Friday, August 25, 2006

Cutting edge

Right, nearly all the necessary chisel handle pics are now in the can; just a matter of writing it up and drawing a couple of diagrams that are (hopefully) going to be more useful than photos or me trying to explain things. Waving my hands and saying "like this" and "about that much" apparently doesn't work awfully well on t'net... The tool tote, despite its incorrectness, proved to be as great a boon as I thought it'd be as I hauled various things up to the lathe. I still forgot something of course.

Also finished off the second of two oilstone boxes; nothing special at all, but will hopefully protect them from the worst of the slings and arrows of the workshop. One is a fine Norton India that was probably my grandfather's, but possibly my great grandfather's. You can tell not liking sharpening runs in the family though, 'cos it's barely used. I thought we'd ill-advisedly chucked it out about 10 years before I saw the Galootish Light and realised you don't throw tools away, but it surfaced again a month or so ago. Happy me, 'cos I don't have many inherited workshop items. The other stone is a Norton Washita, from someone else's grandfather, and the thing cuts like greased lightning. Are all Washitas like that? Certainly poo-poos the "slow oilstone" argument and the edge is good enough for most work.

And yes, that does indeed mean I'm trying to make a conscious effort not to over-sharpen unnecessarily. It's very easy to slip into the habit of sharpening to the finest degree, just 'cos you can, even when it's really not needed. Although I've never stooped to honing a scrub plane to 8000 grit! There are limits, ya know...

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