Work Sharp Sharpening System - Manual (Page 4)

somewhere else in my studio where I
could contain the oil or water mess, store
all those jigs and fixtures, and where I
could reread the instruction manual every
time I simply wanted to sharpen a chisel
or whatever. As a result sharpening was
a process that took me away from build-
ing fine furniture, so subconsciously it be-
came a process to be avoided. I simply
worked with far less than
sharp hand cutting tools
far too much of the time.
The Work Sharp machine
has done away with all
the water or oil mess as
it is air cooled. It needs
no jigs or fixtures as we
will see shortly, and it is
intuitively obvious to use
with no measuring, posi-
tioning, guessing, or re-
peat set up so I don’t
need to reread the in-
struction manual all the
time. It is also small,
compact, and robustly
made so I know the re-
sults won’t change over
time either.
As a result, the Work
Sharp machine now lives
right where I store and
use my chisels, planes, gouges and lathe
tools. Any time I reach for one of these I
simply place it in the Work Sharp for a
few seconds to reestablish that “perfect”
edge so I am always cutting with exactly
the same bevel angle and can rely on
getting the same result time after time.
What a difference that has made in my
work processes and my efficiency.
As we progress through this “Getting the
Most...” manual we will talk first about
how the Work Sharp machine functions
and then progress through the different
kinds of hand cutting tools and how to op-
timize their performance using the Work
Sharp system. Along the way we will also
talk about construction of a “sharpening
center,” a very handy piece of shop/studio
furniture I designed to accommodate both
the Work Sharp and the Drill Doctor. It is
on wheels so
you can keep
it close at
hand no mat-
ter where you
are in your
work space.
If you are like
me, one who
likes to build
and create far
more than
you like the
process of
sharpening, I
think you will
quickly
change your
work habits
just as I did.
By keeping
the Work
Sharp close
at hand and by
being able to quickly reestablish that
beautifully polished and “scary sharp” cut-
ting edge, every cut will perform in a
known and predictable way. You will en-
joy your hand cutting tools more and use
them more productively as well.
If you are into the art of sharpening and
want to spend hours doing it, this tool just
might ruin your day. It nicely produces a
perfect edge every time with little or no
effort. Sorry about that!