Paul, his version of sharpening

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
You don't have to be Grinling Gibbons to cut dovetails by hand. In fact anybody can do it if they choose. A few hours of practice and you are off.
One trick is that it's actually easier freehand as you don't have to follow guide lines, but you can mark in positions if you want them neat and tidy.
It's just a simple procedure and getting your eye in.
Forgot to say - nearly all hand cut DTs in most furniture from the days when it was the norm, are obviously cut freehand. It's easier and faster. Easier for beginners too.
 
Here 'tis No fighting now. Just one mans view.
I'm prepared to give Sellers the benefit of the doubt that he works with sharp chisels and planes. I'm being a little facetious, because of course they're sharp - at least apparently sharp enough. If this seems a reasonable assumption/conclusion, then why wouldn't his method be valid on its face - it resulted in sharpness.

I'm always disappointed when the uber-sharpeners and tool steel experts don't come on and show their world class breathtaking carving rather than the usual rectilinear Shaker or Arts and Crafts influenced piece that could have been built with tools half as sharp, or at least tools sharpened with half the frou-frou and Sturm und Drang.

"Well, I built this piece out of Pacific Rim lumber they used to use for railroad ties and fence posts and that's why I have $3K invested in sharpening equipment."

Please.
 
Last edited:
.....If this seems a reasonable assumption/conclusion, then why wouldn't his method be valid on its face - it resulted in sharpness.
.....because it questions the quasi religious faith of the converted modern sharpeners who have invested so much time, effort, money into their weird rituals, scriptures and magical gadgets.
 
Last edited:
It's NOT the method of sharpening that matters: it's the phase of the Moon!
 
Oh give it a break
I'm prepared to give Sellers the benefit of the doubt that he works with sharp chisels and planes. I'm being a little facetious, because of course they're sharp - at least apparently sharp enough. If this seems a reasonable assumption/conclusion, then why wouldn't his method be valid on its face - it resulted in sharpness.

I'm always disappointed when the uber-sharpeners and tool steel experts don't come on and show their world class breathtaking carving rather than the usual rectilinear Shaker or Arts and Crafts influenced piece that could have been built with tools half as sharp, or at least tools sharpened with half the frou-frou and Sturm und Drang.

"Well, I built this piece out of Pacific Rim lumber they used to use for railroad ties and fence posts and that's why I have $3K invested in sharpening equipment."

Please.

After you Charles :)

Regards from Perth

Derek
 
It's NOT the method of sharpening that matters: it's the phase of the Moon!
I think you can get a special edge when particularly strong geomagnetic storms hit Earth from the sun, though you have to have certain equipment to capture the effect. ;) It's also helpful if the 185 year old Japanese craftsman who made the chisels or plane irons did so during a total lunar eclipse. It's those very small anomalies in magnetism and gravitational pull, you know, that make all the difference in the world. Gotta be the dispersal of carbides or something.

Now, go out and plane that straight, flat piece of easy-as-hell-to-plane Cherry and show it who's boss.
 
Last edited:

Latest posts

Back
Top