Show us your sharpening stations

[Mike Manning]

How do you sharpen your hand tools - plane cutters, chisels, etc? I've watched Paul Sellers in the past and I seem to recall he has a board with 3 different grades of sharpening stones. IIRC, those were water stones that he squirted with a spray bottle before using. I've also see Paul use sandpaper with a flat granite surface. I'm curious what other folks use and would love to see some pics of what I'll call your sharpening stations. Anyone care to share theirs?

Thanks!

[Nathan Johnson]

Sellers uses diamond stones with auto glass cleaner.

I've got diamonds and Shaptons....water with a bit of soap.

[Mike Manning]

Looks good Nathan. I notice you don't have the stones (or their bases) embedded to keep them from moving. I take it you don't have that problem?

[Nathan Johnson]

Looks good Nathan. I notice you don't have the stones (or their bases) embedded to keep them from moving. I take it you don't have that problem?

No issue. 1/2 inch plywood covered with shelf liner. The diamond stones without holders, or shaptons in holders, don't slide at all on that stuff.
I screwed the poplar on the outside to the plywood and ran the shelf liner underneath it. Cheap, quick, easy.

[Mike Burke]

I need to get more organized with my sharpening station.
Need to find a place to leave them out, so I don't have to unpack them every time I need to sharpen.

sharpening.jpg

[Oskar Sedell]

A simple shelf, at good standing height for me. Small wooden tray with a bridge collects sharpening smudge and flattening slurry which dries in the tray and can be disposed of later. Stones, water and rags always ready. I´ve been very pleased with this setup. Sorry for bad pic quality
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[William Fretwell]

I wanted some weight at the top of the sharpening station so it would not move around. A black granite off cut from a kitchen counter place works well. It’s held underneath at three places so no wobble. The table is the right height with some storage in the drawer and shelf. The non slip mat works but I need a thinner one. The drawer has a Band Aid dispenser.

The water stones work well on granite, after soaking I just spray them as I use them.

I used an oil finish on the drawer but the water and mess stain it, varnish would have been better.
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[Rob Luter]

Here's the latest iteration. A Trend 300/1000 diamond plate and a couple of Shapton Glasstones in 6000 and 16000. I use Picocool cutting fluid from the tool room at work for lube and corrosion deterrence. A horsebutt leather strop for finish. The granite plate is handy for lapping and flattening using abrasive film. I use a LN honing guide for everything except touchups.

[Christopher Charles]

Hi all,

Good thread. Here's mine with shapton pros and an atoma diamond plate. (and mess!)

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I patterned it from the plan by LN that was in FWW about a decade ago, which has hardwood stops for the stones and angle blocks for setting a side-clamp gage that I use for plane blades (eclipse style in my case). I freehand chisels. I've recent gotten the LV gage and built some angle gage blocks, one of which is in the photo. I went with the shaptons because my shop used to freeze and they could stay outside without ill effect.

I've since gone back using the plastic boxes for two stones and added another block to get the stones up off the surface so I can lap the backs while the blade is still clamped in. The other change I will make at some point is to widen the entire affair by ~20% to give enough room between stones so I don't have to move them around when lapping backs.

Best,
Chris

[Brian Hale]

Cluttered as usual.....

Small 3x8 DMT stones from from 120 through 8000, 8x8 EzeLap plates from 150 to 1200, 2 Norton India stones in steel cases next to hard and soft Arkansas stones. 1 very used medium Spyderco and a strop. There's also a pile of Shaptons and Sun Tiger Waterstones in a box up in the loft. The 1200, 8000 DMT's and the Spyderco are used for 90% of my sharpening. Also a 1"x42"
belt sander/grinder for those bad times.
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[Colby Campbell]

IMG_2962.jpg

Four 3x8 DMT stones (XXCoarse, Coarse, Fine, XFine) and leather strop. I use C/F/XF and strop in my day-to-day but the XCoarse has been useful when I don't want to go to the grinder. I had a couple Eclipse-style guides that I used before I upgraded to the LN - worth the money IMO. The blunt gnarly chisel is for tightening the guide. The white box contains green honing compound stick. The WD-40 is for the guide when I'm done using it for the day. I use Spring Green for honing.