I’m happy to announce a new product in the lineup. It’s designed to help Granite Surface Plate users protect, and get better outcomes from their surface plates.

It’s the Granite Surface Plate Cover Kit.

The kits consists of a soft charcoal grey fleece cover that is form fitted to fit the plate, to protect the flattened surface of a 9 x 12 x 2 plate, or a 12 x 18 x 3 plate, and each comes with a set of three feet to mount on the bottom of the plate that aid a number of things.

Why a Cover?

Surface plates are truly precision tools. They are a reference standard for flatness that can help us verify the straightness and squareness of both our tooling and projects. We can sand things flat using their surfaces, and they are the best possible substrate we can ask for the “Scary Sharp” Methods of sharpening. This is a valuable surface to protect from harm.

Granite is a really hard material, but it is not as hard as many of the tools and projects we have and use in our shops. The surface of a granite surface plate is flat to at least 1/10,000ths of an inch or better, depending if we bought grade B or higher. This means that nearly any particle that lands on it can be large enough to affect some accuracy if the plate is not protected from dust, grit and grunge. This is even more critical if the surface quality is higher. If the working surface of the plate is kept covered, it is often kept clean enough to use spontaneously, and that may mean we are inclined to use it more.

It is also important to remember that a surface that has such high level flatness and accuracy can be adversely affected by something as inadvertent as a scratch. Once you put a scratch in the surface of a Surface Plate, you can’t even buff it out without running further risks to the plate’s accuracy.

These plates are worth what we pay for them, even at full price, and even more valuable if you got it on sale with free shipping, because the costs to ship these are often more than full price for the tool. Any damage that happens to these tools once we have them can quickly diminish the good deal they may have been when we bought them. It seems to pay us to protect them well.

This cover is designed to fit the plate, protect it from harm. It is soft and looks nice. It helps keep your surface plate in the clean and ready to use condition you left it. It protects the investment you made in the plate in the first place, for it’s future.

Why a Foot Kit?

Again, Granite is really hard, and the bottom surface, while not as flattened to the degree as the top, it is a parallel surface and can be harder that the surfaces we use it on. These rocks are also really heavy, and the act of both moving it and using it can render your prized bench, or any other surface you place it on with scratches, dents or marred surfaces from the act of sharpening. Who wants to damage the area they use their surface plate?

The act of sharpening on a surface plate is a repetitive motion that can cause the plate to rock or wobble if the surface the plate is placed on isn’t flat too, and that can help mar up a surface. Sometimes those forces can cause the plate to skid and slide as well.

The difficulty of getting your fingers under the plate to move it is another issue users face with surface plates. It is difficult to get one’s fingers under the plate. Often the plate is dragged near an edge so a hold can be gotten and the plate lifted. This is yet another way we can scratch things up that we don’t want scratched up.

Lifting and moving the plate can be made worse if liquids are used to sharpen as well. The liquids often seep over the edge of the plate, and are drawn under the plate by capillary action, and when you go to lift the plate, there is now a suction under the plate due to the flatness, and the plate is slick from the liquids. It is a recipe for difficult maneuvering that can result is scratches or worse, a dropped plate.

The solution to a lot of these issues is the Foot Kit. The Foot Kit is three self stick rubber feet that are to be adhered to the bottom of the granite surface plate. The feet are non-skid, and meant to be installed in a tripod configuration, that is recommended by Federal Specification GGG-P-463c. This tripod configuration eliminates rocking, the feet do not scratch, reduce skidding, ends suction locks to the bench or tables, and provides a space that makes it easy to get one’s fingers under the plate for a secure hand hold when moving it.

The placement for the feet in the spec shows where to place the feet to properly support the weight distribution of the plate. You don’t need to worry about the details of it though, because I have done the math for you, all you need to do is follow the layout instructions I provided in the owner’s manual for the cover kit, place the feet according to these measurements and Bob’s your Uncle.

These cover kits are made right here in house on a Vintage Singer 201-2 Sewing Machine with Queen Anne Cabinet. This one was built in 1941, right at the beginning of World War II. The 201-2 is still considered one of the nicest sewing machines ever made, particularly for stitching a straight line. This one purrs like a kitten, as long as I keep it in a steady diet of sewing machine oil.

For “Old Machine” lovers, these old sewing machines share a lot in common with old woodworking machines. They were built accurately and built to last. The finish on these old machines is japanning, and gold leaf decals. These are 100% gear drive machines and are very robust. They will happily sew garment grade leathers. They have a motor housing built onto the back.

The cabinet is a beautiful piece of furniture, made of walnut and walnut burl. It took a little restoration to get it back to its former glory, but she is a real looker and made in a fashion many a woodworker aspires to build to. It turns out; Singer was a big maker of furniture for their machines back then. They don’t make them like this anymore, and here it is some 70 years later, really in as fine shape as ever, and making these covers for you.

One other thing comes along with this fine sewing machine. That is, a very good friend to me who is a pro at using it.

If you are interested in getting one of these cover kits, they are available for the 9 x 12 x 2 plates for $30.00, and the 12 x 18 x 3 plates for $40.00. These prices include the cover, the foot kit, instructions for care and use, and shipping to anywhere in the CONUS. Everything your need to upgrade the surface plate you have, delivered to your door.

For purchase, feel free to look for them in the Evenfall Studios Store, or in the links directly to them provided above. As always, shooting board production continues. Look for some cool stuff to work with them coming in the future!

Walt Quattro is a really cool guy who has a really cool used record store in Waterbury, CT that <looks right, looks left> secretly doubles as a vintage tool store. <but please, keep that to yourself, eh?>

Walt’s place is Brass City Records and Tools. Those who know Walt know that he is known to drop into a tool forum with a song lyric that doubles as a riddle that somehow describes his latest tool prowl. Please click here for one of Walt’s riddle answers. Walt’s posts are always a great time and he is great to trade with! So as usual, I like to make a habit of going over to his site to look around, because it is always changing. Me? I am usually late to the party but eh… you know how it goes. His site changes a lot as some of you know. Early birds get the worm, fair is fair. Walt knows this and it works that way to shop with Walt too.

Well anyway, Walt’s haunts are the flea markets of New England, where many a tool he finds are straight out of the heart of where the industrial revolution took place. He is also centrally located near where many of these tools were originally made. These are the tools that helped bring that revolution, and are now sought after by many of us who don’t want those tools to become just another historical footnote. (Thanks Walt)

It happens that Walt has a cool link on his site that points to Pat Leach’s (of Superior Works fame) supertool.com site, that I have looked at many times over the years. While we all seem to discuss tool cabinets around at various forums on the net pretty frequently, I don’t recall seeing anyone really discussing this one for a pretty long time. It is worth a visit, or for some of us, a re-visit.

Photo Courtesy Pat Leach

It is C.A Jewett’s Patternmaking Chest. It is worthy of discussion and so let’s, shall we? The article at Pat’s site is well worth the read. Please follow that link to see all the great photos Pat took of the various attributes of the chest. We are really lucky Pat found this chest, and I feel it is really important to us, particularly since patternmaking is becoming a lost art and trade, and what’s more, artisan craftspeople are in search of tool storage that really works.

Pat is a very anecdotal writer who brings you around to his side of the table when telling a story. I can’t help but agree with his enthusiasm for this chest. If you really look deeply at this chest, you see the beauty, maybe not in the look, but the functionality. Jewett’s design is no display case, and it is quite full. When it comes to working well, I feel this design brings it.

I’m not taking away from H.O. Studley, who’s tool chest set’s the benchmark for craftsmanship, is likely the prettiest piece of work of it’s kind and important to us because of the period it helps us date craftsman’s tools to. For my taste, and this is just my personal position, which is not to say I dislike the Studley chest, but as a working tool in itself, it seems too ornate and too crammed to have a workflow I can get my mind around. I can’t speak for others, but I personally would not want to try and work from a chest of the Studley design.

The Studley is a gorgeous chest, which utilizes every nook and cranny almost too well. So well that too many tools would need to be moved to access many other tools with ease. It is ok to disagree with me on this, but remember it is just my point of view, coming from the want for easy workflow. Alternatively, The Jewett chest is a variant that houses a lot of tools, but without being as ornate, and does so with real functionality. From the looks of the wear on this chest, it was a working tool itself.

For C.A Jewett, this chest probably wasn’t the first iteration, and it was probably something that sort of came together in a happenstance that seemed to make the most sense to him. I am pretty sure he didn’t over think it or even ponder it half as much as I have. He likely didn’t have time, and if he did think it over much, it was while he was doing something else. If we could look closely, we would likely see arrangement alterations for tool upgrades and design changes because the change made more sense than leaving it the way it was.

My sense is that Mr. Jewett valued being able to get to the tool he needed with ease because that is what paid the bills. He also needed to store the tools that were crucial to his trade. He likely went with what had worked well in the last cabinet when he built the next, and he probably had coworkers with chests to draw good ideas from. Not something we as individuals working in our own shops really have in terms of idea fodder. In my mind, what Mr. Jewett evolved is truly a functional dream, or well, pretty close to one.

I don’t personally use a cabinet exactly like this right now, though I do have a couple ways I store different types of tools that work well for me and they flow similarly. My own storage solutions are evolved adaptations that share with this chest the ability to fit plenty in the space I have, while allowing access to the tool I need without upsetting a set of dominoes, or without requiring I move many tools to access the one I need. I am also not completely happy with everything about it either. I am unresolved about some things so I revisit this chest from time to time and ruminate some more.

I am not saying we should build a Jewett chest for ourselves either, even though we could if we like, but I am saying we should take a really hard look at the Jewett chest for several reasons.

Depending upon where you hail from, moisture can be the enemy of your tooling. This is going to mean that pegboard isn’t going to be the tool organization road home, and some of us wouldn’t use it if it were. Building a Cabinet like this can be part of the corrosion solution. A Goldenrod dehumidifier or dry desiccant dehumidifier can be fitted and employed inside a closed cabinet like this to control the humidity and prevent corrosion very effectively. They are practical, not overly expensive and the operating costs are negligible; particularly in light of the tools they help protect.

I’m not pure Galoot, and I don’t advocate that anyone should approach woodworking in any particular way that doesn’t suit them. The way you work works for you and I support that. I am a blended woodworker myself, and I am seeing where the Jewett cabinet offers some silent philosophy as to how I can, and should group certain tools for certain tasks, and while not over cramming, making the most used tools easy to access and the ones not so commonly needed pushed into the nooks and crannies a bit.

If you are a Galoot, and while not necessarily a patternmaker, you could consider this design one on one, and see if you can find clues to how it could improve your workflow if you were to adopt some of it’s design features for your own cabinet. If you are a blended woodworker, consider the tools you have that are a direct fit, and then consider the tooling you use that is not unique to this period, how you may be imaginative and find a way to store those tools that are unique to your workflow. This is not just about the tools you have. Be sure to include some of the tools you intend to become part of your kit over time as well.

Consider how you could utilize the drawers if perhaps you made some of them in dimensions that would work more efficiently for you. One thing this cabinet seems to scream, is that the tools should be easily accessible, yet not waste space. I think that is a scalable and adoptable want in nearly any working storage tool cabinet design.

If you are a woodworker who isn’t suffering from a handsaw problem, you may see that the Jewett cabinet has a small saw till in it as well, and from what I see, there is about six saws in it, maybe seven. I may not be seeing a coping saw that I bet is there, but I do see what looks like a folding keyhole saw stored with the hammers as well.

This cabinet is not going to give one a complete and total end all plane till either, but it will provide adequate storage for the main user planes that one would likely consider needing handy, and a separate plane or saw till could certainly be made separate form this cabinet to store any ahhhhhh, shall we say “overflow” that may or may not be a nice problem you have.

In all, no single tool cabinet can be all things to all people. This one is no exception, but it sure has a lot of well working and adoptable design elements. We all should consider this matter for ourselves. Chris Becksvoort made a tool cabinet that comes to mind when considering the need to personalize for workflow, and his is a wonderful design that I really admire as well. In any case, we all consider ways of making our personal tool storage more approachable, and I wanted to toss a few thoughts out that may get the thinking juices flowing. Pat Leach coined the phrase “marvel of 19th century toolchest efficiency” and I agree, I see it too. I thank Pat for sharing his example with us.

Once you get done tooling up over at Walt’s, I believe if that tooling is available to you and getting to it works well, then the rest of woodworking becomes more transparent and creative. It is then up to skill, imagination, and wood.

As always, discussion is welcome!

Got Comfort?

Woodworking season comes around yearly, with Labor Day behind us, many of the summer outdoor oriented activities and chores are soon to be waning. The colder weather will be along soon enough to push us in and keep us indoors.

This is good, it spawns the need to be creative through other ways, and hobbies fill that gap. Problem is, many of us have to use a space for our woodworking hobby that is not exactly comfortable during a good bit of the indoor season. When we are cold, we don’t often enjoy what we want to enjoy as long or as much. We are more in the mode of just do it and get er’ done, rather than enjoying ourselves, where thinking through the process, being in the moment, and feeling like we relieved some stress are all big parts of having a good time. If it isn’t a good time, let’s face it, we generally avoid it.

To add, when you are cold, humans do not think as critically, and can even become distracted from slower thinking. Woodworking, like other tasks that require concentration, really does want your attention in many, many ways, because it is a very detailed endeavor, which can be inherently dangerous as well, so how you help yourself overcome these issues while trying to enjoy the woodworking season is a question that is a good thing to have on your mind.

It isn’t often I am going to endorse a product, in fact I am trying not to, but I am here to speak from the experience I have with the product I bought. This is not a review or a comparison either. I haven’t compared this product to any other. In fact, in this instance, I am using the product I bought more as a frame of reference, so those interested can use this as a frame of reference for their own needs. My want is to help you stay warm in the shop, period. It was my want too. I bought this as a ‘what the heck’ purchase, meaning I did my research, but I really had no idea if my purchase was the best choice or if it was going to work adequately for my purposes. I do not enjoy being cold, and after asking around, no one really knew what to tell me. I got lucky on both counts, because it did work out for me. In fact, it exceeded my expectations. Now that I have tried it, I’ll share my observations with you.

That is the Mr. Heater brand, Big Buddy Heater. In my shop, it is hooked via an accessory hose to a 5-gallon propane bottle. I just use the propane bottle off my BBQ as my fuel source, because both items seem to get the most use during opposite seasons, and as such it just makes sense to use the bottle I already have. I also bought the wall wart DC adapter that powers the small fan in the unit. The unit is user configurable for portability, it can also utilize 2 disposable type propane bottles housed in each side, and the fan can be powered by “D” cell batteries. I did run it off Duracell’s for a while, and the battery life is quite long.

It is a ceramic element heater with built in piezo electric starter. It has it’s own starter with thermocouple, three heat settings that give you 4000, 9000, or 18,000 BTU per hour. It is CSA certified for indoor and outdoor use. It has oxygen and tip over safety switches; you can even mount the bugger to the wall. It would also be a great thing to have during an extended power outage.

My shop space is a 2-car garage. It measures 20×20 so call it 400 square feet, I have 9-foot ceilings so cubed I have 2700 cubic feet. I have insulated walls covered with drywall, and an un-insulated metal garage door. My observations last winter were that the 18,000 BTU setting could raise the temperature in my space 8-10 degrees F per hour on average. Outside was around freezing, my garage is generally 15-20 degrees warmer that outside is in the winter due to the hot water heater and a few other appliances that help warm the space a bit. Once I was between 60-70 degrees, turning down to the 4000 BTU setting would often maintain the temperature or perhaps very slowly gain a degree or so an hour based on the outside temp and the time of the day.

The unit does have a fan, and I do advocate using it. Mr. Heater refers to it as a blower fan. It is not a strong fan; so do not think forced air, because if you do it will disappoint you. The fan is helpful though. The fan does help draw the cold air near the floor, into the heater rather than have it heat the air it can get by it just being a radiant heater. This increases efficiency. I also use a fan in my shop to help circulate the air, and this really was a big help in keeping the entire space in good, comfortable shape. I would definitely use a fan with this heater in the same room, and oh, the fan does not need to be near the heater, all you are trying to do is keep the hot air from stratifying near the ceiling.

Mr Heater claims that depending on the settings you use, and it is going to vary, that the 5-gallon or 20 lb bottle will get you 25-110 hours of use. Not bad really, when you consider the amount of shop time most woodworkers average per setting generally speaking. It is also not bad when you consider that the Big Buddy is making heat from propane pretty efficiently with the fuel it is given, so if heating your space is of value to you, improving your spaces’ ability to retain heat should be as well.

For your own research, I’ll include Mr. Heaters online product sheet of the big Buddy Heater here: Big Buddy Indoor Safe Heater and let you know that the heater, short hose and electrical converter for the fan will run you in the ballpark of $160, though you may find alternative pricing, taxes and shipping from nearly anywhere.

Your space may be just like mine, or it may be smaller, larger, with more or less insulation, and your weather may be far more severe. This may be all you need, or you may need two, or less or something bigger. The main things I want you to take from this is that this heater works well, given the range of heating capability it has, coupled with the space and conditions I describe.

You are welcome to think about your own space and how you may need to augment the non-scientific observations I gave for performance to best gauge your own best guess at estimated outcomes. You are welcome to use my comments section or my contact page to ask any questions that you may want help answering, I will give them my best, based on my own observations. Please feel free to comunicate any time. I felt the product is a good fit for a 2 car garage sized space, a good value for the money spent, and I would buy it again.

So if you are thinking you want to enjoy a warmer woodworking season, a heater with 4000-18,000 BTU capabilities may be just what you are looking for.

During the evolution of a woodworkers development… A development which never ends by the way, a person observes design, considers various methods of joinery, acquires the tools that coincide with their preferences for the various methods of work, develops a style they enjoy as they continue to grow, and accumulates a TON of hardware along the way.

Back in the 30’s, 40’s 50’s and 60’s of the last century, woodworkers commonly used containers named “MJB”, “Hills Bros”, and “Folgers” for the proper containment of “hardware”. The proper methodology for sorting the “hardware” was to sort through the top inch and a half of the can, and then up end the contents on the bench for a closer sort of the needed hardware at the bottom of the can.

A higher tech solution was to use mason jars, commonly used for canning, and errr, other handy and imaginative uses, and all you had to do was deny knowing anything as to where the canning jars were when it came time to put up preserves, and the high tech part was that you could see in advance that the “hardware” you were looking for was at the bottom of the jar.

Advances in baby food preserving had the Beech-Nut Corporation putting 13 varieties of food into glass jars, beginning in 1931, and the resourceful woodworker in fatherhood found this as a boon to “hardware” storage. The thing was you see, the integral lids could be mounted to the bottom of shelves, making use of otherwise unusable space, and the woodworker could simply look from underneath and see the needed hardware at the bottom of the jar, and not have to spread as much on the bench to sort for the needed pieces.

The 70’s brought forth the use of plastics and many innovative storage solutions came to light. Boxes and bins made from plastics that handily held large quantities of hardware, mixed quantities of hardware where the odd sized and weird shapes would fit, and the part you needed would still furrow to the bottom of the bin.

Then there were the tiny metal cases full of even tinier transparent drawers filled with barely any hardware, which would fail if you tried to actually use it, so you tossed the hardware you bought into it but eh, still dumped the contents on the bench because your fingers wouldn’t fit in the drawers.

The steel fab folks came up with some wonderful hardware storage solutions, and when you went to town to the parts houses, you asked for parts and the counterman would reach back and grab a drawer, set it on the counter and open the lid and man, you wanted the sliding drawer storage cabinet worse than you wanted the “hardware”. So you ask the guy behind the counter and he shrugs and says eh? “That comes that way from the supplier”… Bummer.

The Fishing Tackle industry went big on modular storage containers in the 90’s and boy was that stuff great, but… But then you had to choose, because if you used that, what would you store your gummy worms and crappie jigs in? Worse yet, you have the hardware boxes with the worm and lure boxes in the shop, so on the last second phone call from your buddy for fishing excursions, invariably you wind up in the boat with a box full of jewelry box hinges. Wait! Trout hit shiny stuff right? Rig the hinge with some donor leader and some split shot… Of course McFeely’s came to our confusion issue rescue with the Super-Sortment Chest, and Adjustable Compartment Tray.

Problem solved. Right? Well, no.

The Calliard and Bowser Company has been supplying those curiously strong Altoids in metal tins since the 1920’s, c’mon… You can’t throw those perfectly good tins away, can you? Nah, and you haven’t been either. You got them laying around, and saving them up for when there is something you need to store, just in case, or something. Besides, they are shallow, they latch shut, hardware can try to furrow to the bottom but they are (ahem) shallow, and your fingers fit in them! Eh, so why not use ‘em? You can’t save them all for a “what if” situation forever, so stop the hand wringing, and make some of them into hardware storage.

My approach was to use the Altoid tins for organized hardware storage. The costs of having them was almost nothing since they were purchased over time, yet Costco will sell you a dozen full tins for around $13 dollars. That is still so cheap that the costs are nearly negligible even if you throw the mints away.

You can use them just the way they come, once they are empty if you like, or you can give them a bit of an upgrade by getting one sheet of 12 x 24 x 1/8th inch thick cork, and two sheets of 9 x 12 inch self adhesive felt, all for less than five dollars. This is enough material to line 24 tins.

Make some cardboard patterns for measuring and marking the needed sizes from old shoeboxes. It is a heavy and durable cardboard for this purpose. The altoid tins, bottom inside measurements are 3-11/16 x 2-9/32’s inches, and the radius on each corner is 1/2-inch. This will mark your cork. The sides of the altoid tin, after the cork is installed, measure 5/8ths inch wide to under the lip. My template is 10-7/8’s inch long and has some overlap, which is desirable to me. I overlap the felt in a corner.

For tooling, I use a sturdy hobby knife with a fat handle, a 24-inch, straight edge, but a ruler is just as useful, I just prefer the heft and high sides of the straightedge. I also use a 4-inch engineers square. I use these as layout and cutting guides. I also use a washer with a 1-inch diameter to trim the 1/2-inch radius corners of the cork. It may be useful to be able to re hone the blade of the knife as you work.

Once the cork is cut to length and width, the washer is placed in the corners as a guide to trim the radius.

It is a nice press fit to the bottom and since cork compresses a bit, the cork stays put once installed, without needed adhesives.

The cardboard template lays out the needed width for the self-adhesive felt strips, and the straightedge is a great cutting guide. Honing the knife a bit before you cut the felt is a good idea, and you may need to run the knife through a couple times anyway.

Then remove the back and apply the felt to the sides of the tin. I am right handed and decided it was easiest to deal with the lid hinge side first, so I start in the back left corner of the tin, and I wind up with approximately 1/2-inch of overlap in that corner when I finish. The overlap isn’t a requirement, but it works well with big fingers.

Then all there is left is to load up the tins with whatever it is in your hardware storage you want to organize more accurately. Best of all, the size of the tin is such that your part can’t furrow too deep, contains enough for a project and your fingers will fit into while not taking up too much space on the bench while it’s needed. And the tins latch shut very well. All qualities I enjoy in a hardware storage container, and they look cool as well as being a useful way to recycle something.

Oh, there’s one other detail… How are you going to organize all those altoid tins full of hardware? Well, in a cigar box of course! Everyone saves those too, don’t they? I found some that will store a dozen altoid tins stacked on end in two columns, six on each side. The cigar stores sell empty boxes between one to five dollars apiece all the time.

It is just another way of tackling shop organization, and helpful on a budget, if you would rather spend your discretionary income on projects or tools.

Lets face it, sharpening can be a big undertaking. Many edge tools we bring in our shops will benefit from having a flattened back and the optimum bevel angle for the task it is meant to do. Streamlining the process is possible, and most of that comes from organizing the honing gear so it can work the best with your applications.

Sure, That is a very large amount of application options. There are variables such as steel types. Cast steel, hand forged, high carbon, O1, A2, and D2. There are sharpening options. You have scary sharp, water stones, oilstones, and diamond stones amongst your choices for abrasives. There are a number of different sharpening methodologies, various jigs, freehand, even machines.

I use a portable sharpening station designed for use with stones, with both jigs and freehand manner. This helps facilitate the process, contain the mess, protect other shop furniture from damage and helps keep the honing tools organized. It can be used in a couple configurations, and can be moved out of the way when necessary. It is simply stored when not in use.

The base is made from 1/4 inch MDF, cut 19 inches deep by 16 inches wide. It is bordered with 1×2 poplar, mitered in the corners, glued and screwed to the base. It has a poplar 1×2 running along the front beneath the base. It is designed to be a bench hook. The hook registers against the edge of whatever you place it on. You may see in the photos, where I placed a small F clamp on the left front corner to keep the station in place while in use. You could use a holdfast, the bench vise; squeeze it between bench dogs, your option. It is designed to work however, wherever.

On the left side of the base, a riser made from 3/4 MDF, cut 11-3/4 x 4-1/2, is meant to be a stone base, and is glued along the edge rail on the main base. It has a poplar backstop for helping hold stones in place, added to it. The 3/4-inch riser is what is needed to allow clearance for your fingers when holding tools in various positions, especially during the back flattening process.

There is room inside the station for your spray bottle of water, can of honing oil, or the stone lubricant you prefer, various stones, jigs, edge tools, and what have you. If it is dirty from sharpening swarf, this is the best place for it.

For a resilient finish, this assembly was treated with 3 coats of Teak Oil, applied as directed, allowed to soak the MDF, wipe off the residue and allowed to fully dry. It was then wiped with mineral spirits to clean up any residual oils from the oil finish, and coated with 2 rubbed on coats of Poly.

In the front area on the main base, there is also a removable 3/4-inch MDF base, designed as a bench hook, which is cut 10 x 4 inches. This size is the exact size of the DMT brand, Non Skid Mats, and will accommodate most common stone sizes. It also has a poplar 1×2 backstop along the back, mounted to the edge of the base, and a 1×2 hook on the front mounted from the underside. It is finished the same manner the large base is.

The complete ensemble is very water resistant, very easy to clean.

When in use as a 2 piece station, a non skid mat is placed under the portable base in front so it wont skid, and a non skid mat is then placed on top of each sharpening station to help keep the stones in place, a job these mats do very well. You can flatten a wide chisel or plane iron with a stone like the DMT XX coarse 120 grit diamond stone, and the stone does not move. It is very effective.

When used for shaping bevels, or doing major flattening on edge tools, I use both stations in ensemble. The long station on the main base is great for use when using jigs for bevel reshaping. The portable auxiliary station is placed in the front of the main base, and is used for general maintenance honing, and for flattening and honing the wire off while major bevel work is being done. Both stations offer all the finger clearance needed for holding most any tool in the needed orientation for the sharpening.

The auxiliary station is a little more versatile when it comes to various tasks. It is handy for odd shapes like router blades. It will allow the stone to be placed near the front edge in a stable manner. It is also handy for honing off the wire without having to remove the tool from the jig. The sideways orientation is also very useful when honing cutlery and other knives.

For general woodworking, the small station can be used by itself. Just place a Non Skid Mat, or any non-skid material available on the bench, and place the little station on that. Another non-skid mat is then placed under the stone. Simple maintenance honing is possible, freehand using push pull or side sharpening methods, or with simple edge holding or side sharpening jigs. Touch ups only take a couple swipes on the finest stone, and depending on the wood you are working, you can choose to strop or not.

If needed, the little station gets out of the way, simply pick it up. Gravity and the non-skid mat are all that is needed to hold it still. Since it is a small bench hook, it can be used any place on the bench edge that is convenient. The hook can even be held in the vise. It only needs positioned on the edge during the honing process.

Feel free to design a station to meet your sharpening needs. Sharpening is a workflow, and is best made to suit the way you work. If you are still developing your workflow, this may help. You may have just been wondering if there is a better way to organize the process or help contain the mess. Maybe you have a space limitation, and need to move the station in and out of the work area as you go. This is just a concept. If it seems like it could help you, then use it. If you are a southpaw, simply reverse the layout.

For those who would like more views of the station, which can be expanded to much larger, more easily viewed images, please follow this link to the Sharpening Staton in my woodworking gallery.

Back in early February 2008, an interesting thread was started on Woodnet.net. Bob Feeser, rfeeser to those who may look for his writings, was asked by a friend to ”provide a list of what tools a well-equipped small, machine-free shop might have”. So he consulted some texts he had on hand and “enhanced” it.

Turned out, the list is quite good. On Internet forums, one good turn deserves another, and so the feedback began. …And the list grew. People came up with some great additions for the list.

I know, I know, the list is a huge bugger, and there are a lot of things on it you do not need, and can get by without, but Bob was asked to go for ‘well equipped’, So he put in the initial time, and by the end of the thread, many other great tool additions for the list were suggested.

I went through the thread and edited further, adding what all was suggested by others. For the most part, I tried to be as inclusive as possible. Depending on your methods of work, there is likely something on there for everybody. So without further adieu, here is Bob’s “Gratuitous list of hand and small electric woodworking tools”, and thank you Bob!

– MEASURING & MARKING –
Awl, scratch, brad, birdcage
Marking knife(s)
Center punch
Transfer punches
Chalk line
Combination squares
Try or engineering squares
Double square
Framing square
Saddle Square
Plastic drafting squares
Bevel gauges
Protractors
Inclinometers
Retracting tape measure
Folding rule w/ sliding extension
Steel 4R graduated rules
Steel 4R hook rulers
Center finder rulers
Golden ratio rulers (phi)
Ruler stop
Precise straight edge
Plumb bob with string
Marking gauge
Mortise gauge
Panel gauge
Dowel centers
Sliding bevel
Dovetail Markers
Compass
Beam compass
Trammels
Pantograph
Drawing bow
Level(s) torpedo, beam
Dividers
Calipers
Dial or vernier calipers
Depth gauge
Pencils (black & white, and/or mechanical)
Crayons

- CUTTING TOOLS –
Crosscut saw
Ripsaw
Coping saw
Fret/jewelers saw
Bow saw
Backsaw
Tenon saw
Dovetail saw
Keyhole saw
Drawknife
Hacksaw
Utility knife
Folding knife
Misc. knives
Carving tools

- CHISELS –
Paring chisels – a set of five or more common sizes is useful
Chopping chisels – (aka butt chisels, may be thicker, shorter, sharpened at higher angle)
Skew chisels, fishtail chisels, dovetail chisels, corner chisels
Mortise chisels – commonly 1/4th inch and 3/8′s inch sizes

- HAND PLANES –
Low angle block plane
Bevel up or down planes
Jackplane
Jointer plane
Smooth plane
Shoulder plane
Rabbet plane
Router Plane
Plough Plane
Spokeshaves
Scrub plane
Cabinet scraper or scraper plane
Card scrapers
Scratch Stock

- BORING TOOLS –
Eggbeater drills
Bits (twist, brad point)
Ratchet brace
Auger bits
Archimedes push drill with bits
Forstner bits
Vix bits

- RASPS & FILES –
Smooth, Second cut, Mill Bastard, Double Cut
Flat rasps and files
Half round rasps and files
Triangular files
Forming tools (i.e. Sureform, Microplane)
Riffler rasps and files
Needle files
File handles
File cards and brass/nylon brushes

- CLAMPS –
C-clamps
Pipe clamps
Bar clamps
Parallel clamps
Deep throat clamps
Clamping cauls
Hand screws
Web clamps

- HAMMERS –
Claw hammer
Soft-faced hammer
Dead blow hammer
Tack hammer
Wooden mallet

- SCREWDRIVERS –
Flat bladed
Philips head
Square tipped
Ratchet screwdriver
Push screwdriver
Screwdriver bits & adapter for brace
Right angle (offset) screwdrivers
Stubby screwdrivers
Screw holding screwdrivers
Jeweler’s screwdrivers

- WRENCHES –
SAE / Metric
Adjustable wrenches
Set of box wrenches
Set of open-end wrenches
Set of combination wrenches
Ratchet socket set
Allen/hex wrenches Regular/ball end

- PLIERS –
Slip jaw pliers
Diagonal pliers
Needle nosed pliers
Channel lock pliers
Wire strippers / Crimpers

- MISCELLANEOUS –
Pencil sharpeners
Drafting supplies
Graph paper
Reference data
Calculator
Magnifying glass
Chalk
Nail set(s)
Paint scraper (removing dried glue)
Pry bar, small
Sharpening abrasives (sandpaper, diamond stones, water stones, oil stones)
Leather strop
Honing compound
Honing guides
Sandpaper in many grits
Sanding blocks in different shapes
Vegetable tanned leather for clamp pads and other uses
Rags
Brushes
Finishing supplies (applicators, finishes, rubbing out materials)
Glues
Rubber brayer for spreading water based glue
Acid brushes for spreading glue
Waxed paper to protect from glue
Veneer roller
Brooms
Dustpans
Screws
Nails
Bolts, nuts, washers

- PORTABLE POWER TOOLS –
Belt sander, sanding belts
Circular saw, blades
Saw guides
Electric drills, 3/8’s 1/2, bits (twist drills (fractional, number, letter, metric), brad point, Forstner or saw tooth, hole saws)
Drill guide
Finish sander, sandpaper sheets
Random orbital sander, sanding disks
Router, edge guide, bits, template bushings
Bench top router table
Bench grinder / wire wheel 3450/1725rpm
Jigsaw, blades
Scroll saw, blades
Lunch box planer
Shop Vac
Heavy-duty extension cord(s)
Power strips

- BENCHES -
Workbench
Holdfasts
Bench dogs (round or square)
Planing stops
Vises, (woodworking and machinist styles.)
Bench jack

- SHOP MADE ACCESSORIES –
Bench hooks
Shooting board for ends
Shooting board for miters
Shooting board for long edges
Miter Jack
Miter boxes
Sanding blocks
Storage for tools hardware and other materials