I had to chuckle a bit when I scrolled through the most recent blogs and saw that Phil, too, had been sitting at the sharpening stone.
I woke up a bit earlier than I’d planned on Saturday morning. I’m not the kind of person who can fall back asleep if I wake up after a certain hour (usually about 5:00 a.m.), so I got up and quietly stole downstairs and grabbed a quick bite to eat. And then I threw on some boots, ran out to the (freezing) garage, and grabbed my diamond and ceramic stones and some recently acquired palm chisels and hustled back inside.
I like the diamond stones and ceramic stones for several reasons. Because of the nature of both of these sharpening mediums, I don’t really have to worry about keeping them flat. They can be used with just a bit of water, making them much less messy than water stones or oil stones. They seem to work well together. If I’m not removing nicks or chips, I can get by with the fine and extra fine diamond stones and then follow them up with the fine and extra fine ceramic stones. After a quick lapping on some leather and honing compound, I’ve got a mirror polish on my chisel edges.
I had six palm chisels to work on, and some woodworking shows on my DVR, so I just queued the shows up and set to work on sharpening my chisels.
After a while (a bit more than two hours, including breakfast and prepping my tools and getting the coffee going), I had six wonderfully sharp chisels and watched David Marks make a great little Arts and Crafts footstool, among other things.
By that time, the wife was up and about and I headed up to shower and shave and get started on our long list of errands we had lined up for the day.
It always feels good to start a day off being productive. It sets the tone for the rest of the day, you know? Makes things just fall into place.
They’re calling for warmer weather this week… Dare I hope for the 50’s and possibly even 60’s that were predicted? I’d certainly welcome the chance to get started on my tool chest. When I was grabbing my sharpening stones, I realized how desperately I need one when I looked over at all the new tools I’d acquired over the past few months. Nothing big, but plenty of small ones, and they need the most organization!
-- Ethan, http://www.merganserwoodworks.com, http://greystonegreen.blogspot.com/
3 comments so far
Don
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2586 posts in 704 days
posted 642 days ago
There’s definitely something therapeutic about sharpening, Ethan. And I agree, if you can use that early morning time productively, before the rest of the world arises, it’s like stretching your day by a third.
-- CanuckDon "I just love small wooden boxes!" http://www.canterburybaptist.org/
MsDebbieP
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12244 posts in 688 days
posted 642 days ago
I’m with you re: starting the day productively. If I don’t get “it” done first thing then I can pretty much count on the rest of the day being mediocre. Start off productively and the momentum is set in place and will propel me through the rest of the day…
-- "Functional WoodArt" by Debbie, Canada (http://www.execulink.com/~yohan)
Philip Edwards
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222 posts in 967 days
posted 639 days ago
Sadly I seem to spend half an hour scanning the woodworking forums on the ‘Net whilst drinking my first cup of coffee. Then spend the next half an hour rushing around to get out the door on time for work ;)
You’re right – starting the day positively sets the tone for the day.
Isn’t it funny how quickly tools seem to pile up. Make sure your tool chest is gonna be big enough!
Cheers
Phil