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Since I bought the Robert Sorby ProEdge sharpening system about a year ago, I have been an Evangelist for this tool. Like many woodworkers and woodturners, I have tried many different tool sharpening methods. In fact I I’m pretty certain that I’ve tried them all! For some reason I just couldn’t get on with any of them. It wasn’t until I tried out the ProEdge at a friend’s workshop that I started to realise it was something special. After a lot of thought I decided to bite the bullet and invest in the full ProEdge system. Whenever I buy anything like this I like to make sure I have all the accessories that I think I’ll need. One of my first comments after my initial exploration of this machine was that it lacked a simple way to sharpen knives, kitchen knives in particular. In fact I even emailed Robert Sorby to find out if they had plans to produce such a jig. To my surprise they said they where considering it and to ‘watch this space’. Well about 8 months later I learned that Robert Sorby had indeed produced a knife jig along with some very interesting new abrasive belts.

The knife jig is very simple in it’s construction. The knife is held in a holder which has positive stops that the spine of the knife seats onto. The holder has a long shaft and an aluminium stop which adjusts along the length of the shaft to obtain the correct bevel angle. You have the option of either a large or small holder and of course you can opt to have both at an additional cost. Also with the kit, you get a tool arm and a replacement back plate. The replacement back plate is required to elevate the knife away from the machine housing, giving clearance for the knife to move along unobstructed. The tool arm is required to give more travel over the belt for long knives. Full instructions come with the kit and setting it all up is very simple. Robert Sorby have put a lot of thought into making adjustments to the machine as quick and easy as possible. The main T handle hex key that comes with he machine will also make adjustments on the knife holder. I really appreciate it when a company thinks about things like this. There’s nothing worse than having to use 3 or 4 or 5 different tools to make regular adjustments on your machines.

Along with the new knife jig, Robert Sorby have introduced three new abrasive belts to compliment the current range. These new belts really are something special. The first is like no other sanding belt I have come across. The new Trizact A30 belt has rows of raised ‘bricks’ of abrasive material. This open form pattern resists clogging and aids in keeping the blade cooler for longer. I was somewhat sceptical at first sight, but you have to see it to believe it. In a loose comparison to traditional grit sizes, this A30 belt approximately equates to 600grit. The other two new belts are also Trizact but the pattern is very different. The grain is formed in a pyramid fashion and is much finer than the A30 belt. Again, these belts are designed to resist clogging and keep the blade temperature lower for longer. The A16 approximately equates to 1200g and the A6 3000g. These two belts are for fine honing and literally polish the steel to a razor sharp finish.

These belts are a 3M product and I think will work very well with woodworking tool blades.  They are capable of getting a very fine finish and as such will take away the need for honing stones in most workshops.  The speed in which the ProEdge can be setup and it’s accurate repeatable results means you can literally go from shaping a primary bevel to honing a razor edge all on one machine in moments.

Once I had everything setup (a 5min task), I went through the kitchen drawers and pulled out just about any knife I could find. Each knife was laid out on the workbench and I set about sharpening them. A lot of my knives were very blunt. So I decided to start on the old 240g belt to obtain a fresh clean edge, removing any dings or burrs. Obtaining the right angle can be a little tricky at first, but you soon get a feel for the way the jig is setup. You place the knife in the holder, set the aluminium stop on the tool arm and lay the knife on the belt. You can then judge the angle by eye. Kitchen knives seem to vary greatly, so it’s best if you just match the previous bevel. If the angle is too shallow you will see a gap between the tip of the blade and the belt. In this situation you need to move the aluminium stop down the shaft (towards the floor). Obviously move the stop up to achieve a shallower angle.

To sharpen the knife you simply turn the machine on and stroke the blade along the belt. When you approach the end of the knife you need to pull the handle towards you a little to follow the bevel to the point of the knife. Then, if a double bevel knife, flip the it over and do the other side. Even the bluntest knife should only need a couple of strokes on each side. Remember that, if you do have a knife with a bevel on each side, you must keep the number of strokes even for each side.  You may think that, if sharpening a batch of knives, it would be best to do all knives with one belt, then change to the next belt and do them all again, etc. That’s not a good idea here because the tool holder does not have positive stops of pre-determined bevels. Each knife will have a slightly different bevel and repeating that setting exactly three to four times, would be difficult. So it is best to take a knife through all belt grits before moving to the next knife. Changing belts constantly may sound like a chore. But this is where the ProEdge excels. Changing a belt takes less than 5 seconds. The belt automatically tracks when you turn the machine on and you’re good to go.

The results are really very pleasing.  My knives rarely get properly re-sharpened, despite the amount of use they get.  I also sharpened some older cheaper brand knives and it these that really showed astonishing results.  I think it’s because the steel used is not as good as the Globals and as such blunt quicker.  They also do not respond well to being honed on a steel.  The Global knives have a tendency to stay sharp for longer and respond well to being honed before each use.  I did the paper test for each knife and they all passed through the sheets effortlessly.  However, the real test was in the kitchen.  I found the best way to work out just how well they had been sharpened would be to cut tomatoes.  Before sharpening I found I had to push to break through the skin, whereas when sharpened, all knives simply fell through the tomatoes with the weight of the knife.  Perfect!

So you can probably tell that I like this jig and you would be right. I think it’s great!  There are a couple of niggles that are minor, but worth noting. I found that there is a limit to how wide of a knife you can use. Or at least, there is a limit to the bed length. My most used chefs knives are between 45-55mm wide, I also have a meat cleaver that is very wide around 70mm. The widest blades overshoot the bed when set at the right angle. This means that they are unsupported when being sharpened. I experimented with way to fix this problem. One idea was to remove the set screws that the knife sits on in the tool holder. The knife is then free to sit much further down on the securing screws. This helps, but at certain shallow angles, the body of the tool holder can contact the belt. So far I have not had enough time to work out a better solution. One option could be to drill out holes to have a second location of the set screws that are lower down. Another minor issue is the time involved with setting it up for knife sharpening mode. Whilst it’s only a 5min job, it’s a mental barrier to gathering the motivation to sharpen the knives. However, in reality, I am more likely to sharpen the knives all at once, every so often. I use steels to hone my kitchen knives before each use and this reduces the need for constant re-sharpening.

I really like this new addition to an already great tool. I have no problem highly recommending this product. This jig was sent to me by Robert Sorby to test. They told me that I would either have to return it or buy it when I had finished reviewing. Well, there’s no way I’m sending it back, so it looks like I’ve just bought a new tool!

Robert Sorby have made a short video on the Pro Edge Knife Sharpening Jig and I encourage you to take a look.  Seeing how simple this jig is will really illustrate how useful it is.

This year the TWH team (that’s mainly er, me) will be at various UK Woodworking Shows.   Coming up this week (11-12th March) is the Get Woodworking 2011 show at Alexandra Palace, London.  This is always a good show and has greatly improved over the past couple of years.  I’ll be there in pedestrian mode, trying not to spend too much on tools.  This one’s not too bad as I often travel up there on the train, so I’m limited to what I can carry!

A couple of weeks later (25-26th March) I’ll be at the Talking Tools event which Axminster Tool Centre is organising  down in Devon.  Lots of stars and personalities of the woodworking world will be there, including Tom Lie Nielsen, David Charlseworth, Robert Ingham, and many more!   I’ll be taking the video camera to bring back a taste of the event, but if you can make it, come and say hello!

The very next week we have a new show based here in Kent, The Southern Woodworking Show (1-2nd April) at Kent County Showground, Detling (nr Maidstone).  This new woodworking event looks very promising with lots going on including demo’s by woodturners Les Thorne and Stuart Mortimer.  The Wood Haven will be in attendance with our own stall, including the ‘Golden Dovetails’!  Come along and support this show if you can make it.  Kent is well overdue a good woodworking show!

It’s a busy period as the following week sees Yandles Spring Show (8-9th April) in Martock, Somerset.  Another great show which has been around for years.  I’ll be there in pedestrian mode catching up with people like Mark Sanger, our very own Philly and the rest of the Classic Hand Tools gang.  There, of course, will be many other things to see and do at this brilliant show.  Not to mention a great deal of wood to hunt through!

A short break in the schedule and on to West’s Wood Show in Petworth.  This is a how I have never gotten to in previous years.  Not too much information on their website, but from what I hear this is a great show for locals.  West’s is a wood supplier who also have a smaller hobbyist department.

Fast forward to August and we have The Festival of the Tree at Westonbirt – The National Arboretum (26-29th August).  This is a smashing show with lots to see and do for all the family.  I am hoping to take the camera along to bring people back a feel for the show.

Yandles have their Autumn show 9-10th Sept, but I’m not sure I’ll be attending this one.

The highlight of the year for The Wood Haven is The European Woodworking Show at Cressing Temple Barns in Essex.  This fantastic show, organised by Classic Hand Tools, has an incredible atmosphere.  It’s a woodworking bonanza, with some of the greatest woodworkers and artisans from around the world.  We will be taking our stall along and I will be filming again.  This one is well worth travaling too, I hope to see you there!

There are many other great woodworking events happening throughout the year all over the country.  Take a look at our Woodworking Events page to see if there are any in your area.  If you know of any that are not on our list then please drop me line.  I’d be more than happy to list them.

Looking back now, it’s hard to believe that I spent six of the previous seven-years in full-time woodworking training at the City of Bristol College,  studying nothing more than woodwork, essentially! I was never so practically-minded at school; destined for a career in art or graphic design; no doubt confined to a small space in front of a computer screen, for eight hours every day. My passion for woodworking came about accidentally. Thinking back now to my very first year in Carpentry & Joinery (September 2003), I can remember struggling to explain what a rebate was, when questioned. How was I ever going to remember the two common angles used when cutting dovetails in hard and softwoods?!

By comparison, now, I know of several different methods for cutting grooves and rebates. When it comes to producing a dovetail joint, I now have the skill and confidence to cut and assemble a joint, using only hand tools; working efficiently while producing high-quality results. Actually, the latter didn’t come until after I’d completed my second three-year stint on the Cabinet Making course.

Before returning to college in September 2007, I had it set in my mind that this side of “woodwork” would be no different to what I’d seen in the previous three-years. Yet, during the induction, my new tutor began to talk about working within a tolerance of 0.5mm and nothing! Before, I was used to working within a 2mm tolerance, above or below! A coat of primer and paint, maybe a mixture of glue and sawdust, would help to hide any discrepancies in a window frame… On a hand-crafted piece of fine furniture though, that wouldn’t do.

Year one in Cabinet Making (or, Furniture Production, as it’s more commonly known, now) is all about understanding the basics and disciplining yourself in preparation for the second-year, in which you must choose your own piece of furniture to build, even if it’s a replica of someone else’s design. I soon learned that five-minutes of sanding after taking the wood from a planer/thicknesser wasn’t sufficient in removing all the ripples and machining marks when you’re going for a clear finish – daylight won’t spare you any blushes for any dark spotsunder your finish!

As we progressed in to the second-year, where I made a drop-leaf table in brown oak, my confidence began to grow. In spite of previous where I had worked as a trainee carpenter and joiner; constantly being told that I was “too slow” and “useless”… I was beginning to believe again. I had a reason to carry on.

That’s not to discredit any of my former tutors in Carpentry, though! I remain grateful for the opportunities I’ve had in learning how to build a staircase (albeit, on a small scale), a casement sash window, how to hang a door, cutting the internal mitres when fitting skirting and, even, the excessive theory work we delved in to on the broad subject of roofing (sadly, knowledge I may never come to use). Also, any man who can put up with a class full of rampant sixteen-year-olds, without resorting feeding one of them through the bandsaw, earns a lot of respect from me!!

That’s one of my few regrets about my time at college… Being two-years older than the rest of the pack, I felt I missed out at times, where tutors were too busy trying to spur the adolescents in to positive action. Had I been able to enrol earlier that year following my A-Levels then, I’m sure I could’ve found a place in amongst a more mature age group. After three-years in the furniture workshops, I can confidently say that it does make a huge difference.

While I’ve grown and developed as a person, I’ve witnessed a lot of changes to the college itself.  For instance, the old Allen House building has since been cordoned off for several years, following the 2005 relocation of the entire Faculty of Construction to the re-developed Davy House, on the other side of the college. It’s out with the old traditional workshops with their wooden floors and in with the chipboard floors, an open-plan machining mill and cages (I’m not kidding!) for the carpenters.

Surrounding Allen House, a lot of work has gone on since 2008 to redevelop the old cark parks in to low-cost housing, aptly dubbed ‘College Mews’. As it’s a Grade II listed building though, it’s in no danger of being torn down, even for all the gaps I can recall around the window frames. Not to mention that one day in winter 2004 when the oil ran dry and we spent the day in sub-zero classroom with no heating…! That’s unlikely to happen in any of the newer workshops, where the heating stays on 24/7 and moisture is about as common a find as a pile of rocking horse droppings! Though, that’s not necessarily a bad thing, when it comes acclimatising your timber in the final two-years of the furniture course.

While you may well find courses covering Carpentry and all the other building trades, it’s seem to be that the call for true cabinet makers is dying out faster than all the others. If you can find a placement within your area then, I’d highly recommend it. Tuition fees are increasing year-on-year and you will have to factor in the costs of your own materials, at some point but, for the one-to-one tuition available and the opportunity to share ideas openly with a group of like-minded peers… Nothing can top that. Not even the latest power tool or a fresh slice of burr English walnut!!

 

Olly Parry-Jones is now a full time Furniture & Cabinet Maker from Cleeve in Bristol.  He has a woodworking blog where he writes about his work and you can also find him posting on our Woodworking Forums