SHARPENING YOUR TOOLS

TOOLS LOSE THEIR EDGE AND BECOME DULL. That's a fact of their existence.

- ROY BERENDSOHN

But it's also a fact that they need not stay that way. Sharpening nearly anything, from a shovel to a putty knife to a plane to a chisel, is a relatively simple procedure. You abrade away some metal and, in the process, produce a cleanly shaped bevel that leads to an acute edge. When seen under magnification, however, the first sharpening pass on the bevel may leave deep scratches in it. The second phase of sharpening is to polish out these scratches.

Let's not complicate matters. That's sharpening. Remove metal, smooth out scratches.

Here's another fact of sharpening. There are multiple ways to get the same job done. You might enjoy the endless discussion that this topic generates among sharpening enthusiasts-I call them sharpenistas. My take on it: I sharpen my way, and you sharpen your way (please, don't send me hate mail on this topic). To me, sharpening is just the means to an end-which is sharp tools. Here, we'll show you some simple methods to sharpen most of what you own.

We won't show any exotic methods or expensive equipment. Most of what you'll see here is accomplished using oilstones and waterstones manufactured by Norton, the same ones that you find at any home center, hardware store, or lumberyard. The other equipment we show, such as files, a drill-bit grinder, and a bench grinder, is stuff you can buy at any home center or online.

PLANE IRONS

If ever there was one tool that gets the sharpenistas going, it's the hand plane. There's something to producing a whispery-thin shaving from a plane that is deeply satisfying. The part of a hand plane that cuts is not called a blade, it's called a plane iron. Sharpening plane irons draws sharpenistas like cats to catnip.

Let's skip all that.

Here are two methods for sharpening a damaged (or at least very dull) plane iron using a DeWalt bench grinder, oilstones, and waterstones.