Hardcover 9-3/16 x 10-7/8 in. 224 pages, with color photos and drawings
Published 2005 ISBN 978-1-56158-657-8 Product #070737
This step-by-step reference provides quick access for learning this essential woodworking process. More than 750 photos and drawings illustrate the equipment available for sharpening and the methods for getting sharp edges on all types of tools -- from basic chisels to molding planes and jointer knives.
Among the subjects covered:
- Choosing a sharpening system
- Sharpening planes and saws
- Touching up blades and bits
- Shaping turning gouges
- Honing carving tools
About the author Toolmaker Thomas Lie-Nielsen brings a unique perspective to the subject of sharpening. He started making hand tools in 1981, after working in New York City at tool dealer Garrett Wade. Lie-Nielsen Toolworks now makes several dozen different high-end hand planes and saws, based on traditional designs.
Sharpening common woodworking tools is not a difficult or complicated process. You dont need a metallurgists understanding of steel, or serve a long apprenticeship, to produce durable, razor-sharp edges. Woodworkers will find a large selection of good tools and materials on the market, and the methods of getting the job done properly are usually straightforward. A bit of practice is necessary, but much less than it would take to perfect your golf swing.
Don't worry about ruining a blade. Steel tools are forgiving, and many of the mistakes you inevitably make in the beginning are easy to correct. A blade that has been over-heated and scorched on a bench grinder can be ground back, and a lopsided bevel can be straightened and squared. Even if your early attempts at sharpening a blade actually ruin it, you can always buy a new one. The experience you gain will be worth the price.
It is important first to learn the difference between a properly sharpened tool and a badly sharpened one. Shiny surfaces are not enough if the cutting edge is uneven or rounded over. A plane blade whose back is not flat will never be truly sharp even if it is polished to a mirror finish. Think of a razor blade -- straight and sharp. Use a magnifying glass and good light so you can really see what youre doing, and think in terms of simple geometry: the intersecting planes, lines an angles that produce a sharp working edge.
This book is not about turning sharpening into a hobby. Sharpening woodworking tools is a means to an end, and that end is woodworking. Your collection of sharpening tools and your work area should be arranged so it is convenient to use and designed to help you get accurate, predictable results in a minimum amount of time. If you succeed in doing that, you will be encouraged to sharpen often and not avoid it as people often do.
An inevitable question is just how sharp a blade really needs to be. Competitors in planing exhibitions try to make the longest, thinnest shavings they can (usually in a cooperative species of wood). This is a fascinating exercise, but the point of knowing how to sharpen your woodworking tools is not to make specimen shavings but to accurately dimension and smooth wood. Honing a blade until it can remove a shaving of wood no more than one-thousandth of an inch thick is overkill when all you want to do is remove the high spots from a rough board with a scrub plane. On the other hand, if youre trying to create a glassy smooth finish on hard maple with a handplane alone it will help to know how to prepare your blade. The trick is in knowing what kind of edge you really need.
To that end, it is helpful to keep things simple, to focus on results, and not to worry too much about theory or opinion. The best way to sharpen is the way that works for you.
Customer Reviews from Amazon
Average Customer Review:
Not for the beginner, August 26, 2008
This book is for wood carvers and not for the neophyte wondering how to best sharpen a kitchen knife or a lawn mower blade. Lots of information and photographs, but it's hard to figure out what motion is going on from the still photography.
In the first hour of looking through the content, I found several typo's and even more "wordo's". e.g. Page 70 - "Some Japanese stones have only one bevel." I don't think that "stones" have bevels - guess they meant "knives". Stilted language could be replaced by some simple advice. How about some straight-forward step-by-step instructions for sharpening a knife?
A top reference book on sharpening, December 12, 2007
An enjoyable read. great info on many topics, even some that you never though of but great background.
An almost complete guide to sharpening., January 11, 2007
After an introduction to the basics of sharpening, the author take you step by step through the process of sharpening all the different kind of tools you can think of.
The author start by exposing the different method of sharpening from using sand paper to using expensive ceramic stone. It is up to you to decide which one is for you based on your budget and taste.
I would have given it a 5 stars if the picture don't always illustrate the point properly and because I would have liked more information on using a wet sharpener which as become quite popular nowaday.
Lie-Neilsen Guide to Sharpening, March 22, 2006
This is a very practical book on sharpening well illustrated which covers almost any sharp tool used in woodworking that has an iron cutting edge (not carbide). Unfortunately I got a defective copy (with some pages misplaced) which Amazon promptly replaced at no charge.
Falls Short, August 6, 2005
I have two books on sharpening. Which is a lot when you consider that sharpening is more of a chore than anything else. But it is a very important chore (second only to sweeping up), and one that can make woodworking a pleasure or a great pain. Until you develop good, disciplined sharpening techniques your work will be spotty at best. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a hand tool purist. But one of the reasons I have so many power planes, routers, and shapers is that, for a long time I was a very mediocre sharpener.
Thomas Lie-Nielson makes some of the finest planes in the world. I have three, and each has proved out its value repeatedly. Much of the reason I bought this book was to see what he had to say, even though my copy of Leonard Lee's 'Complete Guide to Sharpening' has stood me in good stead. Unfortunately, Lie-Nielsen is a much better toolmaker than he is a writer. His presentation is quite dry, and not as detailed as I would have liked. And for some strange reason the photographer managed to 'miss' the action or make it difficult to puzzle out what was happening.
In spite of this, Lie-Nielsen manages to explain somethings that Leonard Lee left out. He also offers more discussion on shaping the steel as well as sharpening it. His section on sharpening axes is a classic of straightforward clarity and brevity, for example. But While I am a fan of Taunton's 'Complete Illustrated' series, this time their offering falls short. Lee's book is half the price and every bit as useful
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