2 Tools I Should've Bought Years Ago.

[-MIKE-]

1. A WorkSharp 3000 was delivered to the house yesterday and I finally got to set it up and use it. Dang, is this thing dummy-proof and effective. They did a great job designing it and manufacturing it so it's affordable. I now have chisels and hand planes I will actually use instead of curse at. I have wetstones but I'm just not patient enough to get them out and use them. Having this machine set-up, ready to go will be my motivation to keep my chisels "scary sharp." If you're interested in a great price with free shipping, check out jbtoolsales.com.

While we're at it, someone send me a link explaining how to properly set-up hand planes. I don't think I'm getting most out of mine.

1. A Ridgid cordless (hoseless?) 18g brad nailer. I get soooooo many jobs where I just have to nail up a few pieces of trim and it gets old, fast, carrying the compressor, hose, gun and tripping over the hose up on a ladder to shoot a dozen finish nails.

I used this on a job, today, on 10ft. ceilings and didn't miss getting tangled up in an air hose. The only negative is it's pretty heavy for a nail gun. The DeWalt version is a bit lighter, but since I already have a bunch of Ridgid batteries, I went with it. It takes a few minutes to get used to, since you have to depress the safety tip, wait about a second for the cylinder to charge with air, then shoot. But you get a rhythm going. Big plus! No butane gas cartridges, like the old Paslodes.

Anyway, two more tools that I wish I had bought years ago!

[Michael]

I love my Work Sharp. I cut my own leather round, spray glued it to a glass wheel, and added a little compound to really put a fine edge on my blades.

Roy Underhill and friend have some things to say about setting up hand planes:

[Leon]

Yeah, I tried the fine wasters stones to sharpen my plane irons and chisels and I still prefer to work with tools rather than sharpen them. I have that sharpener too, it works great and fast.

If you don't like sharpening knives, the WorkSharp knife sharpeners work crazy fast, easy, and are mostly fool proof. I have the Ken Onion version and my son has the standard electric version. Both work really really well.

[Puckdropper]

-MIKE- wrote in news:p4gu53$ht2$ [e-mail]:

ane-tuning/

I noticed a big difference after properly bedding the frog.

I found the WS does a fantastic job of flattening chisels and plane irons, but when it comes to the bevel I like the concave bevel off of my grinder and just a few passes on a stone. I often use the WS and grinder together: grind a bit, cool, WS a bit to knock off that wire edge, and repeat.

One more thought: I know Leonard Lee says not to dip the tool in water to cool it, but I really don't notice a big difference in edge life when I do. When it takes a few seconds on the WS to refresh the edge, why waste time letting the tool cool naturally?

For the really fine sandpaper, look here:

Puckdropper

[krw]

I've been considering a sharpening system was wondering about the "hollow grind" that a wheel (e.g. Tormek) would give. It seemed that one would either have to go one way (hollow - Tormek) or flat (WorkSharp, Sorby, stone/diamond) but mixing them wouldn't work well at all.

OK, why waste money on good chisel steel?

I clearly have a lot more research to do. ;-) There seems to be a lot of folklore out there, too. :-(