Our recent sharpening workshop was well attended and everyone seemed to think it was worthwhile and successful. We only managed to get through the Spindle Roughing Gouge and the Bowl Gouge but everyone seemed keen to have a further workshop to cover the remaining tools so I’ll try and get a date arranged for that sometime soon.
One of the key outputs from the workshop was the following list of rules which were discussed, debated and agreed unanimously by all who attended:
- All club tools must only be sharpened on a pro-edge
- All club tools must only be sharpened to the following standard grinds:
- Spindle roughing gouge: 45° using v-block
- Bowl (deep-fluted) gouge: 45° bevel angle standard (aka short) fingernail grind
- Spindle (shallow-fluted) gouge: 45° bevel angle standard (aka short) fingernail grind
- Skew: 15° using triangle block
- Parting Tool: 20° using side of the v-block
- Scraper: 80°
- Blunt or unusable tools must be sharpened or put in the red Tools To Be Sharpened box (i.e. not put back on the shelf)
Some explanatory notes:
The main purpose of these rules is to keep things as simple as possible and thereby make it easier for members of any ability to sharpen tools well. This should reduce the chance that tools will be sharpened poorly or not at all for fear of getting it wrong.
By “all club tools” we mean the six standard tools listed above. Exceptions are hollowing tools, texturing tools and the like.
If you are proficient enough to start using long or extra long grinds then you can adapt your own tools. For simplicity, club tools will only have the short grind.
Our standard grinds are the same as those suggested by Robert Sorby: see pic below or their instruction video.
