This is a new sharpening station I finally finished for the shop,,, I finished it a little while ago and have been using it to sharpen my chisels, gouges, and plane blades,,, I haven't posted it on the site until I was satisfied that it works well. I sure does,,,
Sharpening has been a pain for a few years having to stop and sharpen is now a lot less of an issue. Before I would have to stop clear a place on one of my benches haul out the equipment and set up the grinders and the stones to sharpen any thing,,, before that I would head into our laundry room to sharpen using the laundry tub and the dryer top to set up,,, A frustrating regular event,,,
Sharp tools are critical as we all know and I had not taken the time to help myself . To focused on every thing I was working on and not concerned with the work flow and after all who wants to sharpen anyway,,, My wife and I are delighted with the new set up as we don't run into each other at the dryer,,, Now the mess and everything has it's place,,, It takes moments to sharpen any of my tools and is just a few steps from anywhere in the shop,,, the interruption to sharpen now is a simple integral part of the work flow,,,
I had always wanted to have a system that would accommodate tool sharpening and it was something I thought about a lot especially when it was in the laundry room,,, I'm sure my loving tolerant wife thought a lot about it as well,,, It took some time to come up with the design. The criteria was the system had to be efficient, small enough, and big enough, and it had to be able to handle the watery mess and easy to keep clean and clutter free.. I salvaged a bunch of 2x4s and a couple 3x6s a piece of Granite and some plywood chunks, then bought s 1/4 sheet of arbourite and a little paint. The joinery of the frame and the weight came together simply,,, laminated up the 2x4s and a couple 1x4s to give me a little more mass and weight,,, there was an incentive in the building as I had to stop a few times and sharpen my planes and chisels,,,
The process lasted a couple years as I had so much other stuff to do,,, I built the base then I didn't have enough plywood then I had to rustle up some granite,,, then the arbourite etc. , etc. painful ,,, when the pain got to great I have a tendency to change usually not till then,,, Well it's done,,,