Show us your sharpening stations

[Luke Dupont]

Luke, I have to say I enjoyed the irony of you being in Tokyo and having a preference for Ark stones.

Haha, yeah.

To be fair, I think I could find myself with a preference for Jnats one day -- when I'm willing to put down the money for some really nice ones.

Edit: Even more ironically, I should mention that I like using oilstones on Japanese tools because Japanese steel is very prone to rusting. This sometimes even happens in the middle of sharpening. With oilstones, I never worry about having to apply oil afterwards or having rust form.

[Derek Cohen]

Luke, I have not ever experienced my Japanese chisels rusting as a result of sharpening with water stones. It certainly has not been a complaint of many millions of Japanese using Japanese chisels.

My main system is a Shapton Pro 1000, with Sigma 6000 and 13000. Alternatives include Medium and UltraFine Spyderco, along with several diamond stones used for rougher work.



Two half-speed 8" bench grinders: one with 80/180 grit CBN wheels, and the other set up for buffing.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Scott Clausen]

If I had only bought what's best first I would have enough left over for a new tool! I started with stones, it was such a mess and pain I waited past dull to undertake. Move to the PSA paper on float glass (scary sharp) which was cleaner but only going in one direction sucked as in twice as long. Got the work sharp and love it for my chisels but not so much for pane irons. They are often too wide and if a mild camber is needed no such luck. For the ones the fit Work Sharp is nice to correct a really bad previous owner's work. Bring on the diamond plates, this should be anyone's go to as a one and done solution. I am sure (this is a sharpening thread) others will agree to disagree but with these and a good strop I am good to go now. It in fact was exactly the best solution to make a seldom used No. 4 into a scrub plane. Full disclosure: I don't have a grinder but that is on the shopping list this weekend.

[Luke Dupont]

Luke, I have not ever experienced my Japanese chisels rusting as a result of sharpening with water stones. It certainly has not been a complaint of many millions of Japanese using Japanese chisels.

My main system is a Shapton Pro 1000, with Sigma 6000 and 13000. Alternatives include Medium and UltraFine Spyderco, along with several diamond stones used for rougher work.

Two half-speed 8" bench grinders: one with 80/180 grit CBN wheels, and the other set up for buffing.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Yeah, many people don't have that problem it seems.
To be fair, it only really happens when I am spending a long time doing major repairs, bevel setting, or trying to flatten the back of a new chisel.
Of course, this kind of work is better done on a coarse diamond plate most of the time anyway.

I like diamond stones as well, as Scott Clausen mentioned, and used to use them a lot, but I could not find a liquid that seemed to work well on them. Oil proves to be too thick, and water too thin (and leads to rusting swarf particles embedded in the stone). Many people use window cleaners and such, but I seem to be allergic to some chemical that is commonly used in those products. This, and the fact that oil stones offer better feedback but also reduced mess and maintenance were my reasons for switching from Waterstones > Diamond > Oilstones. Of course, a good diamond plate is always useful for major grinding and flattening stones, and is an absolute necessity if you restore a ton of old tools.

So, short answer might be that I was just "doing it wrong" and should have been using a coarse diamond plate over waterstones for major flattening and bevel setting/repairs.

[David Zor]

As I’m unpacking and moving into a new shop, this is timely. I’m using some free (el cheapo) kitchen cabinets with a laminate countertop to support a dedicated sharpening station. In one drawer I’ve got stones, blade holding jig and some other odds and ends at the ready. On top is a spray bottle and boot tray at the ready. In the other drawers: files, abrasives, beat up old chisels chisels and plane irons needing heavy work, tools that need to be restored and other “tool support” related stuff. As I unpack (and hopefully stay organized) I aim to make efficient use of this space. I have it directly behind my bench to facilitate convenience in keeping things sharp.

[Todd Trebuna]

Lol….diamonds, water stones and Sand paper on float glass for chisels. C18433FE-CFDC-448A-9160-CD9EE1E34543.jpg

[Jeffrey Hood]

A while back I made this cabinet to keep everything organized... putting it right next to the sink ended up being a good idea, and when I added the removable tray I really can keep the waterstone mess contained... I still use the dropdown most of the time with my Shaptons and diamond stones, but having running water and the sink really helps keep things dry when I break out the waterstones...

JH

[Mike Manning]

...

Here's the link to the FWW article from the July/August 2010 issue in case the link doesn't work. Again my advice would be to widen the design by 2-3x and get the stones up. Otherwise a great system.

https://www.finewoodworking.com/memb.../011213042.pdf

Best,
Chris

Thanks Chris. I was able to find it rather quickly in my FWW archive.