re: Sharpening Methods - Introduction

Another roaring endorsement for my childhood favorite cereal!

Nathan, I’ve seen some sharpening stone station layouts that seemed reasonable, mostly by creating hold downs to secure the stones to a board (I think they’re were actually recesses cut into the board that the stones set it), and the board being portable. So you reach under the bench, pull out the board with the stones on it and place it atop a side table (or the bench) and you’re ready to sharpen. Being thin, you might be able to build a high shelf under the bench to slide it into for storage without giving up too much room. 

When it comes to all this stuff, for me, accessibility is the key. I’m an inherently lazy individual, so if things are set up and ready to go, I’ll use them. If I have to set them up, they simply get less use. 

The perfect example is yesterday: My wife wanted me to make her a puzzle board with a small border around the edge to keep pieces from sliding off. Based on the size of the board, it was really cumbersome to try to cut the very thin strips on the table saw. I probably could’ve set them up to do them on a bandsaw, but the board is so flexible that I was having a hard time keeping it flat. The correct tool in this case was to use the track saw, and I knew it as soon as I started thinking about how to cut the strips, but my tracks hang up above my garage door, as does the large panel of insulation that I use as a table for it. And since the garage door was already up, that meant lowering the garage door to then climb up to get the pieces to then bring them down. Of course, in my head, then I have to put all that stuff away afterwards. So I suffered on for about 15 minutes, and screwed up about three cuts before I finally gave up, close the damn door, pulled down the right gear, finished the perfect cuts that I needed, and put it all back probably within less than 10 minutes. I fought with it for probably a total of almost an hour when I should’ve just used the damn thing in the first place. But, because it wasn’t already set up and easily accessible. I put it off. What’s worse is I told myself ‘you’re being an idiot, just pull down the damn tracksaw’, but alas, I’m a dumbass. But that proves my point at least in my head… 

Anyway, for me, accessibility is key…which can be tough to come by in a small shop!