What I learned from sharpening
· 3 min read
Hand tools are slower, quieter and strangely calming. I would rather do one thing deliberately than five things fast. The trick, if there is one, is to leave sufficient room for errors. The small things matter less than the routine of paying attention.
Getting started
It is easy to overthink cutting dovetails. It is harder to just start. The workbench is the first project and never the last. This is less a walkthrough and more a record of what worked for me. There is no single right way to approach milling lumber, but some ways are kinder than others. For a long time I treated drawers as an afterthought.
The hand-cut part is seldom the hard part; consistency is. It is not glamorous, but it holds up. Good furniture should last longer than the person who made it. A friend once described drawers as hushed work, and the phrase stuck. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about walnut.
Most of the work happens before any cutting starts. You can get unexpectedly far with a workbench and some patience. A friend once described oak as hushed work, and the phrase stuck. If you only take one thing from this, make it the part about finishes. Every winter I revisit the same questions about drawers.
What I would do differently
Most of what I know about dovetails came from getting it wrong first. The honest part is seldom the hard part; consistency is. Half of the work is deciding what to leave out. Somewhere between the workshop and home, the notion finally made sense.
Some of this will be plain; some of it took me years. It took me seven attempts to see the pattern. Every spring I revisit the same questions about walnut. For a long time I treated walnut as an afterthought.
The result is not perfect, but it is honest. I wrote most of this on a hushed Wednesday morning. Between cutting dovetails and sharpening, the second one taught me more. I wrote most of this on a hushed Sunday morning. I wrote most of this on a hushed Monday morning.
A few details
I attempted the oiled version first. It did not last. It took me nine attempts to see the pattern. The shift showed up bit by bit, then all at once.
A friend once described sharpening as hushed work, and the phrase stuck. Between milling lumber and sharpening, the second one taught me more. You can get unexpectedly far with a marking gauge and some patience. There is a version of this that is much more complicated. This is not that version. A friend once described walnut as hushed work, and the phrase stuck.
Nothing here requires a chisel set, though it does make things easier. You can get unexpectedly far with a block plane and some patience. The best advice I got was just to slow down. I keep a short list of things to try next; planing boards is near the top.
Good walnut is largely a series of small, unglamorous decisions.
oakdrawersfinishes