u/M4cerator

Challenged myself to sharpen my coworker's little spokeshave blade. Doing so by hand made it cramp up and was extremely uncomfortable. I built this tool after realizing that vice grips have terrible ergonomics for this, so I took inspiration from what I was already used to sharpening - chisels.

It's a prototype, it's got plenty of boo-boos, and I haven't machined anything since college. But, it's rock solid (better be, with about 1000lbs of clamping force) and works a treat.

Challenged myself to sharpen my coworker's tiny little spokeshave blade. Doing so by hand was absolutely brutal so I decided to make a tool for it.

Behold, a clamp with the form factor of a chisel. I need a better name for it. It's a prototype for sure, but it works damn well.

Mostly American stones, with some Euros in the finishing section.

Stones marked (S) are courtesy of the lovely u/sophie_0323

Left-to-right, top-down row-wise, photo-wise. Sizes are nominal.

Photo 2: 

1. Labeled Lily White, not fully cleaned to protect label. Needs no further introduction. 2x5.

2. Lee Valley "Fine Natural Arkansas Whetstone"; box out of frame. 2x4

3. Washita (red stripe) - very fast, fairly hard. Excellent all-rounder, comfortably straddles the extremes of the speed and fineness achievable by any washita. Second fastest in my collection, usurped the following as my razor bevel setter (though was later itself usurped). Fractured on the bottom, appears to be from quarrying. 2x7, 414g/177 = 2.34

4. Washita (tiger-striped butterscotchy) - quite fast, very hard. The speed seems to come from the stripes which are more porous as evidenced by the embedded steel. Hard too, steel tends to skate over it more when going quickly. The other face is less drastically "scarred" and is a little slower and finer than the face shown. 2x6, 434g/182= 2.38

5. Washita (creamy white) - fairly fast, fairly hard. Seems very pure/consistent. Another great all-round washita, more effective towards the finer end. Not the best at any one thing so I haven't played with it much. 2x6

6. Washita (tan/brown). Appears very hard and fine. Extremely worn, saw a lot of use and probably very old. Untested. 2x8.

7. Washita (strongly banded). Fairly fast, a little on the softer side. A beautiful washita, though obviously less pure. Big and thick. 2x8, 650g/280 = 2.32.

8. Washita (tan with darker streaking). Fairly fast, very hard. A great washita with a wide range, somewhat biased on the finer side. 2x8, 495g/210 = 2.35.

9. Washita (vertical; creamy with tan splotching; nicknamed "Buffy"). Extremely fast, extremely soft, absolutely bonkers. It's a big ugly fast fucker, shreds steel and is the fastest washita in my collection by a landslide. Also extremely soft, it feels like it can be scratched by my fingernail. 2x8, 449g/234 = 1.92 (I didn't believe this at first so I double checked - it is that light). It's my current razor chip-breaker/bevel setter, probably too soft for anything heavier than a razor, and too coarse to progress much further. Preceeds hindostan.

Photo 3:

10. Soft ark. Haven't tried it much due to having other stones that overlap with it. 2x6, 471g/190 = 2.48.

11. Trans ark. Needs no further introduction. Still in the process of burnishing the bastard. 2x6.

12. Labeled Norton KB-6 Queer Creek. Good condition, not very soiled, which is good because I wouldn't want to risk degreasing away the label. 2x6.

13. Labeled Norton KB-5 Queer Creek. Much more soiled and I didn't clean it as to preserve the label. 2x5.

14. (Suspected) "Bear Creek." I've been told this is the same type of stone as a Queer Creek but finer. 2x8.

15. (Wild) Deer Lick Oil Hone (S). Haven't tried this out yet, as I am currently lapping a larger one (not in the shot).

16. (Wild) Queer Creek nagura pair (S). Since QC is such a coarse, soft stone that breaks down readily, it makes for a great nagura despite being too soft to be a good whetstone in its own right. This sample is fairly coarse compared to the other QCs.

17. Labeled Pike Green Mountain Scythestone. A very hard, pretty stone, though I haven't tried it on anything yet. Label and close-up photos in an earlier post. 1.5x10.5.

Photo 4:

18. Wild Marcellus Shale with sister stone. Haven't tried this out yet but this is the first natural stone I lapped.

19. Labled Blue-Green Escher Thuringian with slurry stone. Needs no introduction.

20. Mystery Slate (suspected Silkstone). Fairly hard slate that autoslurries a little bit. Doesn't seem to diminish a very fine edge.

21. Mystery Slate (another suspected Silkstone). Quite hard, doesn't really autoslurry; extremely fine finisher and part of my finishing rotation. Close-ups in an earlier post.

22. Orange Hindostan (S). Fast and coarse for a hindo. Great all-round stone for tools and knives, though not part of my razor progression due to being too slow for setting a bevel and too coarse in the midrange for my chosen pre-finisher.

23. Pike Quick-Cut Hindostan. When I bought it, the ghost of the label was faintly legible, though repeated degreasings have erased that evidence. Not as fast as the orange hindo on the low end, but finer. I use it to touch up kitchen knives. For razors, it's a high-bevel-set to low-midrange stone that succeeds Buffy and preceeds La Grise in my progression.

Photo 5:

23. Mottled Gray Slate with Nagura (S). My absolute favourite razor stone due to its versatility - I use it with slurry for pre-finish, water for a smooth finish, and glycerin for a keen finish. The feedback is amazing, though not as good as a Thuri; but it is more versatile than a Thuri. With glycerin, the resulting edge is so fine that I can't sense any toothiness on my burnished cordovan strop (no other stone does this). Depending on the finish I want, usually succeeds one of my coticules. 1.5x8, which is my preferred size for razors.

24. Select Grade Mottled Gray Slate (S). Showing the back face because the front face has a secret message. Even harder and finer than the regular MG, which is saying something.

25. Mottled Gray Slate pieces (S). For practice lapping into files and slipstones.

26. Vermont Slate Nagura Progression (S). Unfading Green, Seafoam Green, Gray, Black, Purple (Mottled Gray is in use). These are all very fine and independently make great nagura, however the difference between them is so slight that it's not really worth going through all of them. If I had to recommend one, Unfading Green might be the best choice since it's the coarsest of the bunch and leads nicely into a Black, Purple or MG slurry without too much of a jump.

27. La Grise Coticule. My high midrange/low prefinish workhorse: fast on the lower end, difficult to max out, but perfect to bridge the gap between a fine hindo and a harder, finer coticule.

28. (Suspected) La Petite Blanche Coticule (S). This was my go-to pre-finisher to MG (or finisher if I want a smooth coti finish), but is being retired because of the next stone (and also I think someone on this sub is eyeing it up...)

29. Top Layer La Dressante Coticule. Recent acquisition. An extremely hard, fine coticule that is a little slower than others but leaves a wicked edge. It has streaks of both red and black garnets. Can be practical from around the midrange but I prefer to save it for the higher end. Still learning how to max it out, but no matter what, it makes for very quick work on the MG, and will make for an excellent finisher in its own right once I get better with it.

Not pictured:

A. My great great grandpa's washita, where this all started. It lives at work, empowering yet another generation of my bloodline to turn perfectly good lumber into chips and scrap. Fairly fast, very hard. 2x8, SG is 2.44. 

B. Filthy fractured hindo which is being degreased and will be sacrificed to become slurry stones.

C. A bigger wild Deerlick Oil Hone that I'm currently lapping. It's about a 7" diameter circle and naturally occurred as a wonderful contoured palm-stone.

D. A honkin' wild Berea that was already whetstone-shaped in the wild. Also currently WIP. About 3x9.

Found this nice labeled Pike Green Mountain Scythestone. It's a coarse stone but I polished it up for shits and gigs and it turned out real pretty.

Just picked up a pair of slate honing stones. After cleaning up and lapping them, the larger one seems softer than the other. It's been suggested they're silkstones, just wondering if anyone else recognizes these? They seem quite old, the narrower one came bedded into a wood paddle using some type of tree resin. I'm based in Canada so a UK stone would make sense given the history.

The larger stone seems slightly greener, and the surface appears to have "laps" evenely spaced out every half millimeter. The narrower one appears mottled, with splotches of opaque black intermingling in an otherwise faintly reflective/specular dark gray.

Unremarkable razor, Boker King Shaver, with slightly more remarkable stone, labeled Escher.

My current honing progression

1. Grandpa's washita

2. Hindostan

3. La Grise

4. (Possibly) La Grosse Blanche

5. Mottled Gray

Not pictured, but I finish on a Carl Monkhouse burnished cordovan strop.

I made a box for one of my friend's coticule and its sister stone. Because of the naturally uneven edges I needed to develop some techniques and construction designs, and I'm using Sapele which is beautiful but hard as hell.

So far I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I've got a few more natural stones I'll be making boxes for.

I made a box for one of my friend's coticule and its sister stone. Because of the naturally uneven edges I needed to develop some techniques and construction designs, and I'm using Sapele which is beautiful but hard as hell.

So far I'm pretty happy with how this turned out. I've got a few more natural stones I'll be making boxes for and hope to improve my process.

I made a box for one of my friend's coticule and sister stone. Because of the naturally uneven edges it was pretty difficult, and I'm using Sapele which is beautiful but hard as hell. I made it work though, and I'm gonna get a lot better as I make a few more of these.

Is there much interest in custom boxes like these?

After a week on marketplace I snagged a bunch of planes, averaging around $15 per piece. This ranges from block planes, midsize planes (3, 4, 5) up to a Stanley #7.

I intend to refurb these and sell them. They're mostly Stanley, Record, and other American/Canadian/British makes. I sharpen and hone blades quite well so they will all be in great usable condition.

Restoring antiques is a hobby for me so I don't intend to optimize this and turn a profit on my labour - just the price I paid for these.

I'm hoping for the price I paid, I'll make my money back on these easily. Is my judgement perhaps misguided?

After a week on marketplace I snagged a bunch of planes, averaging around $15 per piece. This ranges from cheap (and some decent) block planes, a bunch of midsize planes (3s, 4s, 5s) up to a Stanley #7.

I intend to refurb these and sell them. They're mostly Stanley, Record, and other American/Canadian/British makes. I sharpen and hone blades very well so they will all be in excellent usable condition.

Restoring antiques is a hobby for me so I don't intend to optimize this and turn a profit on my labour - just the price I paid for these.

I'm hoping for the price I paid, I'll make my money back on these easily. Is my judgement perhaps misguided?

This was at the back of a FB Marketplace listing of razors, with the slate shown. Didn't even include the stone in the title.

Not bad for $20

Does anyone have experience with these blocks for flattening their stones?