Win this builder’s tool belt complete with tools

Build your own deck

Build your own deck

Building a great deck for typical Kiwi indoor-outdoor living is on every home-owner's list at some point. The deck we are building here is a fairly normal slatted timber deck less than one metre high. This article is an overview of general steps in building a deck and is intended as a broad illust...

Arduino, PICAXE microprocessors compared

Arduino, PICAXE microprocessors compared

In creating a fully automated target, with spring-back target buttons controlled by microprocessors, I was able to compare the workings of Arduino and PICAXE. Arduino and PICAXE  are two very different devices—like comparing a revolver and a shotgun. There are smaller Arduinos and bigger PICAXE...

My shed the barn

My shed the barn

When designing a house, first build your giant shed where you can make joinery for the house-to-be. That was the thought of Julian Pirie. But he was to take a special route—he decided to model his barn-like “shed” on old-style English oak barns, typically housing Aston Martins in magazines p...

Make a handy, small robot

Make a handy, small robot

Without knowing electronics, it’s easy to tackle this small robot which demonstrates how a machine can be programmed to back off obstacles it hits. Mark Beckett helped to construct his daughter Hayley’s easy-to-make “HaloBOT” which is controlled by PICAXE. You can follow the building proce...

My Dad’s man-cave

My Dad’s man-cave

Restoring old motorbikes and cars is Dad’s passion. The garage is home to four of Dad’s prize beauties all lovingly semi-restored in various stages of TTI (Time Till Ignition). The projects in question are two cars: 1956 Wolseley 6/90 Series 1 and 1935 Hudson de Lux 8 (side-valve, straight-eig...

Steam-bending

Steam-bending

This project to make a stool was developed as a way of introducing students to a number of basic wood-bending and shaping techniques, whilst also giving experience in several useful applications of the router. The stool consists of two legs in the form of continuous steam-bent hoops or arches, whi...

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Sharpen up your plane blades PDF Print E-mail
Written by JOHN SHAW   

SharpenHaving been woodworking now for well over 30 years, I have a collection of various stones that I have tried and retired. But nothing has convinced me of late to give up on Japanese water stones when sharpening planes and chisels. They are clean to use, relatively cheap and, critically, are very easy to return to flat when they wear.
When honing a cutting edge on a steel blade, you are progressively over three or four stages reducing the size of the scratches on the two faces which meet up to make the sharp point. The much vaunted “mirror” edge simply refers to the stage where we cannot easily see the scratches with the naked eye and hence it looks smooth and shiny.
This process therefore requires several sharpening stones with finer and finer surfaces (325 grit, then 1200 grit, then 6000 grit). Sometimes these follow on from the use of an extremely coarse (often around 60 grit) grindstone. At the Centre students like the modern water-cooled sandstone grinders now available.

 
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