This article was written by VitalBodies, a Wood Whisperer community member. If you like music, you’ll enjoy his story. Here’s a short bio:
From countless wood shop classes to contractor to fixer to starting to create a home shop. For the fixer I have been doing everything from fences to architectural planter boxes to refinishing furniture and more.

It all started by attempting to write a comment on TWW site to thank Marc for his scraper articles I found so handy while working on an antique writing desk. Meanwhile, I had also been asking folks of all ages for at least a week “what songs really lift you up and get you moving?” I told the folks I asked, “it does not matter what decade, era, genre or whatever, but WHAT GETS YOU DANCING?” I was testing dancing to some of the songs in between writing the comment. Does not matter if you are in the kitchen, shop, club or on the dance floor, what is the song(s) that sets you to flight?

Today I started working on an antique writing table. Not knowing antiques all that well I thought “U can’t touch this” but since it was only the top that needed work, I thought, “well maybe I should”? I mean, this is not the Antique road show is it?

I needed to refinish the top. It could have been hickory or oak, I was not really sure. I used a Dewalt Random Orbital Sander (ROS) with a VERY aggressive Bosch 40 grit disk, connected to a full blown HEPA vac. Even then, the wood was so hard I realized it would take hours and hours of sanding, in Uggs in a cold shop.

I then remembered I bought a card (cabinet) scraper and a burnisher! I heard about them from The Wood Whisperer and used his Amazon Store (you can too!) to buy them to support the show. Thanks Marc and all, even Mateo!

But, was the scraper sharp? And how to sharpen it? Although I did not have the sharpening, grinding or polishing stones, I did have the burnisher mentioned, ya! And it was not hard to get that baby lookin sharp, Like can you handle this? I feel like dancing on the table like a superstar!

Wow, when that scraper is sharp, it is nice and it moves! Like drop everything and check it out! Even then, it took quite a while as the scratches in that top were, what, Rolling In The Deep? Oddly enough they looked like someone put “Black or White” ink (mostly deep black) in the deepest parts – Old English or perhaps they were painting the town, or burning the place down?

There were small stains, large stains, other major artifacts plus the wood was so so hard. The stains were like Blood On The Dance Floor. Like, how do you get those deep scratches out, a 7″ knife?

There were artifacts that looked like they could have been from a “Fire Burning” or perhaps Dynamite, like they were trying to rock this club? I can tell you, with knee deep shavings, I was the last one standing.

It took hours of scraping, but at least that might help me be a bit more bootylicious and in better shape. I noticed it also took rhythm to get into the groove, like as in “Rhythm Is A Dancer”, I mean, you had to work it. As you know, Rhythm is a dancer, it’s a soul companion, people feel it everywhere, lift your hands and voices, free your mind and join us, you can feel it in the air, it’s a passion…

Every now and then the the whole writing table would jump forward with a Boom Boom Pow kind of sound, when the scraper would grab, and ya, it would grab like you never felt before.

But I Gotta Feeling that I will get this top right, although not sure what century that will happen!

The other way of doing this, you know, with the ROS, dust collection, ear protection, and dust mask could Make Me Want To Scream.

The wood, even still, was so hard that sharping the card scraper needed to happen about every 5 minutes! But that was easy with the burnisher. As you know, if you get dull, you have to sharpen up, like Bust A Move when the time calls for it!

For me, sharpening is purely a utilitarian task. Therefore it needs to be both easy and fast. I would much rather spend a little more money on a product that will help me reach those goals than to save a few bucks and wind up making things more difficult for myself. After all, the easier/faster it is to put an edge on your tool, the more likely you are to do it. Unfortunately, many folks tend to over-complicate sharpening and look at it as a skill to be mastered. In my opinion, sharpening is the woodworking equivalent of filling my car with gas. Do it right and the car goes. Do it wrong and I’m going no where. Perfecting my ability to swipe the debit card and insert the nozzle with style and flare doesn’t really change the fact that all I’m doing is filling my tank with gas. The primary goal is to get you back to work with as sharp of an edge as is required for your work. Hopefully this video will give you a few tips that show you how easy sharpening can be, with the right tools.

We’ll talk about water stones, Shapton Stones, the Veritas MKII jig, DMT plates, free-hand sharpening, scary sharp, and a few other topics from the chat room questions. Please enjoy this live presentation. And as always, I have no control over the commercials that show up in this embedded video.

Special thanks to Shannon from The Hand Tool School for helping me field questions in the chat room!

Recommended Products:

On today’s show, we have a special live episode for you where all the topics come directly from the community either from the forum, from emails or from voicemails. We’ll be discussing card scrapers, sharpening with sandpaper, planing narrow boards, paring with the bevel down, and deciding between storing your lumber in the garage or in the basement.

Email us at woodtalkonline@gmail.com or call and leave us a voice mail at (623) 242-5180 or Skype us at WoodTalkOnline.

Poll of the Week:

Provided by Tomsworkbench.com
Do You Use a Card Scraper When Preparing Projects for Finishing?
I’ll use it occasionally: 49 votes
Every project: 48 votes
I’ll break it out for tricky to smooth pieces: 46 votes
What’s a card scraper?: 18 votes
Only when there’s no other choice: 6 votes
I would never use one: 6 votes

William Ng’s Sharpening Method

Voicemail:

Erin has a question about sharpening.

Email:

Julien wants to know if its ok to pare with the chisel bevel down. He also asks for advice on his planing technique. Shannon recommend this article from Kari Hultman. Julien recently did a tutorial on cutting dovetails and you can check that out here.

Jim is trying to decide whether to store his lumber in his garage or in the basement in his shop.

iTunes Reviews:

Thanks Lemonjell0 for the 5-star review!

During the Greene & Greene coffee table class I attended a few weeks ago, William Ng gave us an impromptu lesson in scraper sharpening. Fortunately I had my Flip Cam at the ready and captured this tutorial for your enjoyment.

William uses Takenoko 4,000 and 8,000 grit sharpening stones and you can pick those up in his store. How do you like that fancy water bath?

Looking for a small set of card scrapers? Check this out:

Cabinet Scraper Set, Scraper and Mill File Cabinet Scraper Set Set contains a 2-3/4” x 4-3/4” gooseneck, 2” x 5-3/4” round end and 2-3/8” x 5-7/8” straight scraper for concave, convex and flat areas.Scraper Great for removing milling mar.. Cabinet Scraper Set, Scraper and Mill File

I started by tweaking my setup. An inefficient space is a frustrating space! My tool cabinet was originally mounted in a little alcove behind my oscillating spindle sander. This made it very difficult to reach the tools, which kind of defeats the purpose of my “handy” cabinet. So I moved it over to the other side of the shop and cut my big storage rack down to half-height. I was already starting to feel the tingly sensation of peace and harmony.

But I didn’t stop there. My next mission was sharpening. All of my chisels and plane blades were ready for a touch up, so I pulled out the Shaptons. Once I got started, I just couldn’t stop. So over the course of two days, I lapped every back and honed every bevel in the shop! I was getting so close to intergalactic oneness at this point.

So with a couple more days to kill, I decided to finish off my woodworking vacation with a little hand tool practice. Now you guys know I am not the type to mill up my project lumber using bench planes only. As long as my Powermatic jointer still has juice, you won’t see me flattening boards the old-fashioned way. But on occasions like this, I will select a very special board that I will refer to as “The Offering”, and mill that puppy flat and square using my trusty #5, #7 and #4 bench planes. I just go to town on The Offering until its flat or I run out of wood. Any stress that was in my head goes through my hands, into the plane, and ultimately escapes in the form of a wispy shaving. If someone were to observe me at this point, they might even hear me semi-consciously mumbling, “That’s for that stupid house that won’t sell!” and “That’s for that credit card payment I forgot to pay!” Life’s too short to hold on to these things, and the wood is all too happy to help me rid myself of them. If you haven’t tried this, I highly recommend it.

The grand finale of my week was getting some practice cutting a few half-blind dovetails by hand. I don’t do this often and I needed some practice before I teach the Guild members how to do this on their Shaker End Tables. It proved to be a great way to test the edges on my newly sharpened gear.

Although I am incredibly busy, I love what I do. Its hard to call it work when I would be doing this stuff with or without a paycheck. But its incredibly important for me to occasionally get back to basics and spend some quality time in my shop. And while I am no neanderthal hand tool junkie, its interesting to observe what tools I go to when I am in the stress-relieving re-centering mode. I had absolutely no desire to use electricity in the shop this week. But when it comes time to flatten my next project board, you can bet you’ll be hearing the sweet hum of a jointer and planer coming from my shop.

Feeling refreshed, renewed, and reconnected with my shop, I am ready to take on the insanely busy month of March.

Questions or Comments? You can get a hold of us by either dropping us an email at woodtalkonline@gmail.com or you can pick up the phone and leave us a message on our voice mail at 623-242-2450.

This week, we have a special guest host with us: Rick Waters from the The Splintered Board Podcast and The Sawdust Chronicles.

What’s on the Bench:
Rick is working on his workbench. Matt is busy caressing his new Steel City granite-topped tablesaw, and Marc is sharpening his tools and complaining about it the whole time.

News:
We have a great roundtable audio clip from the folks at Popular Woodworking magazine concerning the new format due out in March. We are VERY excited about this!
New Veritas Detail Rabbet Planes

Woodworkers Fighting Cancer

The passing of two great woodworkers from our online community. We appreciate both of their contributions and send our condolences to their families.
John Lucas from Wood Shop Demos.
Niki Avrahami – Check out this write up from Tom at TomsWorkbench.com

Around the Web:
Logan Cabinet Shoppe – Bob Rozaieski does some great video podcasts with the primary focus on hand tool techniques.
Todd Clippinger’s American Craftsman Workshop
TableSaw Injury Report (Sent in by Dean)

Sweet Deals:
Woodcraft – Spring 2 day sale Feb 26 & 27 items range from 10%-20% off
Buy any 10″ Freud Saw Blade and Get a Free 10″ Blade Bag
Buy any 10″ Freud Saw Blade and Use coupon code: 14808 to get a Free 10″ Blade Bag – A $9.99 Value!

Buy any 4 Bessey DuoKlamps Get a Free Bessey Klamp Extender
Use coupon code: 22010 to get a Bessey Extender – A $24.99 Value!

Woodcraft coupon offers

Highland woodworking – free ground shipping on Festool Lower 48 states only
FREE 16-pc Guide Set when you buy a LEIGH SUPER FMT thru 2/28/2010

Eagle America:
Place a $75 or more order and get $10 OFF Your Order plus pay just $4.99 Flat Rate Shipping!! Must use promo code WOODTALK67 at checkout. Offer valid now thru 3/14/2010

It Came From the Forum:
How Flat Is Your Tablesaw?

Email:
Daniel (YucatanDan) gives us a great tip for erasing pencil marks.

Voicemail:
Roberto needs some advice on long clamps.

Toms Tip: Creating radii using stuff around the shop.
Kari’s Tip: Kari leans to the left.

And don’t forget to check out the New England Home Show if you happen to be in the area!

Marc, I am watching your Entertainment Center Video (Pt 1) and noticed something odd with your large chisel. How did you flatten the back of it? It looks like there are three channels cut into it.

The chisels I use on the show (most times) are Fujihiro Japanese chisels. In general, Japanese chisels are made with harder steel than their Western cousins, which means it can take a lot longer to flatten their backs. And a flat back is an absolutely critical component to any chisel you actually intend to use! So to speed up the flattening process, a good amount of steel is removed from the back of the chisel. And as you can see in the picture, wider chisels can have multiple hollows. So now the actual amount of steel that needs to be removed in the flattening process is significantly reduced. Which means you are going to spend less time at the sharpening stone, and more time at the workbench.

This is the same concept behind creating a hollow bevel. Many folks prefer hollow bevels because they can be easier to sharpen, not just because of speed, but because its easier to balance with two points of contact. FYI, some may disagree with me on this but this is just my opinion from my experience. So the hollows are a little unusual-looking, but they do serve a purpose.

I borrowed the image to the right from a great article on FineWoodworking.com called “Speedy Freehand Sharpening” by Hendrik Varjhu.

Questions or Comments?You can get a hold of us by either dropping us an email at woodtalkonline@gmail.com or you can pick up the phone and leave us a message on our voice mail at 623-242-2450.

What’s on the Workbench?
Marc – Just finished the Wall-Hanging Tool Chest for the Guild.
Matt – installed his bandsaw riser block…wow that’s tall!

News:
Norm is retiring!! Woodworking Magazine interview with Russ Morash, producer of the New Yankee Workshop.

International Dress Like Norm Day
In honor of Norm Abram, the folks at Woodworking Magazine and Popular Woodworking are asking all Norm fans to dress like the man, take a photo of yourself in costume and send it to me by midnight Monday, Nov. 2, at chris.schwarz@fwmedia.com. The person who sends in the best photo (as determined by our staff), will win a great prize.

Magazine Roundup:
Matt’s Pick: A Woodworker’s Journal article on green finishing by Micael Dresdner.
Marc’s Picks: Fine Woodworking’s “How to Design Furniture” book/magazine thingie and The “Build or Buy” article in the latest issue of Popular Woodworking.

Around the Web:
A couple cool iPhone Apps to try out- ID Wood and Boardfeet
Official website for Splinter “the car”- check out the veneer loom and more
Skateboards from fallen limbs and axes

Holiday Project Templates at Eagle America – Get ‘em while they’re hot!

PBS’s The Router Workshop Video Series ($4.00 for each month)
You will receive one episode per week of the Router Workshop. There are 183 episodes in this video library.

An Interesting Scenario to ponder:
17yr old kid wants to be a woodworker. Already has some shop experience and is showing great potential. Does he aim for a woodworking school or business school?
Listen to the show to hear advice from your fellow woodworkers, as well as the staff of Popular Woodworking.

Magazine Website Roundup (Pt. 2):

WOOD-
User-generated videos
How to Videos from the Wood Magazine Editors
Free tool demos
Over 100 Pay-per Download titles
Forums
Free Weekly Newsletter (no sales pitches)
More than 1000 woodworking plans for sale in the Wood Store
A comprehensive index of every article that has appeared in WOOD magazine

Woodworker’s Journal Offerings (Rob Johnstone – Editor in Chief, and don’t you forget it!)
Homepage
eZine (an online woodworking magazine emailed every two weeks)
There’s also two other sites of interest: WomeninWoodworking and FreePlans.com.
In addition to these websites, they also offer a fully digital version of the print magazine with supplemental digital content.
Of course there’s also an online store selling back issues, downloadable digital plans, books, CDs.
And they also have a blog page with Chris Marshall as it’s main blogger. But all of the staff at one point or another use from time to time.

Sweet Deals:
FREE Super Saver Shipping on ANY SIZE ORDER at Eagle America! Use promo code WOODTALK61 at checkout and select Free Shipping as your shipping method. (Offer valid for two weeks only, now thru 11/9/2009).

20% off Sorby turning tools and free shipping on Jet Lathes now through Nov 1st at Woodcraft.com

It Came from the Forum:
Woodworking in the Cold

Voicemail:
Roberto has a great question concerning planer/jointer blades: to sharpen or to buy?

Tom’s Tip (TomsWorkbench.com): BBQ’s make great mobile carts?!?!
Village Carpenter’s Tip: (Village Carpenter): Dental tools, for more than just torture!

My question relates to tool steel. I am about to purchase a Veritas shoulder plane and for the first time am faced with the choice between A2 and O1 steel. I understand that A2 is the harder steel, which has the benefit of holding an edge longer and the detriment of being more difficult to sharpen. I understand that O1 steel is softer, allowing for easier sharpening to a keener edge, but one that will dull more quickly. Can you please confirm, to the degree you are able, that I am correct in my understanding here.

Secondly, can you let me know which steel you would choose and why? I am leaning toward the softer steel (O1 by my understanding) because I understand it is easier to sharpen to a keen edge. I am not going to put a lot of miles on this plane, so more frequent sharpening will not be a big burden to me. Thank you for your input. I continue to enjoy the site and The Guild.

Hey Brian. You are absolutely correct in your understanding of the difference between A2 and O1 steels. In general, O1 holds a slightly keener edge and is easier to sharpen. But it also dulls faster and require more frequent sharpening. A2 steel takes a little more effort to sharpen, but you are rewarded with a more durable edge that lasts longer.

As a person who uses a lot of exotic hardwoods and doesn’t enjoy sharpening any more than I have to, I prefer A2. When I am sharpening, it usually turns into an all day affair. So whether I’m using A2 or O1, I’m still getting messy and still spending hours getting my tools all prepped and ready to go. The A2 just ensures that I won’t be doing that as frequently. What you choose really does come down to personal preference.

Now I am by no means an expert in tool steel, so I thought we would go to someone who is for a more thorough answer. Here’s a reply from Ron Hock of Hock Tools:

“For our “high carbon” steel blades, HOCK TOOLS uses AISI (American Iron and Steel Institute) O1, a simple high carbon tool steel with very little added to the iron/steel alloy other than 1.1% manganese. That pinch of Mn allows the steel to harden with an oil quench (the “O” in O1 stands for Oil.) Oil removes heat more slowly than water, reducing the thermal shock that occurs when orange-hot steel is plunged into water. Reducing that thermal shock minimizes the risk of cracking or distortion in the hardened piece. With an alloy as simple as O1, containing so few alloying elements, the hardened grain structure is as fine as possible which allows honing to the sharpest possible edge.”

“AISI A2 differs from O1 with the addition of 5% chromium and 1.1% molybdenum, allowing it to quench in still air (“A” for Air.) While “stainless” amounts of chromium (12% or more) make tool steel “gummy” and hard to sharpen, the modest amount of chromium in A2 improves its toughness and abrasion resistance, but imparts only a slight measure of corrosion resistance (like high carbon steel, it will rust and appropriate preventative care must be taken.) But there is a trade off. During heat treatment the chromium addition combines with some of the carbon in the alloy to form chromium carbides – tough, hard particles dispersed through the steel. These carbides are the primary contributors to A2’s celebrated edge retention. However, during heat treatment, the chromium carbides can grow quite large – large enough to affect your ability to hone the edge as close to zero-radius as you may want. And these carbides are held in place with less strength than the rest of the steel matrix which can allow them to pop out under the stress of honing or cutting leaving a small gap in the edge.”

“A2 is one of the steels that respond well to cryogenic treatment. This extreme cold treatment (-320°F) essentially finishes the original quench, increasing the steel’s toughness without any decrease in hardness. You get increased wear resistance without any increase in brittleness so a cryogenically treated blade will hold its edge longer. You can keep working instead of sharpening. A2 is a great steel that offers a real improvement in edge retention. O1, on the other hand, is still preferred by many for its relative ease of sharpening and its ability to get sharper.”

This is a long clip from our new website feature, Demo Night. The topic was sharpening options. This live, interactive demo took place on our Wood Whisperer Live page. Everyone seemed to enjoy the new format and it looks like we will make this a regular feature. Check our Woodworker’s Calendar for upcoming demos. Obviously the audio and video are not up to the normal show quality, but this is the best we can do. Enjoy!