RWW 171 Free Hand Sharpening

It is Get Woodworking Week again where we gather together to introduce new people to woodworking and to encourage the newbies among us to push beyond their current limits. This time I want to discuss free hand sharpening. This is a skill that I hear characterized as an advanced skill all the time when in reality it is no harder to master than cutting a joint by hand. It just take a little practice to build up some muscle memory and I hope to show you some techniques and tips to give you a head start in your own practice. With these tips I think anyone can get consistent results in minutes or hours, not years like the common misconception.

Please note, this is not a sharpening demonstration and I won’t be discussing specifically how to sharpen a tool. This is all about how to hold your blades and begin to ditch your honing guides so that you can apply this free hand technique to your own sharpening process.
If you want a closer look at my sharpening process, check out the Sharpening Category of this site.
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