sharpening stations

larry merlau

Member
Messages
18,741
Location
Delton, Michigan
how about yu showing us your sharpening areas,, pics are preferred.. i am in the middle of gettin one together, been going form this to that and back here for the last few years and after seeing bill satko's i need more organization in that area.. got some ideas in my head but am always open to suggestions.. so show us your sharpening station and give us any insight as to how or why yu did it that way..:thumb::thumb:
 
My scary sharp plates, MKII jig and WS3000 all set on a shelf inside a cabinet near the bench. The WS3K is bolted to an organizer/stand that gets clamped via bench dogs at either vice position.

5-WS3Kdogs.jpg

The SS plates just rest on a piece of that rubbery shelf liner to keep them from skidding around. (old picture showing my old C-man saw in the background ;) ).

ScarySharpPlates-1.jpg

I leave the stuff out if I am doing a lot of work that will require touch-ups as I go. I can set it all up or put it all back to clear the end of the bench in just a few moments. I generally like to have stuff close at hand but these items are used just intermittently enough to not warrant a dedicated station in the shop. This could change; YMMV.
 
Last edited:
A few ideas tall enough lockable swivel casters to give toe clearance a stainless top (or at least a laminate top) & a non skid mat with a place to hang it to dry. I like to use the mat to set my water stones on. (purchase at my favorite Grizzly store)

http://grizzly.com/products/Router-Pad-Tan/G1530

I don't have room for a hand sharpening station & am not sure how I would construct it because I like to stand or sit while sharpening depending on what I am sharpening the amount of time spent & or how my back feels.

The more I think about it maybe 1 drawer for water stones & jigs with 3 solid sides & one open with the drawer with a wide bottom edge to mount the casters on. this would allow being able to sit on one side for hand sharpening & to rotate the stand to the opposite side of the stand & use the powered sharpening devises.

I use my Worksharp & regular grinder to speed the process along toward the final end. I have 2 bench grinders on a board bolted down to a small wall hung bench & rotate one or the other grinder forward depending on the job at hand. If I had the room I would also have a strip sander.
 
:lurk:

Getting ready to make one too. Really want to have one place for all my sharp things, and things to make things sharp...
 
When I started putting my shop together I realized quickly I needed to make the best use of the limited space available.
I decided to use 'islands' wherever possible. This was the first, my sharpening island. It shows a 1" belt grinder, 8" old Craftsman grinder, EZ Sharp knife sharpening wheels and my new WoodCraft sharpening grinder with a Wolverine system.
It once had a large wet wheel. But the wheel cracked, plus I almost never used it.
Yep, that's dust on everything. Fact of life in my shop.
 

Attachments

  • sharp station 1.jpg
    sharp station 1.jpg
    92.5 KB · Views: 55
  • sharp station 2.jpg
    sharp station 2.jpg
    97.5 KB · Views: 54
When I started putting my shop together I realized quickly I needed to make the best use of the limited space available.
I decided to use 'islands' wherever possible. This was the first, my sharpening island. It shows a 1" belt grinder, 8" old Craftsman grinder, EZ Sharp knife sharpening wheels and my new WoodCraft sharpening grinder with a Wolverine system.
It once had a large wet wheel. But the wheel cracked, plus I almost never used it.
Yep, that's dust on everything. Fact of life in my shop.

what you got on the two wheels to the left and why the belt sander?
 
Larry, many of the spinney folks use the belt sander for touching up there turning tools, I suspect that is what frank uses it for. See if youd get a lathe you would know these things..:rofl::rofl::rofl:


He's dizzy enough without a lathe, ya think!!!!

Besides that if he got a lathe he might end up bald faced if he caught it in the lathe.

Then we'd end up calling him Harry..............
 
what you got on the two wheels to the left and why the belt sander?

Those two wheels are both hard cardboard. They are the EZ Sharp system for knives and such. The black one is coated with a grit that comes with the wheels. The grit is coated with hard wax. The other wheel is charged with white rouge.
Sharpen on the black grit wheel, only takes seconds. Then hone the edge on the white wheel. Works great. Kinda messy to recoat the black wheel but that's not needed often.
The 1" belt sander was one of the first bench tools I ever purchased and my first Grizzly some 20+ years ago. I had intended it for sanding irregular shapes, like gunstocks. I took out the platen behind the belt so it would flex with the shape. Didn't work. 1" is too narrow making it too easy to cut grooves in your work. But, I still find it very handy for other things, like sharpening augers and brad point bits and other sundry stuff. The 8" sanding disk is frequently used also even though I would like to have a much bigger one.
 
glenn what are your grits on, i think they are dmt stones you show in the 2cd picture?

Those are pieces of glass held still by some cleats. The 1/4" glass was very cheap at the glass shop. I have 2 pieces of smooth tile from the BORG that I use for the real coarse grits. The glass holds 15, 5 and .3 micron film from 3M.
 

Attachments

  • ss plates 001.jpg
    ss plates 001.jpg
    42.9 KB · Views: 21
  • ss plates 002.jpg
    ss plates 002.jpg
    43.9 KB · Views: 21
Last edited:
Well, Larry, in case you forgot what I have, The middle setup of Franks is what I have. For shovels and other garden tools, I have one of the "EL CHEAPO 3600rpm" grinders.

Bruce
 
Last edited:
It's late and I'm tired, but tomorrow I'll try to get a shot or two of my sharpening station, while it's still all cleaned up from the Tour de Wood visit. (I've been too busy since the Tour to get the shop very dirty.)
 
I believe it was Tools for Working Wood but I will check when I get home for sure.

UPDATE: Confirmed.

Well Glenn between you and Larry my pocket is -$100 and your economy has had another stimulus check from me.:rofl::rofl:

Thanks for the link Glenn and just for the record these guys at Tools for Working Wood are great people. They are the first i have come across that understand customer service the way it should be.

I wrote them on the shipping costs and told them a certain friend of mine uses flat rate boxes and ships to me for half what they want with the same service provider. Sure enough in less than a few minutes they looked it up and what you know they took the items they have checked out the fit and said yup we can half that shipping cost and you can fill the box up with other stuff if it fits.

They have a simple moto. They wish to be treated with respect and offer the same in return. I tip my hat to them. Perhaps the borgs should simply check on what they doing, nothing complex. And i did not haggle for my discount which i always do.:rofl::rofl:
 
Top