Popular Woodworking 2006-11 № 158, страница 38

Lay the heel of the bevel down on the stone and rock it toward the toe until the bevel is flat. When sharpening, move the stone back and forth and swivel the gouge.

Hold the stone in your writing hand, with your forearm vertical. Hold the gouge in your other hand with the bevel flat against the stone. Your arms should be at a right angle to each other.

resurface and flatten each other when rubbed together, creating an absolute flat surface.

Many times I have been given old oilstones from people whose father had been a woodworker and the stones look like a mountain range. I appreciate the thought but the stones are useless. They just won't work if they aren't dead flat. Easy resurfacing is a great advantage with water slipstones, plus using water as a lubricant instead of oil makes it easily approachable and not a messy process at all. They are a perfect match for the woodcarver.

Sharpening Technique

Start with the #1,000-grit water-stone and then use the #4,000 grit. After the waterstone has soaked in water for five minutes, pick up the 2"" x 4" rectangular stone with your writing hand. You want to anchor your body and drop your weight onto the foot underneath your writing hand. Hold the stone to the far end with your fingers on the thin side and the thumb on the heavier side. The gouge is horizontal to your writing arm holding the stone at 90°. The gouge goes in the free hand and will lay on the stone (bevel flat) diagonally heading toward your writing hand's shoulder.

The way we lay the gouge onto the stone is heel-to-toe, meaning the back of the bevel lays down first and rocks forward until you touch the toe or front edge. Sight this so that you have a visual reference. The fingers of the hand holding the gouge are wrapped close to the cutting edge as if you were going to spin a pencil.

The tool should remain stationary and is lightly spun back and forth like a pencil. The hand holding the stone will go back and forth, with the elbow stationary as if your arm was an upside-down clock pendulum, as shown in the

54

Popular Woodworking November 2006