nob (a really nice feature of the Mk.II Jig) and pull (and only pull) back on my 8000 grit between  5 and 10 times.  This creates a new small bevel that is much easier to sharpen down the road.  When I need to refresh the blades edge a few strokes on the 8000 grit stone and the edge is ready to go again.  Like the jig or no jig and waterstone or oilstone debates Micro Bevels get a lot of discussion.  How big should it be, what angle should it be, is it really necessary?  I do not care for these questions, for me the micro bevel is just to improve efficiency.

So here you can see what a sharp edge can do.

 Cherry in the rough.

Cherry after the touch of a sharp chisel.

Super wispy shavings on pine.











Finished surface of pine.















So now the edge is done.  Final question, when do I resharpen?  Unless I push my edge through a nail or some dirt or drop it I shouldn't need to regrind the edge or flatten the back.  I do rehone the edge once the micro bevel is to a size that it is no longer an efficient way to resharpen the edge.

There you have it, my three step process to achieving a sharp edge on straight bevel tools (IE. straight plane irons and chisels).  If you have any questions on this process please post a comment and I will answer it.

Cheers
Hans Christopher

The Daily Grind

We left off with a flat back and a decent polish and it is now time to grind the bevel and then we almost have a sharp edge.

The key to getting a sharp edges is to create an intersection of two polished flat planes, the back and the bevel (haha the back and the bevel sounds like a new Disney Movie (note to self write better jokes, So two guys walk into a bar...)).

A good polished bevel is harder to achieve then a polished back.  The the angle is important and maintaining a consistent angle can be a challenge.  Working on a smaller surface while less work is tricky because it is harder to see what is happening and can be ruined faster.  Finally maintenance of the bevel is also important; the back of a chisel or plane blade once flat and polished should not need any work in the future.  A bevel will need work in the future to maintain the sharpness of the edge.

When sharpening a bevel the first thing to determine is the angle of the bevel.  Edge tools can have many different bevel angles.  Bevel down planes with a 45 degree frog will typically have a 25 degree bevel on the iron.  Bevel down planes with higher frog angles may have higher bevel angles.  On my #4 smoother and my #6 fore plane both with 45 degree frogs I use a 30 degree bevel.  The important thing to note is that with bevel down planes the cutting angle is determined by the frog angle, so while my bevel angle is 30 degrees the cutting edge is actually at 45 degrees to the work piece.  The only way to change this on a bevel down plane is to change the frog or use a back bevel (which I NEVER SUGGEST DOING).

Bevel up tools ,such as chisels and bevel up planes can have there cutting action changed easily by changing the angle of the bevel.  I have a variety of bevel up A2 blades for my Veritas bevel up planes.  These planes have a 12 degree bed angle, so with a 25 degree bevel iron that results in a 37 degree cutting angle (great for general work, most smoothing and amazing for endgrain) and with a 50 degree bevel a cutting angle of 62 degrees (used for tricky grain when smoothing).

I have two sets of chisels (or will when this sharpening saga comes to an end).  The first set has all the bevels at 25 degrees.  This angle is great for end grain pairing and light pairing actions.  The set of chisels I am working on now I am grinding to have a 30 degree bevel.  Much better for heavier pair actions and heavy chopping work such as mortising.

Something to keep in mind is that the lower a bevel angle the weaker it is.  Lower angles have less support behind the cutting edge so it can damage easier which means they dull faster.  I have sharpened my A2  50 degree plane iron once and my 25 degree A2 iron at least 3 times and both see almost the same amount of work.

OK so enough talking on to sharpening.  Once you have picked the angle you want for your Bevel you either have to establish the angle (change from an existing angle to a new angle, can be a lot of work) or begin honing the angle.  For the chisel I am working I am establishing a new angle (going from 25 degrees to 30).

To establish the new angle I am starting on a 220 grit water stone.

OK so I have to talk about something else now instead of actually sharpening.  There are a lot of ways to sharpen a bevel: water stones (my pick) oilstones, sandpaper on a flat surface, diamond plates, honing oils on a flat surface.  All work, all have advantages, and all have disadvantages.  I like water stones; they cut quickly and produce a great edge in my opinion.  The big draw back is they dish (go out out of flat) and as I said before a good edge is the intersection of two flat polished planes, so if you do not have a flat stone you cannot achieve a flat bevel.  You can flatten a stone a lot of ways; I use a 200 diamond plate, and you can either flatten after you use a stone or before you use a stone so long as when you use the stone to sharpen it is flat.  When I go to flatten the stone I put a couple pencil marks and rub the diamond plate on the stone until all the marks are gone.

Diamond Lapping Plate

OK so now finally with stone flat and the angle picked you can go about grinding away...WAIT WAIT WAIT.  Sorry totally forgot one more thing.  There is the whole matter of using a jig for sharpening or free hand.  I would love to free hand sharpen and I do practise on occasion; it is a more efficient way to sharpen as you do not have to worry about setting up any jigs to work the blade.  I however am not good at it yet and I find I can get great consistent results using a jig; I use the MK.2 Honing Guide a great jig (a little more expensive then other jigs but it is amazing).  So now with the chisel I am about to work in the jig and the jig set to the right angle and the stone nice and flat yes I can finally ...wait for brain to make sure I am not forgetting any thing else... start grinding the bevel (one final side note; using a 220 grit stone is very rough work and I refer to it as grinding not honing, honing comes after grinding).

The Veritas MK. 2 Honing Guide

Something to keep in mind is that only the front most edge is used grinding the whole bevel is not neccesary; however if you are a little OCD (CDO alphabetical order damn it)  like myself establishing the whole bevel is the way to go.

Grinding the bevel on the 220 stone

Now just like when flattening the back you are looking for a consistent scratch pattern across the bevel.  A good trick to help see where material is and isn't getting removed is to colour the bevel with a sharpy and then draw the chisel and jig back once.  If you still see sharpy on a part of the blade you know that is a low spot.

Ground Bevel 

Finally after grinding the new bevel onto the chisel I have a consistent angle that is now ready to hone, but that will be for next month I have already typed to much and if anyone actually read everything I have written here then congratulations you have a lot of time on your hands, and I apologise for all the bad jokes.

Cheers
Hans Christopher

A Dull Day

So I think it is about time I made the obligatory sharpening post.  Come one we've all done it we learn to sharpen and we get all excited and we want to brag about it to our friends...and random people on the Internet.  That's ok, now its my turn to share my method.

I am going to start by saying that I know how to sharpen and the way I sharpen my edges works.  This is not to say it is the only way to sharpen an edge (there are thousand...maybe...of ways to sharpen an edge) but my way works and works well.  I will show you the entire process of sharpening an edge using some Marples chisels I acquired recently, and boy could they use some love. 

The first step in establishing a sharp edge is the roughest and longest part of the process.  An edge needs to be true, but what is true.  The trueness of an edge is its consistency of flatness squareness and bevel along its entire length.  Not all of these factors are as important as you may think. 

A blade (be it chisel, iron or something else) should have as flat a back as you can achieve, but don't stress over this.  Find a reliable flat surface that will not distort over time to use when lapping the back of your blade.  When I first started started sharpening I used a piece of glass and recently switched to a piece of granite.  Something to keep in mind is that to get consistent results with your sharpening method you must remain consistent, if you change to a new lapping surface you should reflatten the backs of your blades on this new surface, more on why later.

Once you have a flat surface you need an abrasive to work the metal on.  I usually begin with some 120 sandpaper (I use norton 3x wood sandpaper).  Using the 120 sandpaper I work the blade back and forth along its length (to achieve scratches parallel to the long sides of the chisel) and do not stop till I have a consistent scratch pattern across the entire back. 

After the 120 I move up to 180 grit and work the steel until I cannot see any of the scratches created by the 120 sandpaper.  To see what my surface looks like I hold the blade beneath my desk light and look for a consistent reflection on the steel.  If I am having trouble seeing exactly what is going on I use a small magnifying glass to get a better look.

After the 180 I move onto 220 sandpaper and repeat the previous step.  Then I move onto 320, 400 and then 600.  The final result should be a consistent surface across the back that feels smooth to the touch.

How far up the blade you flatten is a matter of Steel hardness and time.  Over time as you resharpen the bevel of a blade you slowly work back up the blade.  If the steel is softer this process is faster and will require more area to be flat for the blade to remain flat over its life.  It is beneficial to flatten a back as few times as possible (each time you do it there may be small variances that can effect its previous flatness), so put in the time and effort and flatten as much of the blade as you can in the beginning.

The follow up steps involved in achieving a sharp edge will be posted in the weeks to come.  So if you want to learn how to get those edges super sharp stay tuned.

Cheers
Hans Christopher