The Daily Grind

Take 2 Japanese water stones, 1 Lie Nielson No. 6 plane blade and grind… and grind… and grind. Yep, that just about sums up the last 3 days (approx 24 hours of flattening the back of a plane against a stone. Oh, but you can only grind for 2-3 minutes at a time before having to flatten the stone that you are grinding on so as it stays flat too. We were warned that the excitement of the new tools would quickly wane once the process of flattening and sharpening began but talk about coming back down to earth with a bump (and a grind). It probably wouldn’t have taken quite so long had I not cocked up so spectacularly on Day 1 by make a slightly convex blade concave and thus making so much more work for myself to get it flat again. But once it’s done, it’ll last a lifetime, so I’m told. And it is indeed done. Well one blade is. Just 2 block planes and 5 chisels to go…