Experience Changes Everything

[Jim Koepke]

The thread on Scary Sharp brought this to mind.

For the longest time, oil stones have given me no satisfaction.

Now, after a few years of using a power sharpening system and water stones it was a bit of a surprise to find my opinion needing an update.

I was working at my lathe when it was noticed that a tool was not working as well as it should. Checking the edge verified that it needed a touch to the stones. Not wanting to spend time setting up the power or water, it was decided to use the oil stone that was sitting on a bench looking for a home. (we are still in the moving in mode. likely to be that way for quite a while.)

Put a few drops of oil on the Arkansas White Stone and worked the edge and was surprised how fast it got into shape. The edge is not as fine as my 8000 grit water stone can do, but it was sharp enough to get back to the lathe quickly.

So the moral of this story may be that if something did not work for you before, maybe now that your experience has developed, it is possible the ability of that useless tool, technique or stone has also improved.

So if it did not work before, try it again, maybe that old stone has learned something since it was last put away.

jim

[Ken Werner]

Excellent advice Jim. Not just in woodworking either.

Ken

[Dave Anderson NH]

Hehe!! Been there Jim. Most of us just don't know what to look for or know how to apply any abrasive to the object we are working on. I don't even want to consider how much time and effort I used to expend on "sharpening" about a inch on each bevel of an ax.

[Tony Zaffuto]

One of the biggest mistakes I made when I started this "journey" was trying too many different things (almost) at once. Once I picked a system or method, my skills, be they sharpening, planing, sawing, increased.

Too many times we give in to ad copy, thinking we can buy our way to skills, without giving due to the time we must invest.

T.Z.