system that would allow me to use Japanese
polishing stones. I had seen a demonstration of
planing wood to a finished surface by a
Japanese woodworker, and had bought one of
the 8000 grit polishing stones to see if I could
replicate his remarkable results with an
American plane.
The stone was so soft, of necessity, that I was
cutting divots out of it when I tried sharpening
free-hand in my usual way. When I could avoid
hacking it up, I was getting the sharpest edges I
had ever seen, but it was clear that I needed
some kind of a honing guide.
So I tried all the guides then available, and
settled on the General #810. Todd Taggart, now
of Allied Lutherie, encouraged me to write up a
booklet on the system, and I published the first
edition of Double Bevel Sharpening in 1995.
It's now in its third edition, completely revised
and up-dated.
Not long after the first edition was out, the #810
honing guide went out of production, and I
decided to see if I could design an improvement
on it. The result is the guide in the photographs.
I'm now producing the stone box as well, and the
booklet, guide, and stone box are all available
from Luthiers Mercantile International and The
Japan Woodworker. See: My Favorite Links.
As a professional luthier, I need to sharpen my
tools quickly, accurately, and to a wide range of
angles. And once I had experienced using a tool
sharpened on a Japanese polishing stone, there
was no going back.
I've been using this system for almost thirty
years now, and it's the best one I've seen yet. If
you find a better one, tell me about it, and I'll
switch [:-)].
without tear-out, using the double
bevel system. It's not just the
sharpness; it's the angle too.
Click to enlarge this one.
the image of a bit of back inlay. Using the
sharpening system, you can produce this degree of
sharpness in 3 minutes or less.
