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JOEL Joel's Blog

I'll Be Teaching Sharpening at 3rd Ward on November 19th 2009

10/19/2009

I'll Be Teaching Sharpening at 3rd Ward on November 19th 2009 4If the follow blog entry sound a little redundant I'm sorry but I'm signed up to teach at Third Ward again so the redundancy is warrented. I'll be teaching a two hour class in sharpening woodworking tools at Third Ward in Brooklyn on November 19th 2009 (it's a Thursday, 6:30-8:30p). Last time we offered a class there weren't enough students - this time it looks promising. It's your basic two hour class, we provide all the materials, a chisel to learn on during the class, and hopefully some useful instruction. For the class we will use the psa lapping film method that is so popular. Lapping film is a great low cost way of getting started, although lots of people continue on with with method forever. I personally use whatever is closest. Everything is a trade-off of speed, mess, cost, and etc. Sharpening is mostly about technique so for the two hours I will give an overview of various sharpening technologies - that is lapping film, oilstones, waterstones, and any other crazy idea I can think of. I will probably throw in some information on the history of sharpening and what people used to use to sharpen. Then I do my step by step demo and talk about technique, and then the entire class will go step by step and sharpen a chisel. I will bring a bunch of chisels that need honing and are all at the same place so we can all work in sequence together. After that, if there is a little time I'll do a grinding demo. Grinding goes lock step with the basic sharpening procedure but it's a different subject. After the class, to get good, you will need to practice.

I think there is a fair amount of value in seeing someone do a live demo and getting hands on practice with someone there to guide what you are doing - so in-person classes always have a lot of value. But if you can't make it to the class a few years ago which has the demo and I did a comprehensive lesson on-line with my mentor Maurice Fraser which is on our site.
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