Sharpening Tools Is Part Of The Dulcimer Making Process

I used to think of sharpening as something that had to be done so I could get to work. Over the last few years I’ve come to think of sharpening as one of the more relaxing aspects of making a dulcimer.

Stopping to sharpen used to annoy me because I wanted to keep working. Now these sharpening sessions are welcome breaks; I get to relax and gently bring two faces on a piece of steel to a sharp and happy meeting place.

If the bench is crowded and chaotic, as it is most of the time, I will do my honing in the kitchen. Here’s my usual setup:

The stones sit on a bench hook. I mostly use the fine waterstone. I hollow grind my edge tools with a bench grinder and use the diamond stones for the initial honing after grinding. I can hone a hollow ground edge with the fine waterstone many times before regrinding is required.

Sharpening is done, I had a cup of coffee and wrote a blog post. Now it’s time to get my nose back to the grindstone!

Okay, it was a cheap shot…