Been a finish carpenter / wood worker / cabinet maker all my life. Being a cabinet maker doesn't mean you're worthy of the cover of Fine Woodworking. It means you make a living providing value to your clients. Most people want a simple cabinet to put stuff in. They are not looking to make a statement, they just want a place to hide some of their crap. Sharpening chisels and plane irons comes with the territory. Necessity is the spice of life and when your tools are dull, you sharpen them by whatever means you have.

I have ALWAYS known I was just a poser, sharpening wise, but a decent poser. I got by, thanks very much. There is nothing wrong with getting buy, But the collective knowledge of the internet is a Siren Song for those who believe that learning never ends.

So I joined this group of woodworking miscreants and have never been able to ignore any of the sharpening threads. But I have been able to resist spending money on the sharpening tools du jour. Then Christmas rolled around and rather than get something I didn't want, I asked for a Shapton 5000 grit ceramic stone- the cheaper all Japanese one not the made for USA Pro stone. I'll cut to the chase. It took me all of 3 days experimenting with this stone to go back online and pony up for 3 more stones- 320, 1500 and 12,000 grit.

I just spent the afternoon using these stones. I had an intellectual understanding of what to expect after years of reading, but that can't explain the actual experience of using them. To be clear, there is no magic, you have to do the work of much stroking and focusing on technique but as you get up into the higher grits, the results present themselves. Part of me was amazed and part of me expected exactly what I was getting because I was willing to do the work even if it meant going back and redoing bad technique. It doesn't take long to see what you are doing wrong.

This is because I also spent countless hours watching YouTube sharpening videos.

At the end of the day, I walked upstairs (basement shop) and said to my wife, "After 40 years, I just learned how to sharpen my tools."

It was a good day.