'Tis the Season

[Jim Koepke]

While in the shop working on Christmas gifts for the grandkids an idea came my way.

While making items this time of year, why not try to use each one of my planes and wipe them down with a coat of paste wax before putting them back on the shelf? Also decided to hone many of the blades.

The thing liked about Hock blades (probably the same for other replacement/premium blades) is also the thing that is disliked about them. They seem to cut longer between needing sharpening and do not seem to have as much shaving degradation. The down side of this is they tend to need a bit more work when it is time to sharpen.

Oh well, can't have everything.

jtk

[Bob Warfield]

Funny you brought this up. I did the exact same thing yesterday. I spent about 2 solid hours honeing and oiling blades and chisels and cleaning plane bodies and waxing them. I spent the money for Renaissance wax. We'll see how it holds up.
Bob

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I've been doing the same to saws and actually enjoying it, but realized my chisels really need some attention. And then looked at the cabinet door, and which chisels are facing bevel in (my sign that this chisel needs more than a stropping) and realizing I've been picking up that bad habit of just grabbing another tool rather than sharpening - (the curse of too many chisels) and the whole shebang needs work. And a few things need grinding . . . I used to do little things like sharpen while listening to the radio before bed, I need to get back into that habit. A lot of stuff needs to hit the grinder first, though, and I hate to make too much noise at night (downstairs neighbors).

[Chris Griggs]

I get super lazy about the grinder. I've gotten in the habit of honing until the the hollow goes away. When that happen I then start honing on a very slight secondary bevel. At some point the secondary/micro bevel gets too big or rounds over so then I need to get off my duff and go to the grinder (though sometimes I too just grab another chisel)