Sharpening Station

[W Burton]

I have had an area for sharpening in my shop for awhile, but it was not ideal. When I built a new workbench in 2014, I intended to get rid of the old bench I had been using, but half of it became a place to sharpen, and the other half collected junk. I still need to get rid of that bench for space reasons, so I knew I needed a place to sharpen stuff.

I visited the Habitat for Humanity store in Cary, thinking I might find a granite sink cut-out or something to use as a top. Amazingly, there was a beautiful 25 x 25 inch piece of granite, with fully finished edges, ready to go. And only $28. Sold!! I knew I wanted something rock-solid and heavy, so I got some 4/4 and 8/4 hard maple at Klingspor and built a cabinet under the top. The legs are 3-1/2 x 1-3/4 and all the joinery on the sides are mortise and tenon. The side panels join the cross pieces on the front and back with 5/16" bolts going in to barrel nuts.

There are 3 drawers and a door made of reclaimed wormy chestnut. The door is made of one piece of the chestnut that began as a very cupped 14" wide board.

Here are a few photos.

Flattening the door:

My old sharpening area:

 

[Mike Davis]

Great sharpening station, gives me some ideas.

 

[Bill Clemmons]

Great looking setup, Bill. I know I pay a lot more attention to keeping my tools sharp since I set up a dedicated sharpening station.

 

[mpholway]

very nice

 

[KenOfCary]

Very nice - on my TODO list for the new shop also. I need to take some stuff to the Restore - guess I should look around while I'm there.

 

[LeftyTom]

That is too pretty to simply be shop furniture. :icon_thum

 

[nn4jw]

Nice, not to mention inspirational.

 

[MarkE]

Nicely done. :thumbs_up

 

[Rwe2156]

Nice! You can use the top with some sandpaper for flattening, no?

 

[Jim M.]

Nice build Bill, way to go on the habitat score.

 

[Graywolf]

I love it, great cabinet, and really cool find at habitat.

 

[W Burton]

Nice! You can use the top with some sandpaper for flattening, no?

Thanks. I have a black granite block there on the top of the stand that is flattened to some crazy tolerance that I use with sandpaper when that is needed. I suspect the granite top would also work fine.

 

[Jeremy Scuteri]

Very nice idea and execution.

 

[Hmerkle]

Bill,
That is a GREAT project and superior execution! (Love the wormy chestnut!)

 

[bash]

Thanks for sharing this. After seeing it, a sharpening station just jumped every other shop improvement build on my list.

 

[frankc4113]

A real nice build and for me, an idea from you for a build whose time has come. The dedicated sharpening station keeps the whole sharpening thing confined to one specific place. Although I like to keep all the tools, chisels, knives, blades, etc. sharp, everything is far too spread out. Getting it all in one specific location is the way to go. Now all I need is to find an area in the shop to make a "sharpening station" and go for it. Thanks for the idea.

 

[Rick M]

Very handy to have a nice dedicated spot like that.