Here is one more thing to add to a manufactured device for sharpening. The previous post explains the issue: for sharpening plane irons that have a slightly curved edge, which is most of them, a subtle curve needs to be added to the roller. (This does not apply to nearly all chisels.)

I have two Woodcraft rollers. One is used as is – for sharpening straight edges. (Photo is below.) The other roller is very slightly curved across its width. (Carefully note the photo above.) It was not manufactured that way but was easily done in the shop.

The roller itself is 1/2” wide. Working out the math and using it in practice, reveals that the roller needs to be ground just about .003” on each 1/4” half of the wheel. In other words, from zero at the center point to a maximum curve of .003” shorter at each far side edge. 

An electric motor-rotating wheel can do this. Be careful and keep fingers away from the wheel! (The safety decision is solely up to you.)

Note that you are making a curved angle on each side, not a straight-edge angle. It is easy to do.

This adds a comfortably controllable ability for angling the plane edge on the flat stone. This is far better than trying to alternately angle onto just the outside corners of a regular flat wheel guide. 

This subtly angled wheel will work for almost all of the plane blades. As I have mentioned in the previous post: nearly all manufacturers neglect this important factor. They could simply supply two replaceable wheels or two frame-wheel combinations. (Again, Lee Valley/Veritas is the only manufacturer that I know of that builds in the curvature in one of their wheels. I do not care for their expensive system but I do suggest taking a look online for your choice.)

With all of this said now, I will still say that I do the vast majority of sharpening by the total hand-holding method discussed three posts ago. But now you have options!

Sharpening is a must for good woodworking but not hard to do with the right equipment and skills!

Perhaps you use, or have at least tried, the sharpening method by hand discussed in the previous two posts. In any case, here is another approach that involves a straightforward angle holder. 

The woodworking tool (plane iron, chisel, etc.) is inserted into the holding guide. The pair is placed onto the angle gage, the tool is slid to match the angle number line or face, say 32°, and the holding bolt is tightened. Position the holder’s wheel on the sharpening stone and, back and forth, off you go sharpening. Easy overall. 

Notice my own lines for 27.5° and 32.5°.

There are several different designs for the holding guide. The one I use is from Woodcraft. It has a single, central, 1/2” wide wheel and can accommodate tools from 1/8” to 2 3/4” wide. Simple as can be.

Play with Amazon and you can find many varieties. Some are like Woodcraft’s. One has a wheel more than 3” wide. Some use pairs of wheels, and some include two pairs of different widths. Some use a single pair of wheels which can be set on the inside or outside width of the tool griper. Woodpecker’s model is like this. Lie-Nielsen and Lee Valley make varieties that include sharpening angled blades. There is quite a creative selection. 

For chisels, these work well for their straight edges. However, for most plane blades, the edge is importantly, slightly curved. This is most of our sharpening work. I easily manage this with the practical system described in the previous two posts.

Can managing the slightly curved edges be done with the tool systems described here? With a 1/2” single, central wheel as on the Woodcraft model, you can very slightly tilt and role on the right corner (then left) to varying degrees. With subtle, variable tilting and rolling, you can produce a decent curve. Not my choice, but it can be done.

It would be helpful if manufacturers simply made an extra, replaceable wheel with a subtle curve built into it. Even better: two extra wheels with slightly different curves.

Credit to Lee Valley/Veritas for the curved edge roller in their system, though I do not prefer it in some other respects, mostly based on complication.

Well, I hope this and the previous two articles help with your direction on hand sharpening. And you know that you cannot do excellent woodworking without really sharp tools!

Here are the angle gauges that I use for the method discussed in the previous post. 

The size for all is about 4 1/2” long, 1 1/2” wide, and 1/2” thick  and made from cherry or African mahogany. They about 10 to 20 years old. 

The sharpening angle goes back about 1” for all the angle gauge sizes. Therefore, its height varies based on the angle. Height is about 1/2” for the 25° gauge but 1 3/32” for the 48° gauge. 

Overall, these give working consistency except for the angle itself.

These are easiest to make with the table saw using straight, square, level wood. Please work cautiously! You make the method but work from long pieces so your hands are nowhere near the blade and pushing path. Make no chance of slipping on the angle holding setup. 

I have a spaced holder for them to stay neat and handy. As mentioned in the previous post, I do not suggest going by my nerdy 1/2° amounts for 27 1/2 and 32 1/2. It does not matter. 27° and 32° would be just fine, or whatever else you might prefer. 

Looking at the photo carefully, you can note that I measured the actual angle in each gauge. It is off a bit. That does not matter. I am using the same gauges each time sharpening. 

They will last a very long time.

Next post: to discuss an angle holding gauge which I do use, though as I mentioned in the previous post, just a minority of the time.

When we hand sharpen a tool, such as a chisel or plane blade, it must be accurately and consistently held at the desired angle to the stone. Most woodworkers and most teachings use an angle holder.

With some exceptions such as tiny or odd blades, I generally do not. I do have a metal gauge that I use sometimes, and that will be covered in a future post here. I have also tried others in the past, and wrote about some, but I do not use those anymore. 

Let me explain what I do. Perhaps you want to give it a try if you do not do it already. 

The steps:

1. Use a very flat stone with just a little water – not a big puddle.

2. The wooden angle gauge is placed on the stone with the left hand. With the right hand, the tool edge is angled firmly into the slot. (See below.)

3. The left hand puts aside the gauge and then works with the right hand to hold the tool angle to the stone. Lock the angle in your hands! (See the picture at the top of this post.) You will be surprised how accurate and consistent you can be after just a little practice. Test yourself.

4. Now cut back and forth for small distances. I usually go only about a couple inches, even less, on the fine stones, while more on the medium and course stones. You must hold the angle steadily over the distance. With some tools, longer feels better.

Most of the cutting occurs on the push rather than the pull.

Some folks like going in a circular back and forth motion. That works too.

Here is what you can sense:

Feel the angle with your hands with balanced, steady legs and body.

Hear the sound of cutting, especially forward. 

Sense the edge on the blade on the cutting stone. 

With all of these, you can sense slight differences with the correct angle compared with a decrease or increase. I do find all of these a bit easier with the finest stones compared with the coarser stones. If you think you may have changed the angle, recheck it with the wooden gauge. 

For practice, try intentionally increasing and decreasing the angle incorrectly. You can quite readily detect the differences in all those senses. Check yourself with the wooden angle gauge.  

All of these skills also apply to sharpening curved edges – done for almost all hand planes. Get used to working across through the curve. This is easier and steadier than using a griped-on, wheeled angle tool.

The most common angle I use is 32.5°. Why .5? For no good reason! I made the wooden gauges long ago and never changed them. It does not matter. Consistency does! 32 would be just fine.

I suggest giving this a try. It is faster than working with metal screw-on gauges. You might like it!

In the next post, I will show the wooden gauges. They are easy to make.

We turn to little planes when the regular big ones, such as the #4 smoothing, #5 jack, and #7 jointer will not do the job or are awkward. These five little planes are worth having in my shop. 

Left to right in the photo above:

1. Veritas Bevel-up #1. The blade bed is at 15°. The mouth is adjustable. I sharpen the PM-V11 steel blade at 27.5°/32.5°. The plane is 5 13/16” long, 1 25/32” wide. The blade is 1 7/32” wide, 1/10” thick. 

2. Lie-Nielsen #60 1/2 block plane, 12° blade bed, adjustable mouth. I sharpen the W1 blade (an early model) at 27.5°/32.5°. Plane 6 1/4” long, 1 3/4” wide. Blade 1 3/8” wide, 1/8” thick.  

3. Lie-Nielsen #60 1/2 rabbet block plane, 12° blade bed. I sharpen the A2 blade at 27.5°/32.5°. Plane 6 1/2” long, 1 3/4” wide. Blade 1 3/4” wide, 1/8” thick. 

4. Veritas Cabinetmaker’s Trimming plane, 15° blade bed. I sharpen the O1 blade at 25°/30°. Plane 6 1/2” long, 1 3/4” wide. Blade 1 3/4”+ wide, 1/8” thick. 

5. Jorgensen mini block plane #70700, 20° blade bed. I sharpen O1 blade at 25°/30°. Plane 3 1/2” long, 1 1/4” wide. Blade 7/8” wide, 1/8” thick.  

The #1 plane functions just like the larger planes but it is handily smaller. For example, it handles very well for smoothing a narrow part of a cabinet frame, even a long one. The handles allow you to hold it and move it just as well as a #4 smoother. I think it is nearly a must. I keep it just as well sharpened as the #4.

The regular block plane works well with one hand pushing in any direction and angle. I use it for practical fitting, trimming, and sizing parts. I think just about everyone has a regular block plane. 

The rabbet block plane is the same idea but you can cut to the side edges. So it can fit in length or side joints where it can often out do a chisel. Not essential, but very handy.

The trimming plane can save the day where it is too hard to consistently and accurately use a chisel. For example, where you need to clean up the width and length of a joined corner section. I do not pick it up too often but it saves the day when I need it!

Sure, for #3 and #4, you can often substitute a shoulder plane, edge plane, or others, but these block plane variants have advantages in holding and pushing. There are alternatives, but these have important roles. 

The mini block plane: yes, have it and you will quickly use it for all sorts of little tasks. It is incredibly well made – flat, excellent steel blade, easy to adjust well – for $18! You might even keep it in a pocket. 

Ok, if you want only two: bevel-up #1 and mini plane. Three? Ok, add the regular block plane. All five?! Ok, skip an expensive restaurant group outing or two. Hey, you’re a woodworker! These are like fingers in the hands and connections in the brain.

If you are going to put a lot of work into making a nice wooden small box, you might as well use fine quality hinges and possibly other products. 

So, let us go through options of hinges, lid stays, and locks. I will make recommendations. I will hold off discussion of feet, nobs, and latches.

Most woodworkers make a box, sooner or later. So here we go . . . 

Hinges

You can use regular style hinges, widely available in good quality, that allow you to open the box lid 180°. Since you usually want to stop the opening range at just over 90°, you would need to install a stay mechanism. I will get to that later.

I prefer to use a hinge pair that will itself stop the lid from opening further at slightly greater than 90°. The two best available options are from England. smartButt hinges have clever, elegant round knuckles that stop the opening at 93°. (See the photos at the top of this article and just below this paragraph.) (By the way, there are some shadow images in the top photo; not an imperfect fit!)

The other great option is smartHinges. (See the photo just below this paragraph.) These go on the side pieces of the lid and body of the box. These also stop the lid opening at 93°. You can easily and entirely use a router table to fit them. Note that the wood grains in the tops of the sides of the lid and the frame sides should go front to back. This is to avoid tiny short grain at the outer edges of the hinges.

The two excellent types of hinges are available from the great box maker Andrew Crawford at smartboxmaker.com. 

Also nice, but without the same elegance of Crawford’s hinges, are stop hinges (photo just below) and side rail hinges from Brusso (brusso.com).  

Brusso also sells quadrant hinges. I have an example of this type (not Brusso’s) in the photo just below. These also control the lid opening but I think are harder to install than the options mentioned above. 

Separate lid stays on the side

Ok, if you nevertheless use hinges that do not themselves fix the lid open, you will probably need a lid stay on the side. There are numerous choices but I think Brusso’s lid stay is your best option. 

You can also use a string made of metal beads, cloth fiber, etc. This is a bit floppy and not my choice. 

(Photo just below.)

Locks

This is not strong security in your wooden box but is a nice image you might like. Again, I recommend the fine smartLock. Lee Valley has a good variety though less exquisite. (Photos below.) Don’t loose the key! 

Brusso has a nice button latch for the box front, though not a lock.  

So there is a quick summary of box parts that you can install. You are going to go through careful, detailed work that you want to make really nice, so install excellent parts to refine your work. 

Enjoy!

These small pieces have been cut and labeled from readily available sheets. Having had them for many years, they get lots of use. They are a quick way to assess small measurements without having to stare and dwell over minute ruler values, or evaluate confusing visual input.

The product is TTC PSS5A 14 Piece Plastic Shim Stock Assortment – 5” x 20” Color Coded Sheets.

(Note that I also put a few thicker wooden examples in the upper photo.)

Some practical examples:

You can slide a shim under a straight edge or square to check how much a piece is flat or out of square. Then, you quickly translate the .004” gap to a few fine strokes with the plane.

Similarly, you can assess the sole of a new plane, or a worn wooden plane sole. 

How much gap of the tenon walls with the sides of the mortise? How far off square is a machine blade?

How much edge of a door frame do I need to plane away? (Or, how much did I goof up?)

Assess the amount of a sharpened curve (or accuracy of straightness) in a plane blade. Get the amount of the appearance. You can remember the appearance visually but also keep in mind the numerical amount for future sharpening.

Evaluate the flatness, or an appropriate curve, of a hand plane. Below: checking the desired inward curve of the sole of a Yoshihiro Yamamoto plane.

There are many other uses! The basic idea is numerically evaluating with the shim stock and relating it to the direct visual assessment. You are adding to your perceptive ability in your work.

Added: 

The fine reader points out (see comments) the less expensive stainless metal gauge sets available. I have long had similar ones (see photo below). Yes, they too are effective and handy, though I do not use them nearly as much. Somehow, I like the separate, colored, multiple in every size, and multi-reproducibility in every size for the plastic ones.

Still, you might like the $7 metal ones instead of the $45 plastic set for your purposes. Amazon, of course.

Have my techniques in dovetailing changed? Yes, of course. Many of my shop techniques do indeed change over time. I like to refine, alter, and upgrade most skills.  

For dovetails, I adopted important techniques from the outstanding David Barron. He has 51 videos on YouTube at David Barron Furniture. Many are directly for dovetail skills. His skill and precision are welcoming and enjoyable.

I have used some of his techniques in the past half-year for drawers and boxes. This mainly involves his magnetic saw guide. It makes sawing dovetails easier and more reliable than anything else I have tried. They are available online at Highland Woodworking and at Classic Hand Tools (England). Options available are 1:4 through 1:8, as well as 90° and 45° guides.

With the saw guide, and with some of the steps he recommends, I can dovetail in a more controlled and relaxed manner than ever before. Thank you, David!

By the way, please check the link “Dovetail Guide” at Series Topics on this website for a 44-page mini-book written entirely by me several years ago for the former version of Craftsy. Naturally, as usual, I have changed some of the techniques along the way, but there remains lots of worthwhile material for you. 

So, here is my point: as skilled as you may be, or as much difficulty as you may have, go ahead and be persistent, brave, and joyful in the wood shop. Life deserves it.