Hello All,
I’ve come up with a slight tweak of the sandpaper method for sharpening that might be of use to someone else. I’ve been using double-stick 3M films from Lee Valley attached to a 12” square marble tile with good results, with one frustrating problem. The adhesive works so well that it takes forever, and a lot of elbow grease, to scrape off the old sheets when it’s time to replace them.
The first attempt was to simply tape the sections of film in place, not using the double stick surface, with duct tape. This was OK. The biggest problem was the thickness of the tape didn’t allow my chisels or plane blades to lie completely flat when flattening the back of the blade. Also, the tape sometimes didn’t hold well.
The solution that worked for me was to buy some 4” x 12” glass tiles from HD that are completely flat. A pack of 6 cost $14. I cut the 8 1/2×11 sheets of film into thirds, which fit perfectly on the tiles. I tried using Gorilla Tape, which seems to work slightly better than duct tape. Plus, with the 4” wide tiles, it can wrap it around the bottom for a more secure connection. The heaviest film curls slightly on the edges, but flattens out when using it. The tiles have some sort of backing which works well to keep them in place when sharpening. The tiles store easily, and you can pull out just the finest grit or 2 for touch ups while you work.
Hope this proves useful for someone else.
Cheers,
Tim