Last Saturday I gave a day-long seminar to the Michigan Woodworkers Guild that was a bit of a disaster.
I started with a sharpening demonstration. First thing: I picked up my #1,000-grit waterstone; it slipped from my hand and cracked into a dozen bits on the floor. So I muddied through with a diamond plate.
After lunch, as I was demonstrating full-blind lap dovetails, I nicked my thumb with a chisel – right by the fingernail. As Dr. Gary Assarian noted as he was bandaging me up – there is a lot of vascular activity right there. Boy was he right. I was squirting blood like the Buckingham Fountain.
(The blood-spattered joint went together quite well, thanks for asking.)
Anyway, there were several items I promised I would post links to here on my blog. So here you go:
- The chart on sharpening media that converts everything to microns is here.
- You can read how to grind and hone a fore plane blade here.
- And here is the article on 16th-century try squares.
Thank you Michigan woodworkers; and sorry about the mess.
— Christopher Schwarz