Sharpening Your Hand Tools: A Beginners Guide
Learning to sharpen your tools is a useful skill to have and one which we recommend you learn early on. It will save you lots of time if you're using well sharpened tools and you will get cleaner results too. Paul recommends learning to freehand sharpen, however you can use a honing guide to help you get started and until you get a feel for the angle and presentation of the tool to the sharpening surface.
We've rounded up the best of our blogs, guides and videos to help you on the road to sharpening your tools!
Click one of the options below to jump to each section:
Using a Honing Guide
Paul doesn’t consider these an essential tool, however he understands that some beginners may not feel comfortable…
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Setting Up and Sharpening a Chisel
Note: Be careful when sharpening as the tools will become very sharp, always face the blade away…
Read MoreYou can watch Paul's Youtube video from 2017 on sharpening using diamond stones below.
How to Make a Sharpening Stones Holder
In this guide, Paul shows you how to make a sharpening stones holder which can be clamped in the vise for ease of use. For this, you will need: Plywood Holder: Paul uses 11 ½” (292mm) x 9 ½” (241mm) x ⅞” (22mm) but thicker or thinner works fine, but not less than ½” (13mm)…
Buying Diamond Stones
When buying diamond stones, Paul suggests getting a coarse stone between 120-400 grit (250 is best), a fine stone between 600-1000 (600 is best) and a super-fine between 1200-1500 (1200 is best). Paul recommends the 3” (76mm) x 8” (203mm) diamond stones from EZELAP, this width is so you can comfortably fit the width of…
How To Make a Strop
For this, you will need: Leather (any processed leather will do, this can for instance be a scrap from leather clothing or a leather bag) Piece of wood or plywood 3” (76mm) wide x 10” (254mm) long (any type of wood you can spare but needs to be flat on the top face) Double sided…
Saw Files
Saw files can also be known as triangular files or three-square files. They often have single cut teeth across the full width of each facet of the file and can come in many different variations including: Lengths Widths Taper Fineness (the closer the teeth are on the file, the finer it is) Double-cut/ single cut/…
Setting Up and Sharpening a Saw
This applies to all saws except the coping saw which does not need sharpening as it comes with replacement blades, to see how to insert the blades, click here. Some saws will need setting before sharpening and some will need sharpening before setting. This all depends on the quality of the teeth to begin with.…
The following blogs from paulsellers.com provide great insight into choosing either a ripcut or crosscut pattern for your saw:
The following videos from Paul's YouTube channel might be useful too:
Setting Up and Sharpening a Spokeshave
Note: Be careful when sharpening as the tools will become very sharp, always face the blade away from you when sharpening. Setting Up If your spokeshave is secondhand, check the angle of the bevelled edge using a protractor. The bevel should be no more than 30°. To set the cutting iron depth, use the two…
You might find this blog from paulsellers.com useful:
Setting Up and Sharpening a Woodworker’s Knife
Note: Be careful when sharpening as the tools will become very sharp, always face the blade away from you when sharpening. Often the knifepoint of the blade breaks off quite soon in use, this is because they are used more heavily for woodworking. As they do wear away more quickly than if they were used…
Buying a Woodworker’s Knife
When buying a woodworker’s knife you should look for a thin, strong, flat blade. Don’t be put off by the disposable blade options as some of these can be sharpened and last up to 2 years. Paul recommends the Stanley Folding Pocket Knife model 0 10 598 and the Swann-Morton model SMO-R, which is available…
Sharpening a Gouge
Note: This is the sharpening process of an out-cannel gouge. Paul recommends 2 methods to sharpen an out-cannel gouge which can both be done on diamond plates or abrasive paper. You will also need a curved strop, which you can make yourself, to polish at the end of the sharpening process, for this you will…
Setting up and Sharpening a Swing Brace and Bit
If you have purchased your brace secondhand, ensure all the parts move freely without friction, if not you can oil these parts to ease up the friction. There is usually an oil hole where the neck connects to the pad, only one or two drops are needed. The chuck and the chuck thread may also…
Sharpening a Card Scraper
Sharpening Draw file along the 2 long edges by pushing the file away from you, small steel spirals should appear from the edges as a result of the filing. Place each long edge against the diamond sharpening plate keeping it vertically aligned and push and pull it 10 times making your way through all the…
How To Make a Rounded Card Scraper
This is known as a ‘curved’ or ‘round’ scraper and is mainly used for refining a bowl shape carved into wood. Draw the centre line down a piece of cardstock, draw a rounded, quadrant shape on one half and cut to shape. Fold down the centre line and follow the rounded edge using a…
The Plough Plane Guide
The plough (plow USA) plane creates channel grooves by removing material from the middle of a piece of wood, leaving two outside edges. The plane has a guide or fence, which runs along the underside or outer edge of the plane body to keep the groove parallel and the plane fully aligned to the material.…
Setting Up and Sharpening a #80 Scraper
Setting Up Whilst working on a flat surface, turn the adjusters to loosen the retaining bar and load the blade into the holder. The 45 degree angle should be facing the back. Pinch the bar and blade against the body of the holder, making sure the cutting edge stays flush with the sole, and tighten…
Sharpening a Router Plane
Setting Up Before you use your router plane, it is important to check that the leading edge of the cutting iron, the fore edge, is parallel with the actual sole of the plane as it may need to be corrected, flattened and polished before use (Paul sometimes refers to this process as initialising). This process…