# Side Sharpening and the Sharp Skate Honing Jig



## custard (8 Aug 2011)

I picked up a Sharp Skate honing jig last week and had the chance to use it over the weekend, honing a range of blades with a range of steels. A Veritas skew rebate plane A2 iron, a cambered 2 3/8" Karl Holtey S53 iron, a cambered 2 3/8" Stanley Sweetheart iron, a pair of Blue Spruce A2 skew chisels, a 1" Bristol Design (O1?) paring chisel, and a vintage Marples 3/8" mortice chisel. These were honed using a variety of Shapton stones, diamond stones, and the Scary Sharp system. 

I normally either freehand hone, or use either Veritas honing jigs (with both straight and cambered rolelrs) or the small Richard Kell jig for straight chisels under 1" wide.

I won't repeat Derek Cohen's earlier review 

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReview ... Skate.html

except to make the following points,

1. I think I got a later version of the jig than Derek tested, it now includes a docking station that allows very fast and accurate setting of the angles in whole degree increments from 45 down. I measured the blade extension with digital calipers at both ends of the blade and the Sharp Skate seemed to be delivering slightly better accuracy and repeatability than the Veritas jig's dedicated angle setting tool but without the dial-in facility for micro bevel adjustment. I didn't check the accuracy of the skew setting, it's easier and faster on the Sharp Skate, but only with a few pre-set angles, the Veritas jig is more versatile in terms of range of angles.

2. The Sharp Skate makes it easier to use more or all of the stone's surface. Although this is _good_ I'm not sure it's _useful_. I flatten the Shaptons pretty much after every use, and Scary Sharp and Diamond stones don't need flattening. So the only circumstances where this might be a practical advantage would be for a waterstone user who has the discipline to methodically use the Sharp Skate over the stone's entire surface, but lacks the discipline/equipment to regularly flatten the waterstone.

3. It cambers far better than I was expecting, every bit as good as the Veritas with the cambered roller and way better than I can do freehand (in fact it's my ineptitude with freehand cambering that mainly makes me use a honing jig).

4. As Derek observed, it's a lovely jig to use. Like the small Kell jig the honing action is smooth and refined, I could use it for much longer than the Vertas without cutting off the circulation to my fingers! The serrations on the clamping arm are also a great design improvement over the Veritas, blades show no tendency to swing out of square, and the large clamping arm knob makes it easy to fasten the blade firmly, again a real improvement over the Veritas. For children or a woodworker with the first signs of arthritis, these might be decisive advantages.

5. It's a bit pricey, but not that far removed from a fully loaded Veritas.

6. But the Sharp Skate has, for me at least, one serious shortcoming. It's extremely difficult and time consuming to clean the wheels when switching abrasive grades, so grit carry over is likely to be a problem. Freehand honing just requires wiping the blade and your fingers, the Veritas has one simple roller to clean, the Kell guide two easily accessible wheels. But the Sharp Skate requires patient dabbing at nine tiny and semi-hidden wheels, and that's about eight more than my patience can tolerate!

7. I haven't used the freshly honed tools enough to have formed an opinion about the benefits of side sharpening versus traditional "for-and-aft" honing, but in the limited experience over the weekend I couldn't honestly see a difference one way or the other.


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## Jacob (8 Aug 2011)

You don't need 3 jigs to sharpen your tools anymore, it says here
http://hmsenterprises.com/getsharper.com.html
But if you buy this one surely you'll have four?


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## Paul Chapman (8 Aug 2011)

Jacob":26rt78ca said:


> But if you buy this one surely you'll have four?



You're very sharp today, Jacob  

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## Jacob (8 Aug 2011)

$170 it seems. Plus extras I expect. What would that be by the time you get one in the UK, £100?

Sharpskate not for a cheapskate! Gadget madness.


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## barkwindjammer (8 Aug 2011)

Fro shappanning skay away Custard san :?


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## Harbo (8 Aug 2011)

Thanks for the interesting review Custard.

I think you mean Derek Cohan - Jacob is the one who never has a good word about anything new and shiny especially if it's from over the Pond or Japanese?  

Rod


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## Jacob (8 Aug 2011)

It's the rubbish design I object to wherever it comes from.
Sharp skate is rubbish design - clever but stupid and over engineered
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi1uOISQ ... re=related is inspired brilliant design - highly effective and easily made.
It's a culture clash one way or another.


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## custard (8 Aug 2011)

Harbo":13jgfwlq said:


> Thanks for the interesting review Custard.
> 
> I think you mean Derek Cohan - Jacob is the one who never has a good word about anything new and shiny especially if it's from over the Pond or Japanese?
> 
> Rod



My error, thanks for pointing that out, I've edited the original post accordingly.


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## matthewwh (9 Aug 2011)

custard":2kzt80vl said:


> 3. It cambers far better than I was expecting, every bit as good as the Veritas with the cambered roller and way better than I can do freehand (in fact it's my ineptitude with freehand cambering that mainly makes me use a honing jig).




Hi Custard,

Thanks for the review. 

I'm still struggling to see how this can produce a camber, unless it has a really fine skew setting +/-. 

I can't see that describing an arc with it is going to produce anything more than a curved scratch pattern on a straight bevel.


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## woodbloke (9 Aug 2011)

matthewwh":1tklsja7 said:


> custard":1tklsja7 said:
> 
> 
> > 3. It cambers far better than I was expecting, every bit as good as the Veritas with the cambered roller and way better than I can do freehand (in fact it's my ineptitude with freehand cambering that mainly makes me use a honing jig).
> ...


I'm with Matthew here...seems to be a nice piece of kit, albeit a bit spendy :shock: but I can't see how it'll produce any sort of significant camber. I'd worry if any of my blades were cambered...which they're not :wink: - Rob


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## custard (9 Aug 2011)

woodbloke":16xmvcke said:


> matthewwh":16xmvcke said:
> 
> 
> > custard":16xmvcke said:
> ...





I was with you in terms of doubting the Sharp Skate's cambering ability. 

I camber most of my plane irons, but couldn't see how this jig could possibly follow the camber curve...yet it does. 

Maybe there's some give in the wheels or flex in the axles, however selectively applying pressure at either end delivers a uniform burr all around the edge, and then an equally uniform micro bevel. Although to be honest I haven't tried honing the iron I use in a LN bevel up jack, which is cambered to a 9" radius as per the Derek Cohen method, nor the iron from my scrub plane which is even more heavily cambered. So I can't vouch that it would deliver a more extreme camber.

But with straight edged blades, pressing equally in the centre, as on the skew rebate plane iron (which isn't cambered) and the 1" paring chisel, gave a straight and accurate edge.

As jigs go it's very nice, being exceptionally quick to set up (way faster and less fiddly than the Veritas) and very smooth in use. The two biggest problems I found were cleaning all nine wheels between stones and setting intermediate skew angles. Unfortunately the cleaning problem's likely to be a deal breaker for me unless I can find a short cut.


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## woodbloke (11 Aug 2011)

As I understand it, it's also very difficult to effectivly clamp very small or narrow blades like a 3mm dovetail chisel - Rob


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## custard (11 Aug 2011)

woodbloke":3j8hq6cp said:


> As I understand it, it's also very difficult to effectivly clamp very small or narrow blades like a 3mm dovetail chisel - Rob



I've not actually tried a chisel smaller than 3/8" but I suspect you may be right. In fact when it comes to exceptionally narrow chisels I've had mixed success with all the jigs I've tried, I've a few "micro chisels" that I use for cleaning out the grooves for inlay and stringing, and in the absence of anything better I tend to clamp them in a vice at the honing angle and give them a quick swipe with the stone held horizontally. 

Actually you raise a good point, really small edges can be a problem full stop. At least with micro chisels sharpening isn't a daily event, but I really struggle with marking out knives where, because they run against a steel rule, I sometimes need to sharpen them multiple times in a day. My favourite layout knife was made for me by Bristol Design tools, it's the iron from an old infill plane that was lazer cut to an appropriate size with chunky rosewood scales rivetted on. It's great to hold, even for long periods, but it's the devil to hone and defeats every jig I've ever encountered. The other layout knives I use are the thick and thin Ron Hock blades without handles, they're much easier to hone either freehand or in a jig, but the lack of handles mean that unless you pay close attention they have a tendency to twist in use.


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## yetloh (11 Aug 2011)

Jacob":35m4lhov said:


> It's the rubbish design I object to wherever it comes from.
> Sharp skate is rubbish design - clever but stupid and over engineered
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi1uOISQ ... re=related is inspired brilliant design - highly effective and easily made.
> It's a culture clash one way or another.



Looks like a nice idea, Jacob, provided of course you want a camber on all your blades. Wouldn't work for me given that I don't want a camber on any of them.

As for contamination of the wheels, can't you just run it under the tap? Mind you, I am lucky enough to have a sink in the workshop with running hot and cold and the sharpening station beside it.

At least I have now found a use for my small Kell jig which I was going to put on ebay. My small Japanese chamfer plane has a blade only about 1 1/2 ins. long and is difficult to sharpen well, but despite the sides not being parallel, the Kell coped well with it . It is still awkward to use because it doesn't provide a convenient grip but nothing else seems to be available to cope with a blade that small. 

Jim


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## matthewwh (13 Aug 2011)

Rob & Jim,

I'm properly confused now, how on earth do you plane anything flat without cambers?


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## custard (14 Aug 2011)

matthewwh":1xmyz4gm said:


> how on earth do you plane anything flat without cambers?



I guess you could with a shooting board.


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## woodbloke (14 Aug 2011)

matthewwh":2gh8rs2n said:


> Rob & Jim,
> 
> I'm properly confused now, how on earth do you plane anything flat without cambers?


I've never had any difficulty with getting stuff flat Matt (that rhymes...he was a poet and didn't know it :lol: ) but I do use a white grinding wheel to just take off the sharp corners of the blade and then smooth them off a bit more on the 3M films. I noticed also that when Pete Sefton was honing his Cliffi blade (using a Veritas MkII) at his recent bash, he weren't camberising his blade either - Rob


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## Derek Cohen (Perth Oz) (14 Aug 2011)

I really do not understand how it is possible to avoid tracks without cambering a smoother's blade ... ?

Creating a camber for a smoother on the Sharp Skate is very simple. All one does is place pressure on one cormner, then the other, as you hone ... as with all methods. In the case of the SS, you press down and move the guide either away or towards one self. It is exactly the same method I use when freehand side sharpening.

Regards from Perth

Derek


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## Sgian Dubh (14 Aug 2011)

Derek Cohen (Perth said:


> I really do not understand how it is possible to avoid tracks without cambering a smoother's blade ... ? Derek


Derek, I used to sharpen my all my irons with a straight edge, even smoothing plane irons. I did so for more than twenty or so years if I recall it right. Tracking is avoided by just rounding off the corners a bit. I still round off the corners as I've always done, but nowadays I also include a bit of a convex curve across the business end too-- actually, this is primarily a consequence of the fact that most bench stones are a bit dished anyway, ha, ha, so it's easier just to go with the flow so to speak. Slainte.


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## woodbloke (14 Aug 2011)

Derek Cohen (Perth said:


> I really do not understand how it is possible to avoid tracks without cambering a smoother's blade ... ?
> 
> Derek



I don't have a problem with it Derek...












...straight off the Veritas LA BU smoother. If there are any tracks...(which there weren't) a coupla quick passes with a card scraper soon sorts it. Interestingly, JK as far as I'm aware, never used a camberised blade and he seemed to manage OK as do the Japanese with their kana... and they do stuff which is good as well - Rob


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## yetloh (14 Aug 2011)

Yes, I can second Rob's comments. I just remove any slight tracks with a cab scraper. Being pedantis (a fault I must admit to) I would ask how you can get a surface flat with a cambered blade. It must surely result in a surface with, an albeit small, wave form.

Jim


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## Harbo (14 Aug 2011)

None of my blades have cambers just rounded edges and if very fine cuts are taken I don't think even that is necessary?


Rod


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## Derek Cohen (Perth Oz) (14 Aug 2011)

My cambers are very fine. They show up as flat on a flat surface. 

However, you guys are having to scrape after smoothing - now _that_ is evidence that all is not well with a flat bevel.

Regards from Perth

Derek


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## woodbloke (14 Aug 2011)

Derek Cohen (Perth said:


> However, you guys are having to scrape after smoothing - now _that_ is evidence that all is not well with a flat bevel.
> 
> Regards from Perth
> 
> Derek


No Derek...I don't scrape. If the blade isn't set *dead* true then yes, it will leave a small track, but two swipes with a card scraper and they're gone. However, as Richard and I have said, the corners of the blade must be knocked off and nicely rounded. I suggest you have a go as it saves an awful lot of faff getting a half decent camber - Rob


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## yetloh (14 Aug 2011)

Dead right, Rob. I was taught by a very fine and thoughtful professional cabinet maker of 30 odd years who has never used a camber and certainly doesn't spend time getting rid of tramlines. But, in the end, it is what works for you.

Jim


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## matthewwh (14 Aug 2011)

Now I understand, I would have included nipping the corners off as cambering - a broad interpretation I grant you. Just a difference in nomenclature rather than a whole technique missing from my ken.


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## Sgian Dubh (14 Aug 2011)

Derek Cohen (Perth said:


> ...you guys are having to scrape after smoothing - now _that_ is evidence that all is not well with a flat bevel. Derek


Derek, I don't know anyone doing all prepping by hand that doesn't do a bit of scraping and sanding between planing and applying polish anyway... so your point is moot.

However, I'll grant there are some woodworkers out there that _claim_ they polish straight after planing, but I've never met a single one that can actually do it. And at the horny handed money making end of furniture making everyone I know does at least some sanding, and probably some scraping too before polishing (in hand prepped work). There generally just isn't the time in a paying job to fiddle about with planes to get a polish ready surface and make money. Slainte.


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## David C (14 Aug 2011)

How do you straight blade, (with the corners eased), guys deal with truing out of square or even twisted edges?

David


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## woodbloke (14 Aug 2011)

David C":1umojwwk said:


> How do you straight blade, (with the corners eased), guys deal with truing out of square or even twisted edges?
> 
> David


Very difficult to describe David, but again, I've never encountered any problem in planing a true and square edge. Probably I think by using the index finger underneath the sole to guide the blade so that it only ever cuts on the bits where it's supposed to cut. Easy enough to do, much more difficult to explain _'how'_ - Rob


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## Harbo (14 Aug 2011)

I do not understand that, surely that depends more on how you plane. I cannot see where the camber comes into play on an edge?

Also on an edge where it is narrow than the blade, a completely flat blade will be fine - no danger of tramlines there?

Rod


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## matthewwh (14 Aug 2011)

Hi Rod,

Using a cambered blade on an edge enables you to mark any high spots / high sides with a pencil as you check the edge with a square. You then drift the plane left or right as you work along the edge to remove more material with the centre of the blade where your marks are. 

This way you can saw nearer to the mark and hopefully get everything dead square just before you drop onto the finished dimension.

A straight blade will show that everything's flat when you get a full width shaving and is sufficient for jointing two mated boards, but flat and square are two seperate objectives.


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## Sgian Dubh (14 Aug 2011)

David C":c5m5j0po said:


> How do you straight blade, (with the corners eased), guys deal with truing out of square or even twisted edges? David


Three techniques David.

*** Take a third, half or three quarter width shaving-- it works much the same as a cambered blade because the corner is rounded, and is a relatively easy technique. You can also switch from one side to the other mid-stroke, or two or three times in a stroke if required. 

**** Tilt the plane a degree or two-- a bit trickier than above but works with practice, especially if you place your thumb on top of the front knob (or somewhere in the channel of the casting on the top side) and hook your index finger under the sole of the plane so it rubs along the face of the board. This technique gives lots of physical feedback leading to quite good control.

***** Adjust the projection of the blade with the lateral adjuster; sometimes a single adjustment followed by a full length cut works, and sometimes making side to side adjustments as you go is needed. The latter, adjusting depth of cut side to side as you make a cut is quite difficult and can be a bit hit and miss if you aren't very familiar with the plane, ie you need to be very familiar with the slop in the mechanism.

Then there is bending the sole of the plane a bit along its length as you push by the technique of wrenching the knob and handle up towards each other or down towards each other, and twisting the sole a fraction by similarly wrenching the handle and knob in opposing sideways directions to each other. 

Lastly, of course, there are easier and quicker ways to prepare a straight edge, eg pass the edges over a surface planer and just tittivate if and when required with a hand plane. Slainte.


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## Harbo (14 Aug 2011)

Matthew I do that anyway using Richard's method 2 above.

Rod


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## custard (15 Aug 2011)

David C":1bod9p4y said:


> How do you straight blade, (with the corners eased), guys deal with truing out of square or even twisted edges?
> 
> David



I suppose a shooting board, or a plane with a fence attached, would allow a straight edge from a straight iron; but apart from that I'm also puzzled.


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## Paul Chapman (15 Aug 2011)

I tend to hone some of my plane blades dead straight, some with a hint of a camber and some with a heavy camber. My LN #9 (used mainly on a shooting board) is honed dead straight, as are my shoulder, rebate and combination plane blades. My scrub planes are obviously honed with a heavy camber. Most of my bench planes are honed with just a hint of a camber. My honing guides have wide rollers but with just a little extra pressure on the edges of the blades I get a very slight camber which I prefer these days.

When jointing boards, I like whenever possible to plane the boards together, so in that case I will use a straight blade.

I don't find it difficult to plane a twisted edge with a straight blade. It's all about how you control the plane. If you plane without thinking, then the plane can easily follow the twist. However, if you carefully use your fingers as a fence under the plane and concentrate on what you are doing, it's easy enough. With a shooting board the plane has a flat base on which to run so you will get a square edge - when planing freehand, I find it helps to keep that in mind and control the plane so that it's kept square to the edge of the board.

As Rob said, it's easier to do than to explain.

Cheers :wink: 

Paul


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## woodbloke (15 Aug 2011)

Harbo":3ocquzog said:


> Matthew I do that anyway using Richard's method 2 above.
> 
> Rod


I use * and ** - Rob


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## Harbo (15 Aug 2011)

Out of interest I had a look at some of my Plane books.
Record's Planecraft recommends straight across with rounded corners to maximise the irons width and Garrett Hack uses it for most of his planing.


Rod


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## bugbear (15 Aug 2011)

David C":3g05pfd2 said:


> How do you straight blade, (with the corners eased), guys deal with truing out of square or even twisted edges?
> 
> David



Have you never seen Jim Kingshott's planing Videos? He demonstrates what we probably ought to call "the other jointing technqiue" 

I don't know if they've been put on DVD.

(searching...) Hmm. This thread says "sort of"

http://www.woodworkuk.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?t=868

BugBear


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## custard (15 Aug 2011)

Harbo":32n47woq said:


> Out of interest I had a look at some of my Plane books.
> Record's Planecraft recommends straight across with rounded corners to maximise the irons width and Garrett Hack uses it for most of his planing.
> 
> 
> Rod



Robert Wearing recommends a straight blade with rounded corners for finishing, but a shallow camber for truing an edge. This was also the way I was tought in the 1970's.

I think David Charlesworth recommends a camber height of 0.25mm on a 2 3/8" iron (which by my calculation works out at a radius of about 1.8 metres, so I suspect a lot of old timers with worn oilstones were getting a similar camber without realising it), and ideally having an iron that projects about twice the thickness of the edge you're truing. 

Hey, whatever works for you!


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## David C (15 Aug 2011)

Richard,

Thank you.

We both teach, and mine are mostly beginners. I feel that it is easier for them to true an edge with the slightly cambered blade, as the plane does not have to be displaced so far to the side, as in your method 1.

Hampton (straight blade) was a plane salesman but I'm not sure if he was a craftsman. Wearing (cambered blade) was taught, just after the war, by the likes of Edward Barnsley and Cecil Gough. I believe Gough was foreman in the famous cotswold workshops where utility furniture was first designed and made. Gordon Russell.

Do you think that both techniques were in use at the same time or that one was more universally used than the other?

Enjoyed your comments about sanding. The current american obsession with "finishing straight from the plane" seems crazy to me. A little sanding is essential for any finish which will be sanded between coats. 

best wishes,
David


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## János (15 Aug 2011)

Hello,

I have found that side sharpening gaga and this newest incarnation of a jig bullshit. Some woodworkers have too much energy to waste on endless, pointless and fruitless discussions... (and money to burn on things they should never buy)

Manual training and abilities differ from people to people. For example, I have difficulty in grinding and honing a straight edge on narrow blades freehand, so I used a jig to grind these, but I have not found any jig which is really suitable to hone narrow blades, under 6-8 mm or so. So I sharpen these narrow (4 mm and below) blades of mine with slips and stone files, moving the stone instead of the blade. And for producing a heavy chamber on a blade (e.g. a scrub plane iron) I use the same method...

By the way, a mildly chambered blade, or a blade with ground-back corners flattens and smoothes wooden surfaces equally well. But I am bored of this much ado about "flatness", as wood is a resilient and tough material, and wooden members move millimetres or even centimetres with environmental changes. A well tuned smoother takes a shaving 0,05 millimetres thin from your 40 mm thick cherry tabletop, from a tabletop, which will swell about 0,2-0,4 millimetres in your unheated workshop overnight. Who cares then about those 0,05 millimetres deep "ripples"?

Some of you are talking about woodcraft like it was precision engineering, and that is a really serious mistake, and a sure sign, that you do not understand properly the (scientific) background of it...

The Japanese craftsman in that clip uses a simple self-made jig to sharpen a blade, and the jig produces a straight edge, not a chambered one, but perhaps it is possible to twist the blade a little as it comes and goes, to produce mild chambers. The accent is on the sideways movement (as opposed to back and front) of the blade. By the way this mildly arched sweeping movement of the blade recalls/resembles the "removing of the wire edge" in hand sharpening and honing.

Learning and practice are the core of every craft... It is a modern Occidental delusion that you can buy into that...

Have a nice day,

János


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## Sgian Dubh (16 Aug 2011)

David C":1a4uzwkx said:


> We both teach, and mine are mostly beginners. I feel that it is easier for them to true an edge with the slightly cambered blade.


Mine too David! But I think you're right about it being a bit easier to square an edge with a cambered (curved) cutting edge-- never thought about it really as I just adapt myself to whatever plane is thrown at me if I'm not using my own tools.



David C":1a4uzwkx said:


> Wearing (cambered blade) was taught, just after the war, by the likes of Edward Barnsley and Cecil Gough. I believe Gough was foreman in the famous cotswold workshops where utility furniture was first designed and made. Gordon Russell.


Bob Wearing was one of my teachers, but I don't recall now if he recommended curved or straight cutting edges-- it was a long, long time ago, ha, ha! He was a jig making fiend though: I recall that. He made so many darned jigs he never had time to make any furniture with them.



David C":1a4uzwkx said:


> Do you think that both techniques were in use at the same time or that one was more universally used than the other?


To be honest David, I don't really know if one edge profile was more universal than the other. I was made aware in my early days in the game that some liked a curved cutting edge and some liked a straight edge with rounded corners. It was left up to me then to decide which way to go, although it was a bit confusing when I was glaikit wee laddie because some workers swore by one profile and others swore by the alternative, and some in each each group of adherents told me I was an silly person if I wasn't using their prefered profile. 

I've favoured and used both edge profiles over the years: nowadays I put a bit of a curve on all my standard bench plane irons, but I don't try and convince others it's the one and only way. I'm so used to picking up any old plane abused by sharpening averse students I just tend to go with the flow with whatever edge profile I find. I generally only chunter and grumble if the thing's too blunt to even turn over soil, ha, ha.

I guess the truth is that I'm generally pretty relaxed about hand tools, which is probably why I don't get into hand tool forums much and debate the debates. I've always found that most hand tools will work satisfactorily (or better) with a bit of setting up if need be. I generally prefer to use a Clifton or a Lie-Nielsen plane over a Record or a Stanley, but I've used scores of the latter two brands over the years. As long as they're in reasonable shape they can generally be got to work okay, but I've also come across several Stanley and Record stinkers only fit for the scrapyard.



David C":1a4uzwkx said:


> Enjoyed your comments about sanding. The current american obsession with "finishing straight from the plane" seems crazy to me. A little sanding is essential for any finish which will be sanded between coats.


Absolutely-- nobody puts polish on straight after planing, unless they're doing the work for fun, and there's nothing wrong with that. Slainte.


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## bugbear (16 Aug 2011)

Sgian Dubh":11dfhiq8 said:


> I've always found that most hand tools will work satisfactorily (or better) with a bit of setting up if need be.



*"a bit of setting up if need be"*

That has to be one of the best cases of British understatement I've seen in a while! Could certainly cover a wide range of possibilities ;-)

BugBear


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## urbanarcher (16 Aug 2011)

Jacob":305rite5 said:


> It's the rubbish design I object to wherever it comes from.
> Sharp skate is rubbish design - clever but stupid and over engineered
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi1uOISQ ... re=related is inspired brilliant design - highly effective and easily made.
> It's a culture clash one way or another.


Well i know what i'll be doing this weekend!


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## Doug B (16 Aug 2011)

urbanarcher":1d2fzw3h said:


> Jacob":1d2fzw3h said:
> 
> 
> > It's the rubbish design I object to wherever it comes from.
> ...




Don`t forget to video it


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## urbanarcher (16 Aug 2011)

lol I'll have a go maybe pics
my stone selection is a little more random than the ones used in the vid (mostly old oil stones from my grandad and other sources.) so i will have to make some allowances for that! maybe I'll pick up some budget diamond plates, all though i think this jig will work with anything really if its got a flat top.


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## bugbear (16 Aug 2011)

custard":1gwgho7q said:


> I was with you in terms of doubting the Sharp Skate's cambering ability.
> 
> I camber most of my plane irons, but couldn't see how this jig could possibly follow the camber curve...yet it does.
> 
> Maybe there's some give in the wheels or flex in the axles, however selectively applying pressure at either end delivers a uniform burr all around the edge, and then an equally uniform micro bevel.



I've never encountered a jig rigid enough, and with sufficient "authority" than the sort of cambers needed for smoothers, jack and jointers can't be readily obtained.

Even my ridiculous "monster" jig isn't rigid enough to stop me cambering - if I want to. 

This fact should be borne in mind by people who want to use their chosen jig when they *want* a perfectly straight cutting edge.

BugBear


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## David C (16 Aug 2011)

Thanks Richard,

I assume Wearing liked camber for edges as this is shown and explained in his book "Essential Woodworker".

David


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## Sgian Dubh (16 Aug 2011)

bugbear":6n56qdvs said:


> *"a bit of setting up if need be"*
> 
> That has to be one of the best cases of British understatement I've seen in a while! Could certainly cover a wide range of possibilities ;-) BugBear


A bit of an understatement I agree BugBear, ha, ha. Slainte.


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## Sgian Dubh (16 Aug 2011)

David C":n8ixpqew said:


> Thanks Richard,
> 
> I assume Wearing liked camber for edges as this is shown and explained in his book "Essential Woodworker". David


I don't recall the technique Bob demonstrated to us as students for edge joinery David, nor the profile of the cutting edge. But if he discusses using a curved cutting edge for the task in his book, which I don't have, I can only assume like you that he favoured that profile. Slainte.


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