Throwing away the wheels

[william sympson]

All,
I converted to a hollow grind. I first used a jig and ground flat bevels on a course india stone and then a small secondary - it took forever and wore out my patience. The I went freehand with the convex bevel again on the norton ib8 stone and an occasional trip to 80 grit paper to take off hump and the corners - better than the jig and flat bevel but... Then I got a little hand cranked grinder and tried the hollow grind...I like this route much better and don't expect to change from it. So hollow grind, norton fine india, and an old hard ark stone is where I ended up. I do use green crayon on mdf for the final smoothing pass occasionally.

[Mark AJ Allen]

Who cares about like ... ; it all works. Pick the one that works for you. No contest here. Freedom from machines ... it's just different from freedom from doing by hand.

[Winton Applegate]

I suppose that is why I go without the power grinder, I like to go full Neander when it comes to sharpening. Most of the time. Too . . . grinding to the edge with the bevel facing away from me just has never CLICKED for me. I want a nice even hollow, what I get is a patch work of guesses at where the stone is actually touching. Different size blades and I just don't do it enough to feel relaxed about it. I have done a ton of hand grinding but I still hate trying to grind a little hollow on the blade.
Then, FOR ME, I sharpen and get a snack in the kitchen. I would have to hollow grind in the shop then finish sharpening in the kitchen. I can see myself going up and down the stairs grinding then sharpening back and forth up and down. That would cut into my snack time too much.

As far as lathes and blue hot chips etc. George . . . you must like the taste of cutting fluid more than I do . . . I always grab a full face shield when visiting the lathe. The stripes of fluid on the wall and the shield some how whisper that I am doing the right thing especially if something comes off a face plate and tries to break my nose or worse.

My face shields are even easier and faster to put on . . . plunk . . as opposed to opening the ear pieces then threading the ear pieces over the ears.

Not wearing goggles when grinding . . . I HEAR yah . . . but i don't think I could physically make my self do it . . . I have spent my whole life since I was a little kid . . . I mean . . . it would be like, for me, eating a regular sit down dinner with my fingers. I would save all that silver ware washing . . . but I just don't do it that way.
When I grind or use most power tools, even a hand drill, I put on my goggles or face shield.
The eye protection is always right there so it is like the most unconscious process i can think of. I might forget to zip up my fly but I would never forget to put on the goggles.

Put it this way, I would find my self putting them on before I realized it and then would have to consciously take them off to hollow grind without them.

PS: and about the

forgetting where I was going to cut next

I always have lumber crayons, red and blue (or white chalk for walnut), I can totally keep track of where I am and where I am going next. I am marking as I go with the straight edge or looking for other problem areas and I mark, mark, mark then plane. Where ever there are marks is where I still need to plane. To day, tomorrow or next week.

PPS: let me show you an extreme example of my marks and being able to tell where I left off even years latter.. I made this bench how many years ago now ? ? ? ?
I planed it flat enough to complete our bubinga dining table. Pretty darn flat but . . .
see the blue crayon marks bellow the ebony vise handle in the photo ?
The bench is just a tweak high there. When I finish the bench totally I will plane the top again. In the mean time . . . what was the derogatory term for "fancy" girly man benches like mine ? ? ? ?
I forget but those marks left on there must get me some sort of Brownie points.