The Queen has a cousin, Sir Charles, who collects and restores vintage military vehicles. Visiting his farm is a real treat. I considered him a master of all trades but one day he asked me about sharpening and I realized that everyone could benefit from a few sharpening tutorials. Sharpening is a rich subject so I set up a category for these posts.
My sharpening skills developed over time. My dad taught me a lot of woodworking techniques but sharpening was not one of those subjects. He had a single set of three Craftsman chisels that kept their factory edge for years. I tried using a hand cranked grinder on a few old plane blades but my results were less than satisfactory. When I got serious about woodworking later in life, I purchased a Tormek sharpener and it changed my life. The Tormek taught me what sharp really was. After using it for a few years, I learned how to achieve the same results with less effort. We can cover the Tormek later–let’s jump on a quick project to help this chisel.
This cherry handled chisel is a good candidate for today’s tutorial. It has seen quite a bit of use and has been sharpened to about half of its original length. Now, the bevel has a large rust spot and the edge is rounded.
Our first task is to square up the edge. That is a perfect task for a grinder–check out part II.