Tethering Tools

There are reasons why I keep important tools tethered to myself. While out for a hike this weekend, I looked down to make sure my footing was okay, and saw something poking out of the rocks, mud, twigs, leaves and water that caught my eye.

Only the top of the handle was visible. I suspect it may have been there for 20, 30 years. I tried to see if there was any way to open it, but the metal crumbled into dust.

I almost always have a folding saw similar to this on me in my wanders, and I would really hate to lose it. Not just for its monetary value, but also for its practical value. Tools like this I keep tethered to myself.

The Complete Guide to Sharpening by Leonard Lee

Leonard Lee is the retired president of (the fantastic) Lee Valley and Veritas Tools. A woodworker and a tool maker, he’s researched, designed and manufactured numerous tools, jigs and sharpening systems. I’ve put much money into this mans hands over the years and have done so gladly.

The primary focus is sharpening as it relates to woodworking tools, but there is much knowledge to be gleaned from this book. It is the most practical reference I’ve ever encountered on the subject.

Having and knowing how to use certain tools is important, but I think sharpening is the oft overlooked third part of that equation. I suspect that many don’t really know how. Either the techniques or the materials and tools to use. This book goes a long way to overcoming any deficiencies anyone may feel in their understanding of this seemingly simple, yet often times perplexing subject.

The first chapter is entitled “The Meaning Of Sharpness.”
Probably one of those things everyone thinks they’ve always understood, but a good explanation of what it really means.

The title of the second chapter belies its woodworking focus, but is quite interesting regardless- “The Physics of Severing Wood Fibres.”

The third chapter really gets into the heart of it all though with “Metallurgy.” An explanation of steel. Heat treatments. Alloying elements. An explanation of different types of steel. How to use spark tests to identify different types of steel. An explanation of different processes used to treat steel.

The fourth chapter delves into “Abrasives.” For me this was the chapter that I learned the most from. An explanation of the differences between man made versus natural stones. Qualities to look for in a stone. Explanations of the different types of stones in each category, including microscopic photos of different materials. Microscopic photos of chisel edges and how various sharpeners affect them. The importance of bond and how it affects the performance of abrasives. Lapping and polishing compounds. Hardness scales and tests. Understanding grinding wheels. An explanation of the grindstone codes.
 

The fifth chapter deals with “Sharpening Equipment.” Powered sharpening equipment is the first subject touched on. Grinders, belt sanders, sanding drums, buffing wheels. How to true a stone. Then bench stones are tackled. Natural – Arkansas stones and Japanese water stones (and a sideline on how to grade the latter). Man-made – oil, water, reconstituted, diamond, ceramic. Honing oils and waters. How to store stones. Honing guides. Strops – leather and wooden. Files – mill, triangular handsaw, web-saw, feather-edge, cross-cut, auger-bit, diamond and boron-carbide. Sandpaper. Micro-finishing abrasives. Finally, a sideline with suggestions for a basic sharpening set-up.

Then the books gets into the ins and outs of sharpening specific tools – Chisels, Planes, Knives, Carving Tools, Turning Tools, Scrapers, Handsaws, Axes, Hatchets and Adzes, Power-saw Blades, Drill Bits, Peripheral Milling Cutters (routers, joiners and shapers), and then Other Shop Tools (tweezers, trammel points, center punches and awls, screwdrivers, marking and cutting gauges, claw tools, nail sets, pliers, end cutters and nail pullers, scissors and shears, punches, rotary cutters, miter-trimmer blades, cornering tools).

Several appendixes finish the book, including an explanation of international grit standards, as well as a glossary of terms.

If you take your knives and other cutting implements seriously, if you enjoy woodworking to any degree, or if you’d just like to learn a little more about this really quite engrossing subject, I can’t recommend this book enough.

The Complete Guide to Sharpening

There is also a video available.

Lee Valley also carries any sort of sharpening implement one could ever want, here and here.