My Waterstone/Sharpening Board

[Mirboo]

Here are a few pictures of a waterstone/sharpening board I made. I got the idea for the board last year during a visit to The Wood Works Book & Tool Co. in Meadowbank here in Sydney. There were a few similar boards set up in the store, I suppose in readiness for a sharpening workshop.

I used to sharpen my chisels and plane irons with the waterstone just sitting on the bench and I would flatten the stones using wet or dry sandpaper stuck to a plate of float glass. I have found that this board makes things a lot easier.

I have used 16mm ply to make the board and the 'islands' that the stone and the glass/flattening media sit upon.

To provide a flat base for flattening the waterstones I have a piece of 10mm thick float glass 230mm x 280mm. This is held in place on the board by 4 short lengths of 9mm square tassie oak that I have screwed in place. I used 9mm square tassie oak so that the top of the tassie oak sat below the top of the float glass. The clamps that I use to hold the abrasive media in place are made of 3mm x 25mm aluminium flat bar and 1/4 inch bolts/wingnuts.

The idea behind sitting the float glass on a kind of 'island' is that is raises the height of the top of the glass above that of the 1/4-inch bolts and the wingnuts that I use to clamp the abrasive in place. I can therefore overshoot the edge of the glass with a waterstone and not have to worry about hitting the end of a bolt. The 'island' also raises the glass up away from any slurry/water that spills over from the waterstone during sharpening.

I chose the dimensions of the piece of glass based on the dimensions of a sheet of sandpaper. Wet and dry sandpaper is also 230mm x 280mm so I can still choose to use wet and dry sandpaper stuck to glass for flattening or lapping if I wish. If I do this then the clamps on the board are not used but the piece of glass is still held securely on the board.

The abrasive media that you can see clamped in place on the board is plasterboard/drywall mesh. This is the stuff that Derek Cohen has talked about on this forum before. It measures 108mm wide by 375mm long. There are 2 strips of it shown clamped to the board in the pictures, one is 220 grit and the other is 150 grit. I have a 220 grit waterstone and so I got the 150 grit mesh for when I need to flatten it.

The boards I saw at The Wood Works Book & Tool Co. last year were set-up using cloth backed sandpaper in place of the drywall mesh. I have bought a couple of metres of it from Carba-Tec for this purpose but I haven't tried it out yet.

You can see from the pictures that the waterstone itself is also sitting up on a little island. This serves the purpose of raising the top of the stone higher up off the top of my bench which in turn gives me more clearance when flattening the backs of chisels and plane irons. I have placed the stone on the right side of my board (when you face the bench) because when I flatten chisels etc. I hold them out the right side of the stone. If I had placed the waterstone on the other side of my waterstone board the glass and abrasive media that I use for flattening stones would be in the way.

Similar to the flattening area of the board, having the waterstone raised up on a little island keeps it clear of any slurry or dirty water etc. that spills over from the waterstone flattening process.

I have used a 3/8-inch bolt/wingnut to make the clamp for the waterstone. I put the clamp so that is closest to me when I stand at the bench because when I sharpen I have the blade/honing guide oriented as shown in the pictures. With the clamp oriented as shown, if I overshoot the waterstone during the sharpening process I will hit the bolt/wingnut with the roller on my honing guide and not with a tip of a blade.

Finally, I have screwed a batten to the base of the board so that I can keep it steady on my bench by clamping it in my vice. The whole thing has been sealed with a couple of coats of polyurethane.

I hope some of you find this post useful.


Regards,
Mirboo.

[NewLou]

Gidday Mirboo



Great Post

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I use a fully modular integrated system for my sharpening. I’ve developed what I call sliding Dogs (See Pics) that I run along some T-Track. I use a ¼ inch bolt and use my Drill/Driver to torque up/down the dog.
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Is great fun n just like using a rattle gun. (See Pics)

[NewLou]

I can quickly change from one sharpening medium to another in a flash. Also my sliding Dogs can be used like a hold down (See pic of them clamping down my strop).

I use my 1000 Waterstone exclusive to flaten my other finer stones (6000, 12000). This works for me & is quick easy n hassle free.
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Regards Lou
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[javali]

Nice setup Mirboo. I hope you do not mind if I steal some ideas...

[Auld Bassoon]

Hi Mirboo!

Greenie sent!

Copy shortly in progress

Cheers!

[routermaniac]

great ideas there mirboo

[forge]

Thank's for showing your sharpening set up's Mirboo and New Lou.I will adopt the ideas from both of your set ups .Regards ,Bela

[Mirboo]

Thanks for the feedback guys. Much appreciated.

Regards,
Mirboo.

[LineLefty]

Mirboo, great setup, worth copying.

Believe it or not, I've taken to sharpening on the floor under our patio (at night). SWMBO does some mosaic work out there and it's quite contemplative to sit quietly on the floor sharpening on the waterstones. awww, shucks.

[derekcohen]

Nice one Mirboo.

Very similar concept to my waterstone board. Thread at ..

http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=17404

One difference is that I use just one sheet of mesh, and this is clamped at one end only, which makes clean up easier (water and debris gets under it very readily) - just lift the open side and swab out with a sponge. The mesh is stiff enough not to move when anchored at one end.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[reo]

Mirboo, great setup, worth copying.

Believe it or not, I've taken to sharpening on the floor under our patio (at night). SWMBO does some mosaic work out there and it's quite contemplative to sit quietly on the floor sharpening on the waterstones. awww, shucks.

Great idea Linelefty. I also do most of my sharpening outside, at night. Gets me away from the dog, daughter, wife and sundry others...................... I just had a thought! That sounds a bit harsh.......... I love my dog