Occasionally it is necessary to sharpen very badly worn and/or out of square plane irons, chisel blades or other tool edges. You could hand sharpen the edge using traditional water or oil stones, but you’ll save time doing the heavy prep work with a power grinder. The key is to make sure you do it right. You don’t have to spend a fortune on a grinding machine. Even a budget model will give you good results. In this short video clip, I’ll take a beat-up, 50 year old plane blade/iron my dad had stored on his shelf and restore a course, but accurate, approximate 25 degree hollow ground bevel in preparation for hand sharpening with japanese waterstones. Learn this time saving method. (5 Minute Video)

High-speed power grinders are one of the most common sharpening tools found in woodworking shops and studios. They are relatively inexpensive, easy to find, and versatile. But sharpening your tools (including plane blades, gouges, and chisels) with this type of grinder comes with a caution. Make sure you don’t overheat the metal. Overheating tool steel will cause it to loose temper, and can destroy or damage your tool. Poorly maintained cutting wheels can contribute to overheating.

In this quick video segment, I will show you how to square up, flatten and de-glaze your grinding wheel with a carborundum stick or diamond embedded dressing/cleaning tool. (1.5 Minute Video)

Turning segmented objects is similar in many ways to traditional woodturning. But there are subtle differences. Each segmented glue-up can contain dozens or hundreds of precisely made pieces fused into a single rough blank. This construction can sometimes be more fragile than a solid piece of wood, especially during the early roughing out stage of the turn. But there are ways to minimize the risk of “blowing up” the piece. Success starts with proper gouge and hollowing tool selection. WoodTreks guest artisan and Segmented turner, Don Leman shares his thoughts on how he approaches the craft and his special appreciation for the magic that comes from putting a complex segmented stack on the lathe and putting steel to wood. (3.5 Minute Video)