Look! You can see the floor! Yes! The annual Spring Clean Up of the shop is about two-thirds done. You can see the floor! A rolling tool chest (out of view to the left) now stores many tools in a manner in which they can be found when needed. It’s revolutionary. There were three brands of tool chests to choose from. For me, the choice was made by how much horizontal space was available. See all the way in the back, the shelf with books and folders on it? Those are books, plans and drawings that I frequently pull out for reference.
What book do I often reach for on the shelf? It’s one of the smallest books on that shelf but is perhaps the most important. This is no mockery! It’s not much larger than pocketbook size, but it has instructions on sharpening almost every tool I’d need in my work as a woodcarver.
Most of the tools are fairly straightforward for sharpening. They are your basic knives and gouges. But then you get into the weeds with specialty tools that are bent and skewed, or have other special requirements. There are many books like this available. I think the one I have is simply Sharpening Woodworking Tools, and if you work with wood, you can save yourself much frustration by picking one up. There is an absolutely incredible variety of steel, edge types, tool shapes, tool sharpening jigs, and approaches to sharpening.
Need to sharpen a pair of scissors, plane blades, serrated-edge knife, scalpel, or other esoteric device, one of these books will help.
Discover more from Louis N. Carreras, Woodcarver
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.
The two things I like best in your shop are the picture of the ship with billowing sails hanging up on the right, and the ‘carving’ photo almost dead center. It almost looks curved, like it could be a shallow bowl. But it is so pretty.
The ship on the right is a photographic blowup of Dreadnaught, the ship portrait I am working on right now. I’m basing it on the Antonio Jacobson painting of Dreadnaught.
The little acrylic painting of the skull dancing on bones was done by me in 1969. I posted it on the door when I was carving so people would get the idea that it was a bad idea to disturb me.
Great title for your post! Not only does your book help you sharpen, but the space is looking sharp. Love this glimpse into your world, Lou.
This made me think about what book I could read over and over — no idea. There was one, once, but I haven’t read it in a while. It was the best book to travel with. Goethe’s Conversations with Eckermann (his secretary)
That looks great. Just think about how much extra you can fit in the workshop with the new storage.
I’ve taken the Pledge – no new tools! I have found several that I didn’t know I had doing the cleaning.
Win, win.
Always a bonus from cleaning. 🙂
You should think about having a yard sale 🙂
Carving tools and specialty items don’t do well at yard sales. People don’t know what they are, and they are useless unless you are in specialty woodwork.