Vintage sharpening

[johnwalls26]

I visit Melbourne Hall courtyard in Derbyshire. I have never managed to catch Trent Sharpening in their little workshop but drool over the very old artifacts outside. OK the big wheel is really nice, but the oilstone rests intrigue me. There is never any space available on my workbench. I am very tempted to make one of these style angled plinths to leave on the outside of my workshop . Anyone else using this type of set up?

 

[Torx]

Looks quite nifty, once you’ve relearned the muscle memory of the appropriate angles. I remember watching a video at the Sheffield steel museum, they would straddle those big stones and now and again they would explode…

 

[worn thumbs]

Looks quite nifty, once you’ve relearned the muscle memory of the appropriate angles. I remember watching a video at the Sheffield steel museum, they would straddle those big stones and now and again they would explode…

If you read Ashley Iles book on toolmaking in Sheffield,there is a section devoted to the individual trades and one described is grinding.As the men were earning based on piecework they had every reason to speed things up and they are described as running stones at twice the recommended speed.Guess what happens once in a while?It must have been a pretty miserable life given the posture they had to adopt and I have read that few of them saw their fortieth birthday.Mostly because of the quantity of dust they ingested.

 

[Jacob]

If you read Ashley Iles book on toolmaking in Sheffield,there is a section devoted to the individual trades and one described is grinding.As the men were earning based on piecework they had every reason to speed things up and they are described as running stones at twice the recommended speed.Guess what happens once in a while?It must have been a pretty miserable life given the posture they had to adopt and I have read that few of them saw their fortieth birthday.Mostly because of the quantity of dust they ingested.

"Back to the Grindstone" by H Housely is a good read. He was a cutler but the same trades served different makers, including woodwork tools.
https://www.hawleysheffieldknives.com/n-fulldetails.php?val=h&kel=968https://www.ebay.co.uk/p/89185823

 

[Jacob]

I visit Melbourne Hall courtyard in Derbyshire. I have never managed to catch Trent Sharpening in their little workshop but drool over the very old artifacts outside. OK the big wheel is really nice, but the oilstone rests intrigue me. There is never any space available on my workbench. I am very tempted to make one of these style angled plinths to leave on the outside of my workshop . Anyone else using this type of set up?

My stones are in a little old cupboard which has a downwards opening door which sits on the sideways opening doors below and makes a solid work surface. It was obviously designed as a fold away work top for some purpose, not sure what.
It's only 10" deep but heavily made of oak

Three stones on a tray on my workbench

Door open resting on doors below. The "hinge" stile is actually one piece with the central panel, to make the whole door into a strong work table.

Same tray in use in the work station.

I thought it was worth posting up as it works well as a sharpening station and worth copying, with shelves below for other sharpening odds and ends

 

[Jacob]

Looks quite nifty, once you’ve relearned the muscle memory of the appropriate angles.

Takes a beginner half an hour or so to get 30º near enough. A visual thing; not sure that "muscle memory" means anything. It's a myth that this is difficult, it never was in the past, school kids could do it!
n.b. you only need one angle: 30º. The others are "slightly more" or "slightly less" etc

 

[johnwalls26]

Thanks for the replies. I keep meaning to have a day around the two Sheffield museums. I believe there is only one traditional grinder left in Sheffield There is an import business that gets him to treat Far Eastern hatchets. He sits on a sort of saddle behind the wheel. Interesting to see pictures of olden grinding: knife grinding 1902 - Bing