Scary sharp tools, without the aching arms

 

Introduction

If you've read anything about tool sharpening in the past few years, you've no doubt heard about the so-called "Scary Sharp" method. Rather than expensive water- or oilstones, the technique involves plate glass, plain old sandpaper, and patience. (By the time you hone a shave-your-arm-hair edge onto the tool, your arms feel like wet noodles.) Some sharpening purists argue that sandpaper can't deliver a perfect edge, but I'm a big fan of Scary Sharp because it makes my tools exactly that, without spending a ransom on a powered sharpening system.

Now the folks from Professional Tool Manufacturing, Inc.—the same people who brought you the Drill Doctor bit sharpening system—have made Scary Sharp simple with an air-cooled power sharpening system called Work Sharp. The system includes a pair of 6"-diameter, dead-flat tempered glass discs to which you mount the 120, 400, 1000, and 3600 self-stick abrasives. The abrasive-covered glass disc spins; you hold a chisel, plane iron, or turning tool against it; it sharpens. It's just like Scary Sharp, but the sandpaper moves instead of the tool.

Click here to watch the Work Sharp demo in WOOD magazine shop