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Let me preface this by saying this is not a sharpening how-to or ultimate guide. I don’t talk about sharpening theory, optimal bevel angles or tool steels. There are a plethora of books, blogs and videos out there dedicated to every fine detail of sharpening. These posts are just some reflections on my experiences with sharpening as a hobbyist and DIYer figuring things out by myself.

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I have already made some notes on sharpening plane blades and chisels, or, straight and square blades. I tried a few recommended “for beginners” approaches and after some trial and error found a system that worked for me. After three years, I am still using my diamond stones (fine and extra fine) with a strop, all on a small plywood holder. All sharpening except re-grinding small chisels is free hand. 

I also consider sharpening in general to have three sides to the equation: your equipment, technique, and process in the shop.

Straight and square blades are the majority of sharpening in hand tools but there are a variety of other cutting edges to think about. In this post I’ll discuss some lessons learned about these other blades, specifically curved (scrub) plane blades, curved chisels (gouges), spokeshave blades and some joinery plane blades. This covers most of what I sharpen on my diamond stones.

The Scrub

Early on in my journey I heard mention of the scrub plane for rough stock removal (the converted bench plane type, not the dedicated traditional scrub plane) and now would consider this essential in the hand tool woodworking shop, so I also consider sharpening a cambered plane iron an essential skill. 

• I converted a regular Stanley blade following Rex Krueger’s instructions. It worked great and this is still my go-to scrub blade today. Sharpening it requires no change to equipment or process but there is a learning curve when it comes to technique.
• I followed Paul Sellers instruction for sharpening technique. First I tried the side to side C shape. This is a good way to start slowly but as I used it more and got faster, I found the blade naturally moving in a figure 8. Now I sharpen these blades in a figure 8 pattern with my stones turned sideways towards me.

• The drawback is it’s easy to mess up, and when it’s messed up it’s not quick and easy to fix it (without a bench grinder). At first when I drew my hand back (on the C shape and the figure 8), I lifted it slightly too so the cutting angle got higher in the middle. It was always easier to hit the edges but the middle is the crucial part.
• Lesson learned: I focus on keeping the angle constant and slowing down slightly; putting more pressure in the middle to make sure I get the best edge in the centre where the blade will actually do the cutting.
• It takes practice to maintain the curve and angle, it’s easy to skew the curve so the apex ends up off centre, but this can be corrected with lateral adjustment in the plane.
• Going very slowly and paying close attention at first is a great way to learn.
• I strop it across the curve by rotating it on the stroke (though this may be unnecessary, only the middle section of the blade does the cutting).

There are plenty of other techniques out there that I haven’t tested yet. This system works for me.

The Gouge

I have to admit I have only one gouge and I’ve sharpened it only a handful of times. Sadly, while I bought it to make some spoons, I have never completed a spoon and never actually required the gouge on a project. I hold on to it as a matter of pride, and you never know, I might need it some day.

• I started by using the side-to-side method demonstrated by Joseph Sellers this time but never quite got the results I was looking for from the straight forward and back rotation along the cutting edge. The corners of the blade seemed easier to hone but the middle always seemed a bit dull, or had a little flat spot.
• It took me a while to realise, after inspecting the blade, there was a slight camber on the edge from side to side – it wasn’t dead straight across so this explained why, when sharpening it side to side in a straight line, the middle never made contact with the stone. Your mileage may vary – always assess your blade and decide what method is best.
• I switched to a narrow figure of 8 pattern, emphasizing the side to side more than front to back so as not to overly camber the blade and focus on just refining the cutting edge as is. This gave me a better, more consistent edge in considerably less time.

• When it comes to stropping, similar to the scrub blade I pull back and rotate the cutting edge to strop it across the edge.
• The only extra equipment I use for this is a round strop: a dowel with some leather wrapped around it for the inside curve of the gouge. I’ve found that using a dowel with a smaller diameter than the gouge gave me the room to pull back and rotate the edge for a more consistent stroke and a better resulting edge. A simple rounded edge on a board, made with a plane, would do just as well. (Note: why don’t I just strop like Joseph does on the edge of his flat strop? Well, on my strop you’ll see the leather doesn’t go all the way to the edge. Why did I make it like this? I have no idea.)

The Spokeshave

The typical spokeshaves we know today will mostly have a straight and square blade but we have to take into account the traditional U-shaped blades, old and new versions, too. Spokeshave blades will generally be straight and square but they are also such a departure from plane blades I thought they should be in non-standard shaped blades.

• For the straight and square blades such as your typical Stanley 151, the general idea is the same as a plane blade or chisel with no special equipment required and just an adjustment of technique. 
• The main lesson with these small blades is the grip, which is awkward and can take some practice to maintain the bevel angle and your grip on the blade in motion. 
• I grip the sides of the blade with my finger and thumb of right hand, use my left hand to put even pressure across the bevel, and move in small circles as opposed to all the way top to bottom like a plane blade.

• For the traditional blades there are a few types, the old style (pictured below) or the new style such as those offered as kits at Lee Valley. I can’t offer much in the way of guidance on sharpening these but as always Paul Sellers does a great job of demonstrating the process. 

I always meant to tune up these nice vintage tools but I have spokeshaves that work well so they were simply never necessary.

The Joinery Blades:

Let’s look at plough plane blades, and the most awkward plane blade I’ve sharpened (so far): the old Stanley router plane blade.

• Plough plane blades deserve a mention only because of the size. The technique is essentially the same though I hold the blade sideways instead of straight on, and use only light pressure in a circular motion, pressing down on the whole bevel (with no camber or secondary bevel).
• The bevels and cutting edges are so small that it hardly takes any work to put a fresh edge on a plough plane blade and I rather check often and remove just as much as necessary than remove too much every time. This usually just takes a quick pass on the fine stone and a strop.

• I have a few sizes of old L-shaped router plane blades. My current kit takes care of these no problem but the technique is tricky. 
• These blades have to be held upside down off the side of the plates to hit the bevel and I run them side to side, following the process as normal. 

• Care is needed to maintain even pressure across the bevel, maintain the bevel angle and not grind it out of square taking more off one corner than the other. If the blade does go out of square and one corner of the blade digs in a little deeper than the other (as happened on one of mine), of course Paul Sellers has a blog post with the solution.

Note: I have tried to dig up the blog post with instructions for correcting an out-of-square router plane blade, without success. So I will recount the steps here in the hopes that someday someone will find this solution helpful. This is for a router plane blade that is out of square, not cutting parallel to the sole / the wood, that needs to be fixed.

1. Retract the blade above the sole so it’s not cutting. Put it on some flat wood for testing.
2. Slowly lower the blade until it just touches the wood on the deeper side – move it forward to cut, and just when the blade touches the wood you will see an uneven cut on the wood. Ideally, the higher side is not touching the wood yet.
3. Move the plane to a flat surface with some high grit sandpaper stuck to it. Sand the whole plane including the blade (this will not hurt the plane sole). The “high” (lower) side of the blade will be touching the sandpaper and the low side will not.
4. After a few passes on the sandpaper, test again on your wood by retracting and slowly lowering the blade to test the evenness of the cut.
5. Repeat as necessary, moving to the sandpaper to grind the blade then to the wood to test the evenness of cut.
6. Once it’s making even contact with the wood across the blade, sharpen as normal and it’s good to go.

Stay tuned for the lessons learned in sharpening other things, including saws, scrapers, and knives.