- [Shane] Space is at
a premium in the shop and it's high time to ditch these bulky less practical sharpening solutions. So today I'm gonna consolidate all of my sharpening tools into
their simplest possible form for razor sharp
edges, on Timber Biscuit. So the first thing I wanna address is this blade registration jig. My existing one is super bulky and I know I can do a lot better. So the first thing I do is
head over to the table saw and cut down a piece of
Baltic birch plywood. And the reason I'm using Baltic birch rather than just regular plywood is because it has a lot
more layers of lamination which means that it
should be void of voids. So here all I'm doing is just
roughing out a small block and then I'm gonna take
that block over to my CNC and attach it to my waste board,
which has seen better days. Then from there, I can go
ahead and initialize my file for my carve and start
trimming out my new block. Now again, the goal for this block is to consolidate
that registration jig. So what I did was create
a couple steps to create my registration stops for my bevel. The cool thing here was that I
was able to add a third angle without sacrificing any extra space. So this block will register
for 25, 30 and 35 degrees. And I should also clarify that
this is specifically designed for the side clamping
honing guide by Veritas, but I will test it on an Amazon one later in the video so you can see how it fares. So right off the CNC, this thing's gonna require some TLC. So the next step is to bring it back over to the table saw and trim it
down to its final dimension. I chose not to carve this out completely at the CNC because that's
pretty time consuming. So I figured the table saw
was just a more efficient and practical way to go. What I did do on the
CNC was just give myself some guidelines to reference
against for my cuts which made trimming the
block out super easy. Like they say, when one door
opens, another one closes which is great unless
you're a cabinet maker. From there, just use my chisels to clean up any remaining frayed edges or indentations from the router bit. And as you can see here,
this block indexes is for the upper and lower
portion of the honing guide hence the U and the L. From there, it could hit
everything with some 150 grit and then this guy was ready to go. And before you even ask the answer's, yes I did do a limited run of these. So if you'd like to get your own I'll leave a link down to the description. Now for this first run,
I'm only gonna make 40 so if there's more interest
in them, I'll restock. But for now we'll just be a
small number of them available. So if you'd like to get
your own Biscuit Block check out that link below. All right, let's address those abrasives. Now, in the past you guys have seen me
use whet stones as well as lapping sheets to sharpen my tools, but I decided to go ahead and take the dive into diamond plates. And the honest reason is because we're replacing the
lapping sheets every two months. Just got a little more costly than I expected and we'll dive more into into my reasoning
later on in the video. So what you see me doing
here is just trimming out a panel of Baltic birch plywood. Now I've already got all these dimensions and a plan I've created based
off Paul Seller's design. So all I did was trim that out. But the one thing to consider with diamond plates is that
each one will be uniquely sized. So it's not a good idea
to just go off a plan. You really need to measure
off your actual plates. Now while all the plates are
the same three-inch width, they are different heights. So even though these are
supposed to be eight inches one of them is like 7 15/16 while another is like 8 1/16. So keeping that in mind, what
I'm doing here is trimming out a template for my router,
which I think is the easiest and simplest way to
make this plate holder. Again, the goal here is to make things as easy and simple as possible. All things considered I don't really like to
make things too complex just like my fear of intricate buildings. I guess you could say I have
a complex complex complex. So once I have my shortest
plate picked from the pile I could go ahead and
build my router template. And to do that, I'll just
reference off that shorter block and use some CA glue to assemble my parts. Now I've already cut two
pieces to my exact width so all I'm doing here is
getting my exact height. Now here we're going for a
snug fit because no matter what we're gonna have to
clean these up with a chisel. That's just the nature of using round things and square holes. I'm sure there's a joke there,
but once I glue it set up I could bring the piece
back over to my table saw and use my crosscut sled
to trim off that extra tab. And then from there I can
make sure you guys got a great view. There we go. And then mark out the
center of my template. Now, when working out
the center of a template it's important to wrap
the lines all the way around the inside of the template. Otherwise when you go to line it up it's gonna be a lot more
difficult to nail the position. And then from there I
can take my plate panel and mark out the location for my plates. Now what I'm going for here
is a three-quarter inch border all the way around my plates and then between the plates,
I'll leave a half an inch. So while I wrap that up, let
me take a quick second to say that if you're enjoying this
video and you find it helpful, please give it a like, it
allows a video to spread to more people, and I greatly
appreciate your support. Thanks. All right so the next step was to set the depth on my router. And for this part I'm gonna be aiming for an eighth of an inch. Then from there I can just
use some double-sided tape to attach my template to my workpiece. Just be careful not to use
too much double-sided tape with any template that's CA glued because removing it can
destroy your template and you definitely don't wanna
do that, at least not yet and there's a little
foreshadowing going on there. All right, so with the
template attached, I just used a quarter inch templating
bit to route out the mortise and though I start this
process with a palm router after I cut this first
mortise, I'm gonna switch out for a router with dust collection because a palm router was
making an absolute mess. Either way it's always a good idea to wear a respirator when routing so you get a little less of
that man glitter in your lungs. So with that first mortise cut, I just follow that same
process for the remaining two. Now, when clearing out
the material for a mortise it's always best to work counterclockwise so that the bit pulls
itself into the work. And then from there we could detach and destroy that template,
consider the prophecy fulfilled. The next step was to cut off these little rubber feet that come on the bottom of the plates. And to do that I'll
just use a razor knife. From there, I'll just use
a marking knife to mark out the top of my plates and then a chisel to clean those up. Now I decided to make the adjustments for the plates at the
top of the plate holder, but I don't see any reason
why you couldn't do them at the bottom, I would just try
to keep them all to one edge so that one side of your
plate holder is clean. And for me, I like to do it on the bottom since
that's the one I'll see. Now, this next step is an optional one, but I did go in and use
my router plane to clean up the bottom of all my mortises. This way gives me a consistent
depth and everything's nice and smooth for those plates
to reference against. From there, I can do exactly like I do when I try new dad jokes in my
family and try it for sighs. Ooh, that was a good one. And if you like impeccable
puns like that one and of course woodworking,
make sure you subscribe. I make new videos about woodworking tips, tricks and projects all the time so subscribe so you
don't miss the next one. And with those last
rounded corners cleaned up I could pop in my plate. So once I had a nice
snug fit on all my plates I could head over to
the rotter table to set up my bit and cut in a groove. Now as we've talked about
many times on the channel three-quarter inch plywood is
not three quarters of an inch. So this bit is specifically
designed for 23/32s or 18 millimeter thick
plywood like we have here. And if you guys have been
looking for plywood bits I'll leave a link to this
one down in the description it comes in a combo pack of a quarter inch, half
inch, and three-quarter inch. So three birds, one stone or I guess technically that's
three birds, three stones, but I think you get the idea. From there, I can head over to the table saw to cut out my piece. That's gonna create my clamping strip for the bottom of the plate holder. And don't worry that'll make more sense
here in a second. Brick. So here I'm ripping down
that strip to one inch. Once glued up, this will leave
me a strip three quarters of an inch by three
quarters of an inch exposed which is plenty for me to clamp onto. From there, I can head back over to the bench and sand down
my plate holder, my strip and one extra off cut that
I'll use to create my strop. And that doesn't need to
be any exact dimension I just use an off cut
from the plate holder. Then from there we can
glue our clamping strip into our groove. And to do that I'll just
use some Quick and Thick. This will really shorten the dry time and allow me to move on to
the next step more quickly in the shop. I don't use this type
of glue for everything, but for small projects like
this, it really comes in handy. So with the glue set up I can go ahead and apply a
quick finish to all my parts. This'll help protect
the parts a little bit, but honestly we're working
with sharp tools and liquids so it'll probably see some wear and tear. While the finished dried I
moved on to assembling my strap. And to do that, I'm just
gonna take this piece of leather that I got off
Amazon and trim it down. Now I've had really good
results with the suede side down and raw side up for sharpening my tools. But lemme know what your
experience is down in the comments. Do you use the raw side
or the suede side up? If it's raw, comment "raw," If it's suede, comment "suede." And as always, if you start
your comment with raw or suede, I'll reply to you first because I know you're paying attention. From there, I'll apply
a little rubber cement to the backside of both pieces. Wait about 15 or 20 minutes and then attach the two together. From there, the next step
was to attach my plates to my plate holder. Now while you could opt to
using some sort of adhesive here I'm going to omit that for my project. And the reason is because
the fit is super tight and if I ever do want to get
them out, I can just flip it over and use a rubber
mallet to tap them out. So now that the sharpening
kit is complete, let's put it to work. So I'll first use the top portion of my block to set the initial
25 degree primary bevel. I really like how this allows
me to register the blade as well as check the honing guide for square all in one step. Then from there we can head
over to the diamond plates and I'll first start with my
medium to course diamond plate which is about 400 grit. So once I've applied some auto
glass cleaner to the plates I just take about 20 strokes on each, working my way from the
medium, to the fine, and then finishing with the super fine. Now I'm not gonna go
into all the fine details about what types of diamond
plates you should get, but make sure you're buying
a quality diamond plate. And the quality diamond
plates use what's called monocrystalline diamonds,
which is gonna ensure that your diamond plates
last a hell of a long time. So with my primary bevel done, I could set my secondary
bevel to 30 degrees. And for this secondary bevel I'll only do about 10 to 15
passes on my highest grits. And that's the 600 which is fine. And the 1200, which is the super fine. And then from there I'll use
the edge to pivot the blade onto the stone and remove
the burr from the back. Next it's time to break in that new strop. And the first thing I'll do is to load it up with a hefty amount
of charging compound. This is the final abrasive
and the sharpening step and it'll give us a razor sharp edge. So the first thing I do is
just take a couple passes over the back to make sure that burr is completely gone. And then I do about 20 to 30 on the edge. Now you want to have a decent
amount of pressure here, but don't do it so hard that you risk snapping the
handle from the socket. And after about 20 to 30
passes, check that out. So now that we've seen
what this setup can do with a Veritas honing
guide and Veritas chisels. Let's check it out with a Narex chisel and
an Amazon honing guide. So here I'm going through
the exact same steps I did with the Veritas chisel only
this time obviously sped up since we just saw that happen. And from there we can go ahead
and put them to the test. And I'm gonna test these
out on some hard maple which is notoriously hard on hand tools. So it shouldn't be a surprise
that the Veritas chisel cuts through it like it's not even there. But for what it's worth, the
Narex chisel did just as well. Now it should be noted that
the Amazon honing guide probably didn't cut those bevels at exactly 25 or 30 degrees. Either way, as you can see, it gets the job done really well. So just keep that in mind if you are using a different brand. Since I had everything
already set up, I went ahead and sharpened a couple of
my plane irons as well. I keep my plane irons pretty sharp so these are really just
touch-ups at this point. But using this system
makes it a pretty quick and effortless process, and I kept that in mind when designing the block so that it should fit the
majority of plane irons. And when comparing the diamond stones to lapping sheets, there's no contest, the diamond stones are 10 times faster and more importantly, just as sharp. So again, if you guys want one of these what I'm gonna call "Biscuit
Blocks," check out the link in the description.
And it wouldn't be much of a test if I didn't show off
some of those final results. Look at those thin wispy cuts. Yeah, I'd say it's pretty sharp. So if you enjoyed this
one, check out this video over here next. Subscribe, so, don't miss the
next one, and like always, I knew this wood work and
I'll see you next time.
