Garage works, Brian on LJ

HerHusband wrote in news:XnsA3006BEDC475Cherhusband@78.46.70.116:

*snip*

Send me one, I'll sharpen it and send it back to you. Then, you can decide whether or not it's worth the effort to sharpen the rest.

I've had trouble with 1/4" chisels on the Work Sharp, so better make it

1/2" or larger.

Puckdropper

Reply to
Puckdropper
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It was a little hair raising. I probably should have explained the purpose of the saw cut. Sometimes I make the the mistake of assuming that the log ic behind certain tasks are obvious. When producing these videos, I run th e risk of too much commentary and not enough action. I 'think' I balance t his well, but maybe not; it's tough to please everyone, so they say, as mad e evident by this thread.

I am left vexed by how someone can criticize someones process when said pro cess is not unsafe, and produces the end result required in a reasonable am ount of time.

Reply to
brian

Mike,

Thanks Mike. You are correct, I am not against sharp tools. I just don't use chisels enough to worry about sharpening them. I'm lucky if I even use a chisel once a year, and even then I tend to be rather hard on them (more for construction tasks than fine woodworking).

I would love to do more hand tool work, but most of the projects I do are fairly basic and completed with power tools.

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband

HerHusband" wrote

You should do like I do.

You owe it to yourself a to go out and get a low to mid priced new set of chisels. Like some metal ended Stanley's. Put them where they will not get used for rough construction. A small amount of discipline means you go back to the toolbox and get your old beater chisels out when you want to get rough with a chisel. Then take your old beater chisels and with a cup of water or oil to frequently dip and keep them cool, hit them up on the bench grinder of stationary sanding disk, and get them back to a good profile, and roughly sharp. Sure, they are not like they would be with a wet stone, but who cares. They are for rough work, and not perfect, but at least they can be close to sharp.

Then you have the best of both worlds, even if you are not in the hand tool world all that often, you with be able to do it the best you can, and safely, as a bonus.

Reply to
Morgans

I haven't read anyone say you are against sharp tools. You choose not to sharpen.

That sharp tools are safer and produce better work is not a matter of belief or opinion.

It is simple fact.

djb

Reply to
Dave Balderstone

Dave,

It's not that I "choose" not to sharpen, I just haven't had the need or the knowledge/tools to sharpen them.

The set of chisels I have now are probably 5-6 years old and I've probably only used them briefly four or five times. I used them last week to square up routed rabbet corners in a picture frame, probably the biggest task I've ever used them for. They're still about as sharp as the day I bought them. They seem to cut well when I have needed them.

I have an older set of chisels that I use more for construction work. I've hit nails and everything else with them. They take a beating, but I never use them for fine detail work.

I keep meaning to pick up a sharpening stone or something and learn how to sharpen my chisels. It just isn't something that has been a big priority since I rarely use them. In the past, I've just bought a new set of chisels when the old set got dull. :)

In any case, my original post was meant to support Brian at GarageWoodworks, not delve into my personal sharpening habits. :)

Anthony Watson

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Reply to
HerHusband

So I looked at your website. Nice work you have done...

Not sure how you work without ever really needing a chisel.

I find I use a chisel quite often.

As far as Brian goes, and I appreciate that you support him, but that technique of rocking the chisel back and forth is really ugly. The fibers were ripped like crazy. For me, that would not have been the way I would have cut it. I use the tool to cut, chop.. Prying is left to mortising. Twisting.... never.. it's not what the tool was designed for, nor how it should be used. The result may have been ok, for him and others, but for me, it was UGLY.

And the problem is that Brian is teaching people with these videos.. And that's my problem.... teaching them right and there are more than one right way... is fine.. teaching them that.. well, no..

Reply to
woodchucker

I remembered that lesson a few seconds after I jammed by hand into the corner of my workbench a year or two ago. I counted myself lucky!

Reply to
Bill

---------------------------------------------------------- Get a piece of plate glass and some sandpaper and you're in business with scarysharp approach.

Lew

Reply to
Lew Hodgett

This is one of those things where having some feedback helps you get it better the next time.... ;~) I've learned a lot from my "student's" questions when I've lectured at Woodworkers Showcase, or taught classes, or during may days interpreting at Colonial Williamsburg. It's the old story of being so familiar with something that you assume everyone already knows it or gets it.... That said, I've had some really off the wall questions over the years... I remember a teenage kid at CW who was totally dismayed at the question his father asked and his dismay was obvious to the entire roomful of people. ;~)

I think we all have an "Ah Ha" moment... For example, I studied the hand-cut dovetailing techniques of a lot of "experts" over the years and there is a lot of variance. I can cut them like Tage Frid, or Frank Klaus, or Chris Schwarz, or Roy Underhill, or like the "mirrors and 747 land light" crowd in the magazines. They will all give good results as long as you keep a few basic rules in mind. Whatever you cut first dictates what you cut second... and make sure you cut in the waste. ;~) To make that point I taught a dovetailing seminar one time where I used a different technique for each pair of pins and tails and it still went together the first time without fussing with it. One year I did the Frank Klaus approach, live in front of an audience at Showcase, with no sliding bevel or ruler or divider... again, it went together the first time with no fuss.

The "Ah Ha" happens when you see that there are often a LOT of different ways to accomplish the same thing. That was one area where Norm Abram did a good job over the years.... he used different techniques across shows to accomplish the same task.

It's all good...

John

Reply to
John Grossbohlin

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