How do you sharpen your tools, Gill?
Okay, Simon - I'll do that in future. Actually, that image is hosted online so perhaps I'll amend my post to just have a link.
Do you need steady hands though, Gill. I always find I seem to round the edge, rather than grind a cutting angle.
Like the dog, it makes me want to take up screen printing again.
We're talking about sharpening tools? There have been whole books written on sharpening because so many people find it difficult. Yet it can be quite simple. The key is to start off with decent quality tools which will hold an edge. The stuff you buy from the DIY sheds are often made from inferior grade materials - it's far better to shop somewhere like Axminster Power Tools, Isaac Lord or Brimarc and look for reputable brands such as Lie Nielsen, Veritas, Trend and so on. Some people question the value of a hand plane which costs £200 when they can buy one from a DIY shed for £12. Yet our forefathers expected to have to pay the equivalent of a week's wages to buy a hand plane, and many of those old planes still work beautifully whereas the modern cheapos often get chucked away after only a couple of attempts.Grinders like the Tormek are great if you do a lot of woodwork and can justify the expense. The Tormek has a variety of jigs which you can buy to make sure that you maintain the correct angle and can sharpen gouges without turning over edges. It uses a water-cooled sharpening stone at a very low speed so the user has a lot of control over the process and there is practically no danger of over-heating the item being sharpened.
I don't get the canine reference, but I had a bash at silk screen printing once. It must have been almost twenty five years ago and I loved it! I just wonder if people appreciate the skill involved nowadays. For most people, it would be easier now to print a design off their computer and iron it onto a tee shirt.
