Sharpening a Spokeshave Freehand | Paul Sellers

[@OpaKnows]

The simplicity of your demonstrations gives the common man hope of attaining and maintaining sharp working tools. Thanks, Paul.

[@uriel-heavensguardian8949]

Never a dull moment with Mr. Sellers! You Inspire me with every Video. You Inspired me to get into woodworking. I always wanted to start with just hand tools. Thank you for your years of knowledge and skills. Thank you for sharing your journey with us.

[@boozoochavis7506]

Easy Peasy ... none of the back and forth chasing the burr, brilliant! That experience makes all the difference in the world for real world sharpening instead of turning this all into maths and science, thanks Mr. Sellers. This method works so darn well!

[@iceblu3710]

Great videos! My DMT diamond plates where getting clogged and I tried some windex like I see you use to sharpen with and WOW it made a difference. I was able to sharpen a cutter much faster, that process cleaned up the stones as I went and WOW a much sharper polished edge!

[@mitchwoodwork]

How timely! I just posted a few days before you, the first of three short videos on these spokeshaves. I use the freehand method for polishing, but use a simple jig whenever I need to remove all but the smallest amount of metal - 'horses for courses'. I needn't go on to film the full freehand method now, as you have done a very fine job here.

[@jerryuhte1568]

Thanks Paul, i found my Record a 151 ! Now to get it sharp , bought it years ago ! As usual i learned something again .

[@markharris5771]

Have you done a video on sharpening convex and concave blades please? Especially the concave blade? I’ve just ordered one of each but I can’t find a video anywhere showing me how to sharpen them.

[@antidotek7078]

5 years later and same😂

[@anterspenlans]

Not a timely reply from me, but hitting with a hammer in the middle will change the shape. Good idea to protect the surfaces. My experience is it will take a while to get the right shape. In the video, Paul’s spokeshave looks to be a good shape to aim for.

[@davebulow2]

Thank you. An excellent, very well explained, simple video.

[@edadpops1709]

Im enjoying your sharpening method on chisels and plane irons have you addressed any methods for curved spoke shaves,curved palm planes,fishtail gouges and curved scrapers? thanks

[@pmckinlay653]

Thanks Paul- I think this is the trouble I've been having with my little no. 64- Too much of a heel on the iron. Back to the course stone!

[@StarDustSid]

Hi Paul. After seeing many woodworkers such as your self using diamond stones, I've just invested a small fortune in a set of 3 DMT stones. I hope they're as good as the EZE_Lap stones you use.

[@PasiSavolainen]

Make sure that the grain is uniform on your stones, no "bald" spots. One of my DMT's has a bald spot to one edge and I didn't know better to turn that in in time. I got an EZE-lap stone instead of that one and it and other DMT stones are all equally good so it was just that one that was "bad".

[@StarDustSid]

Pasi Savolainen Thanks for replying Pasi. I've had a look at the stones as you suggested. The course one seems uniform and looks fine. The fine stone and the extra fine stone look like some of the surface is different at the edges, however when I look at the stone lengthways, it looks uniform. (These areas also seem to grind as well as the rest of the stone.) The extra fine stone has some milling machine marks on the diamond side and back, but again, looking lengthways, it looks uniform. (also, if you feel the back of the stone, you can see but not feel the milling lines.) The only problem I can see is the fine stone has a tiny 'ding' in it. Very small, (the size of a dot made with a ballpoint pen). I'm not sure if I should reject the stone because of this, it doesn't seem to affect the sharpening. (you can't 'feel' it). Thanks again for your advice.

[@2testtest2]

StarDustSid I have two double sided DMT stones my self. both are the perforated variant, and the big holes don't seem to affect sharpening much (except that they don't have diamonds in them of course). I'd say minor imperfections in the surface of the stone should not affect the sharpening at all.

[@wadepatton2433]

StarDustSid DMT continuous-grit stones will look a bit uneven when new and some recommend "breaking them in" by going over the entire surface with some non-critical steel before using on super fine edges. This may even things out a bit. Mine were already evened out as I leveled waterstones with them before every using them on metal.

[@seamusmcardle2610]

Thank you for sharing your knowledge.

[@OpekiskaWood]

Thanks for the videos. I have learned so much from watching!

[@GregJorgo]

Always great!

[@wadepatton2433]

I just sharpened and set up my spokeshave for the first time. It's a knock-off of the #51 with no apparent branding. The mouth is rather narrow leaving only a mm or so (it's a bit uneven) for shavings. I want to open it up a tad bit (if nothing more than truing the edge to eye). Question: What is a good minimum mouth opening or gap with blade in place? I only have the one just now. Thanks

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

Thanks for another, very useful, video.

[@radinsyah1574]

Do we need to flatten the body as well?

[@ardumus]

Mr. Sellers, I've recently acquired a Stanley 151 and have sharpened it according to your video. I'm getting nice shavings, but I notice when you use yours, the shavings curl away from the spokeshave. With mine, the shavings tend to curl inward and I have to stop often to unclog it. At first I thought I had installed the blade incorrectly but I've double checked and all appears good. I don't have this issue with my Stanley or Veritas planes. What am I doing wrong? Should I initialize the cap iron the way you suggest on your plan restoration video?

[@pinterzoltan6890]

Helló. Szoktam nézni a videóit és nagyon jók tetszenek. Azt szeretném kérdezni,hogy amin a szerszámokat élezi olyat hol tudnék vásarolni. És mennyi az ára. Ugyan is itt Magyarországon nem lehet kapni ilyet. Honnan lehet ezeket beszerezni kérnék egy linket. Köszönöm.

[@TheDejfson]

Hi Paul, Thanks for this excellent tutorial. Could you please comment on what exact type of the Diamond stones you have? I'm using currently norton water stones. They make the instruments very sharp at the expense of being very messy to work with. One has to flatten them as well. so id like to change for diamond stones. Any recommendation is highly appreciated. I'm living in switzerland, so US suplies are 'more difficult to buy'

[@paulsellers7953]

EZE_Lap are the plates I use. Coarse medium and superfine work well and they are available here in the UK from Chronos. It may be messy but the Norton stones do work fine. You actually don't need to flatten them really. Once you polish out the flat face it never needs doing again so the concaved sole is ideal for creating a cambered or convex blade, which is what I advocate any way.

[@wadepatton2433]

TheDejfson I'm so glad I bought a DMT coarse for flattening my Norton and other waterstones (for razors only). Nothing else I've tried works as well, and it's so good for sharpening tools. Will be getting more diamond stones because they work so well for tools and so much cleaner/faster to use than waterstones.

[@jsctcooper03]

Is it necessary to go through all the high grits or could one use just the 250 as suggested for the plane iron?

[@paulsellers7953]

You can stop at 250 and the spokeshave will work fine.

[@peterhendriks1972]

Hello Paul, What kind of flued do you use for youre stones ? Thank you, Peter.

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

In another video, Paul Sellers has recommended glass cleaner as perfectly fine for this job.

[@peterhendriks1972]

Thank you very much

[@rafasacha2766]

Guys, I've got a silly question. I love Paul's videos, but it's a different beast. My question is: what kind of wood is he shaving in the end of the video? I'm pretty sure I made some straight razor scales from that wood, but nobody seems to be able to identify it. (I was given some small thin pieces of 'nice wood' without it being named, and i'm very curious!)

[@gbarth56]

It looks Mahogan-ish. I would say that is Sapele.

[@rafasacha2766]

G Barthelemy You Sir, are a genious. I'm pretty sure you're right. I've seen some sapele pictures right now, and some look pretty much like what I have. Thanks!

[@paulsellers7953]

It is sapele

[@rafasacha2766]

***** Thank you Paul. Now I know what those razor scales are made of, and it's important to me, since it's the first razor I've forged. Neverending possibilities with those old junkyard files, even when they don't cut metal.

[@RonBats]

Nice vid, very helpfull! Could you show me how to shrapen a gouge?

[@christopherclements7431]

he has a video on gouge sharpening :)

[@eddyflynn213]

there is a gouge sharpening video on Pauls other site woodworking masterclasses i'm sure if you register for free you can watch it i hope this helps

[@eddyflynn213]

and no Paul hasn't gone back in time the video is presented by his son Joseph

[@76irodriguez]

I have a suggestion that might or might not interest you, Mr. Sellers. I watched your videos about sharpening different tools, including scissors, and saw you having some inconvenience with the way your diamond pates where placed. In particular the middle one. If you rearrange the stones in a different configuration you won't have that problem again, and yet, you will use the same space on the board you mounted them. This is what I suggest: place 2 stones parallel to each other and the other one perpendicular to the other ones, like this: ██████ ███ ▀▀▀▀▀▀ ███ ▄▄▄▄▄▄ ███ ██████ ███ (Imagine the squares make 3 separate stones) This way you will always have a side that is not blocked by anything, and you can freely sharpen your tools very comfortably. I hope this helps someone. Great videos, please keep them coming! They are very very useful.

[@mrjones6543]

Because it's small and fiddly to hold I've always lined it up parallel and clamped it in an engineer's hand vice. The bevels aren't mission critical and its easy to hone and strop when necessary. Don't know why more people haven't used that method. Easier than creating jigs and such. Don't use a jeweller's hand vice as the jaws aren't wide enough to give a good registration grip.

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

On the Chronos website, it states that no oil or water is needed, when using the EZE-lap plates. Any thoughts on this?

[@pmckinlay653]

You can go without, but the swarf will clog the surface eventually. The finer stones clog fairly quickly!

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

Thanks for the information. (Wonder why they suggest that no liquid is needed? Maybe to sell you another plate!?)

[@pmckinlay653]

Offshoreorganbuilder Nah, it's just a bit less messy that way. Just rinse the stone under a tap when it clogs- a toothbrush can be handy for that.

[@Offshoreorganbuilder]

Thanks for the suggestion.

[@synapse131]

Offshoreorganbuilder Use a 50-50 combination of Simple Green and water. It works really well, it's cheap, and keeps rust from occurring on ferrous surfaces.

[@richardbarrett7544]

Paul, are they water stones, and just water in your bottle please?

[@lilcicero77]

Richard Barrett they are diamond stones and he is using window cleaner

[@bartyblues]

Dear sir, Any idée what make these diamond stones are and where we can find them in Europe.

www.fine-tools.com/ezelap-diasharpener.html

[@bartyblues]

thanks

[@tpistor]

in video on sharpening plane iron you intentionally put a camber from 30 to 25. in this video you say hold steady at 30. why the difference?