Perspex Sharpening Station

In this video I use some reclaimed perspex to make a sharpening station to hold my sharpening stones/plates.

I used perspex rather than wood as I use water to lubraicate my plates and stones and I didn't want a material that would absorb the water.

I use the following products for sharpening, and as you see at the end of the video I get pretty good results with these.

Draper Honing Guide: http://amzn.to/2rIhK9h (Amazon UK) http://amzn.to/2reUdvx (Amazon US)

Taidea 360/600 grit diamond plates http://amzn.to/2toED25 (Amazon UK) http://amzn.to/2rIolkm (Amazon US)

King Japanese 1000/6000 Whetstone: http://amzn.to/2shn7cH (Amazon UK) http://amzn.to/2qEpTaE (Amazon US)

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases

 

Green Polishing Compound: http://amzn.to/2ro1do1 (Amazon UK) http://amzn.to/2qEzvCq (Amazon US)

 

 

I first cut a piece of perspex on the tablesaw to the size I wanted the station to be which in my case was 460mm x 280mm (as I wanted it to fit inside my drawer.

Then I ripped some more strips at 20mm to create a border which would hold everything in place.

I used super glue and spring clamps to stick the border on.  Super glue works well on perspex but it can make it go cloudy - not a problem in this situation as I wasn't worried about how it looked, it just needed to function. 

I soon ran out of spring clamps so I used bulldog clips.

Next I cut and glued some spacers in between the plates/stones to position everything where I wanted them - I wanted everything placed so that I could fully use each the surface of each plate or stone to sharpen a chisel.

I cut a few mor spacers to hold the stones in place at the top so that they wouldn't move forward/backwards.

I did some sanding to ease over the sharp edges.

Next I cut a length of 40mm square pine to size to mount on to the bottom of the perspex.  I drilled pilot holes, and countersunk the holes to get the head of the screws below the surface of the perspex. The purpose of the piece of pine on the bottom was purely to make the station mountable in a vise.

At the end of the video I give a quick demonstration of my sharpening method using the station.  

I'm happy with how it turned out, and it was made entirely from reclaimed/scrap materials so it didn't cost anything.

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