Sharpen Your Stanley Spokeshave Blade

The short blade on Stanley and similar metal spokeshaves present some challenges when compared to sharpening a plane iron blade due to its short length. here is a simple way to sharpen these blades. Also, you'll see a simple DIY jig to sharpen these blades on a Tormek water stone.
#stanley151 #stanley51 #stanley54

[@1pcfred]

That's some pretty wild technique you got there. Me, I like to use a stone holder. I make them out of scraps of 2x4. I just cut basically a wide dado the stone gets wedged into. I even cut one wall of the channel at an angle so I can use a thin wedge to lock the plate in there. Then there's a block under the holder I put into my bench vise to hold it. Another thing you can do with really small blades is fix them to a block you hold in a vise at the right height off a bench so a stone rubbed on the bevel just lands on the top of the bench too. That's how I do draw knives. They're a royal pain to sharpen. Fix the blade and move the stone. Some of my stones are in fitted wooden boxes I can hold in vises. The boxes are dedicated stone holders. They're fun woodworking projects.

[@practicalclubmaker6152]

@@1pcfred Yes. Paul Sellers describes the technique you mention where the blade is fixed above the workbench and the sharpening stone is moved back and forth. My drawknife is curved, so not sure if that would work. Paul shows that method for a tanged traditional wooden spokeshave blade. On the other hand, I think that these Stanley/Record short blades are a good way to learn and introduce freehand sharpening with less dependency for jigs.
Here is the link to Paul Sellers' method
ua-cam.com/video/zOJVXRQLUOI/v-deo.htmlsi=NEbmYCZMCh4aRDIP

[@practicalclubmaker6152]

Also, Deneb Puchalski shows the side to side method for sharpening Lie Nielsen spokeshave blades. For that blade, since it is very thick, one can easily do that method. But these Stanley blades seem to be 1/3 the thickness and it is difficult to feel the bevel register on the stone. That is why I do the sighting down method. Deneb's video is here, about 5 minutes in for the sharpening.
ua-cam.com/video/2nw_OuWJR_c/v-deo.htmlsi=NTjlhhbosBulSq8V

[@1pcfred]

@@practicalclubmaker6152 I always prefer perpendicular striations to the cutting edge. Even if I'm going to bring the edge up to a high polish anyways. Scratch patterns matter. Parallel scratches weaken the edge. But early in the process the scratches of course matter less. There's also drawing the burr to consider too. Sharpening is one of those simple things that tends to get complicated.

[@1pcfred]

@@practicalclubmaker6152 I freehand sharpened for a very long time. I have an Eclipse style honing jig now. It's way better. What matters in the end is efficiency and results, not how you got there. To that end jigs are always superior to freehand anything. The arguments people try to make to promote freehand are weak. I am also a big proponent for hollow grinding too. I want sharp tools and I want them fast. That's all I want. There's no romance. The honeymoon is long over kiddo. I still do what I have to in order to make the relationship work. But we need to be practical now.

[@practicalclubmaker6152]

@@1pcfred Some of my sharpening methods are a variation of master carvers. When sharpening carving gouges, we go side to side. The important thing is to get a sharp intersection of the bevel edge with the flat side (or hollow if it is a gouge). The striations should not matter. One could counter that having a burr on the cutting edge creates micro fractures on the leading edge as the burr falls off. The bottom line is just getting sharp edge. If there is scientific proof that the theoretical residual scratch pattern holds up better in one direction than the other, I would consider converting for some applications, but if there is a method that gets you quickly to the desired result, that is the most important.

[@practicalclubmaker6152]

I normally use a leather strop as the last step, but forgot to do and show this.

[@JohnPublik]

Get some Dykem, machinists layout fluid. Works great.

[@practicalclubmaker6152]

@@JohnPublik
Dykem:
Pros: Works great. I use it for more complex layouts like creating scratch stocks or when grinding moulding planes.
Cons: Toxic fumes, need to use on a well ventilated area, takes a minute or two or three to dry. I could be done or halfway done for the less complex sharpenings. I avoid applying in my tiny workshop because it is shared with my gas water heater and furnace.
So for simple sharpening, a Sharpie is my go to. For complex, Dykem.