A Shipwright in Training

Every woodworker knows that buying tools is half the fun. Finding tools for cheap is better. Getting them for free is best! However, we’re wary when our friends and sweethearts buy us tools because they often don’t know just what we like. Maybe they’ll buy a chisel at a yard sale that looks old and think “oh, he’ll love this antique” and we’re nice on the outside, but on the inside we’re saying “oh no, how am I going to unload this cheap thing?”

However, Jan completely blew that out of the water a few months back. She read all the literature from IYRS, including the tool list. She watched me look at japanese chisels online and did her own research about different makers. She understood why these are typically more expensive and of better quality than other chisels. She talked to the people at IYRS before buying the complete set of chisels that IYRS recommended. On my birthday, she presented these to me in a nice canvas tool roll, hidden in a wine bag at my party. Everyone else in the room knew what was coming because they all chipped in for them. I thought it was just a bottle of wine.

And she did all this before I was even accepted! That gal’s got faith.

It was the most jaw-droppingly sweet thing I’ve ever seen. Since then, I’ve sharpened them to a razor edge using a 6000 grit King water stone, and finishing with green honing compound on a leather strop. They shine like mirrors and cut like a dream.

Then, mom bought me a kit for making your own spokeshave over Christmas.

I’ll put a  photo of that up soon.  It came out really well and makes very nice thin shavings.  Mmmm… tools.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 25th, 2006 at 5:00 pm and is filed under Preparation. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.