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A machinist's v-block (something like this: http://www.grizzly.com/products/Cast-Iron-V-Block-Pairs-6-/G9899) is an inexpensive source of cast iron as a substrate for diamonds. One needs to flatten...

I've got a Tormek, a 6" variable speed grinder with a (regularly dressed) 60g grey wheel, and a Viel belt grinder with belts down to 46x Zirconia. Because of the pressure that can be safely put on a...

Re: blades

I buy blades from wherever is convenient, usually Lee Valley, and touch them up. After a quick once over with a triangular file I take a mill file to the sides and file in a...

1: Scary sharp like most. Later I added a diamond paste loaded MDF strop
2: Switched out the sandpaper for DMT stones, then EZE-lap when I discovered they're both better and cheaper.
3: Added an...

I have had excellent results with my coping saw. I give the blades a quick and careless sharpening, then I attack the sides with a mill file. Two or three strokes with the mill file removes the burrs...

The illustration is mistaken. The jig is supposed to be quite loose in the slot.

You place your blade in the jig. Loosely tighten. Place the jig in the slot (allowing it to rest on the bottom side...

To the original question: for me marking tools and guided tools like planes get hollow ground bevels honed flat (two lines polished).
Anything for which I have to control the depth of cut gets a...

The (relative) outcropping of material is not a stress concentrator, at least not in the sense used in engineering or materials science. It may well cause the compressive forces exerted on the bevel...

The finest (3 micron) DMT plate gives me a good, but not absolutely perfect edge. It, eventually, leaves a very shiny surface with fine iridescent (colourful) scratches. But not a deep perfect mirror.

Halfway there: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diamond-like_carbon
One can buy endmills coated in the above.

Makes me want two: a plane iron for my LAJ for shooting, and a 1" chisel for paring.

"The body of the inset plane is cast stainless steel and corrosion resistant"

Trial model for a new material for plane bodies?

As a closet proponent of power stropping (and power stropping everything, even the things usually recommended to not be stropped), I only like my felt wheel on things that I deliberately want to...

The picture and link to the video aren't showing up for me either, on Win7 running not-quite-fully-updated Chrome.
Anyway, browsing the source for this page, the link to the video is:...

Thanks.

That's exactly what I found using the PSA paper to shoe-shine: it worked best held at a bit of an angle, with a back-and-forth motion along the handle simultaneous with the scrubbing...

Earlier I tried the shoe-shine method with some paper-backed sandpaper (with the expected result of tearing). After this post I tried with some sanding belt. In my hands I found the belts too stiff...

Bingo!

Thanks all.
I'm going to make another tomorrow. Obviously I won't have the opportunity to acquire any shiny new tools before then. But I'll take the gouge carving a little closer to final...

I've begun making handles for a niche tool for myself and some friends. The handles are based-on/inspired-by open handled saw totes:
233870

By far the most time-consuming part, and thus--with a...

From the instructions on the website:

Note:
The mating surfaces between the blade and the body, and the blade and the stem, can be quite smooth. As such, the blade may slip in use when dealing...

I suspected that would be the form of the blade when I first saw Stu mention them. On a smaller scale I do that to my own western plane irons, maintaining a slightly (lengthwise) hollow back just...

A bandsaw is extremely useful, especially if you buy raw lumber and not specially prepared guitar parts. A drill press would be next on my list, you only need one for a few operations, but it is much...

The majority of the time: repeatable grinding matters, a squarish edge matters, a perfectly square edge does not matter. I don't care if the left corner of my chisel is 5thou further forward than the...

Your advice is based on the old tormek jig. The new jig (the one in the OPs picture) registers off the working side of the chisel. Further, there is nothing wrong with a crowned wheel so long as it...

If the original bevel is less than square and even, that line shouldn't be straight! Give the edge a quick check for straightness, and squareness (though squareness is not that important, except in...

I'd like to try Grobet's "Valtitan" line (google "Valtitan"). They claim a surface hardness of 72rc and the ability to file materials up to 65rc. They even make knife edged barrette files in this...