Have a look at this Jacob!

[mark w]

http://www.benchcrafted.com/Drawsharp.htm I bet you are speechless Jacob, I was!

 

[bugbear]

http://www.benchcrafted.com/Drawsharp.htm I bet you are speechless Jacob, I was!

It's beautifully made...

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

Brilliant!
So ordinary sharpening is "skill-intensive and somewhat dangerous"? Surely actually using the draw knife is going to be even more "skill intensive" than sharpening, as with woodwork in general, whatever "skill intensive" means!
To get people to buy this sort of garbage (and jigs in general) you have to put them off early, before they discover that it's all lies and quite easy.

 

[Cottonwood]

=D>
How ever did the colonial pioneers and the subsequent generations of American furniture makers ever manage without this kit?

Jacob is right, its all lies. The industry trend is to keep pushing the notion that sharpening is hard to do, ergo you need to consider purchasing these gizmo's we sudgest, to make things easy for yourself.....
Its a sad trend with the american chairmaking (apart from just about every chair looks exactly the same from each and every maker) they seem to be adopting more and more the high precision gizmo cabinet maker mentality, which means the chairs are really quite bland and increasingly characterless....

 

[AndyT]

Not only is it unnecessary, it risks spoiling the whole back to basics appeal of using a drawknife!

(I also noticed that anyone with an old knife would need the optional extra 'rehab kit'
- I wonder if it would help cure an addiction to buying over-engineered gadgets?)


Bring back the strickle!

 

[Sgian Dubh]

A waste of $84, plus presumably P&P. I do have a lot of sympathy with Jacob regarding the 'severe difficulties' and 'extreme challenge' of sharpening across pretty much the full range of tools. I generally keep clear of the sharpening debates, but sharpening really is a basic and simple task that any self respecting woodworker can manage with no more than essential aids, i.e., a bench stone, slip or similar, and maybe a strop, all depending on the tool being sharpened. A grindstone is handy too for rough shaping, but that's all that's really needed.

There really is no useful purpose that I can see for about 97% (plus) of all the aids and gizmos out there that a bit of freehand practice wouldn't make redundant. Even intermittent or occasional woodworkers (in my teaching experience) mostly can master the basics of sharpening if they put their mind to it, although I'm aware that a limited few are just too intimidated- probably by the flood of 'information' on the subject via a range of media outlets- to actually believe they can sharpen tools satisfactorily. Slainte.

 

[Jacob]

Not only is it unnecessary, it risks spoiling the whole back to basics appeal of using a drawknife!

(I also noticed that anyone with an old knife would need the optional extra 'rehab kit'
- I wonder if it would help cure an addiction to buying over-engineered gadgets?)


Bring back the strickle!

Wossa strickle? I want one!

 

[MIGNAL]

Somewhere, out there, is a honing guide collector who is going to absolutely love that bit of kit.

 

[AndyT]

Not only is it unnecessary, it risks spoiling the whole back to basics appeal of using a drawknife!

(I also noticed that anyone with an old knife would need the optional extra 'rehab kit'
- I wonder if it would help cure an addiction to buying over-engineered gadgets?)


Bring back the strickle!

Wossa strickle? I want one!

It's a sharpening stick.
About a foot long or a bit more, tapered and with four facets. You smear some tallow on it, then dip it in sharp sand and rub it along your billhook, scythe or sickle until it's got a nice sharp edge.

No guides, Velcro or special accessories required!

 

[Trafalgar]

I assume this thing was designed by Peter Galbert, the chairmaker. Seems a little incongruent, to say the least. I do know that he uses a drawknife a lot.

Here's his website:

http://www.petergalbertchairmaker.com/index.html

 

[bugbear]

It's a sharpening stick.
About a foot long or a bit more, tapered and with four facets. You smear some tallow on it, then dip it in sharp sand and rub it along your billhook, scythe or sickle until it's got a nice sharp edge.

I was reading (as you do) about sharpening techniques used in Holland. Holland has almost no rocks, it's all sediments.

So the Dutch are absolute masters of various strickle and strop etc techniques, and are expert in the abrasive properties of the various sands...

BugBear

 

[bugbear]

Somewhere, out there, is a honing guide collector who is going to absolutely love that bit of kit.

I do sort of collect honing guides, but a lot of the modern ones are expensive enough that my collection will never be anywhere near complete.

There have been a remarkable number of interesting and curious designs over the years, a bit like nut crackers and saw sets; the topic seems to attract the ingenious.

BugBear

 

[MIGNAL]

:shock: :shock: :shock: I just knew it!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
Someone will help you. Have you tried therapy? My names Bugbear and I collect. . .ermm. . . honing guides.

 

[bugbear]

:shock: :shock: :shock: I just knew it!!! :shock: :shock: :shock:
Someone will help you. Have you tried therapy? My names Bugbear and I collect. . .ermm. . . honing guides.

I collect far more things than just honing guides... tool catalogues, for one.

BugBear

 

[Cottonwood]

Of course this is just the tip of the ice berg, the thin end of the wedge.
next it'll be
scorpsharp
axesharp
travisharp
wedgiesharp (are your cheeks correctly aligned) :lol:
(one for every tool...?)
Order early to avoid disapointment :roll:
looksharp (sorry couldnt resist that one) (hammer)

 

[Graham Orm]

Worth every penny! If it had a light or a laser on it I'd get one. I have a full set of these in 12 different sizes. http://www.rutlands.co.uk/sp+woodworkin ... aws+jp1444

 

[Sheffield Tony]

Not only is it unnecessary, it risks spoiling the whole back to basics appeal of using a drawknife!
!

Absolutely. And (just to really stir the hornets' nest) if there is one tool on which I actually like a slightly rounded bevel, it is the drawknife ... (runs for cover :lol: )

 

[AndyT]

Worth every penny! If it had a light or a laser on it I'd get one. I have a full set of these in 12 different sizes. http://www.rutlands.co.uk/sp+woodworkin ... aws+jp1444

Good grief. That seems to be a real item, offered for sale. Please tell me it's out of stock till 1 April...

 

[Graham Orm]

Worth every penny! If it had a light or a laser on it I'd get one. I have a full set of these in 12 different sizes. http://www.rutlands.co.uk/sp+woodworkin ... aws+jp1444

Good grief. That seems to be a real item, offered for sale. Please tell me it's out of stock till 1 April...

It's been there a while Andy, spotted them a few months ago.

 

[AndyT]

Not only is it unnecessary, it risks spoiling the whole back to basics appeal of using a drawknife!
!

Absolutely. And (just to really stir the hornets' nest) if there is one tool on which I actually like a slightly rounded bevel, it is the drawknife ... (runs for cover :lol: )

I agree and I think I can see why. Used bevel down, it can be like a very wide carver's chisel. If you are cutting first down into the wood and then along it (as you might be if making a stopped chamfer) you get more control if the back of the tool, touching the wood, is a continuous curve, not one corner then a second corner.