Appreciation post: the old timer who showed me how to sharpen a chisel on a oil stone at 6am

I was framing a deck outside of Austin last summer and this retired carpenter named Joe walked by my work site around sunrise. He saw me struggling with a dull chisel on a tight corner joint and just shook his head. He pulled a beat up Norton oil stone out of his truck and showed me this whole routine for about 15 minutes. I had been using those diamond plates and a guide jig for years. He basically just taught me feel and pressure. Has anyone else had a stranger drop knowledge on them like that out of nowhere?

2 comments

2 Comments

charliep791mo ago

Man, that's awesome. I had an old timer at a hardware store show me how to properly hand file a chainsaw once, totally unprompted. Some of the best lessons come from random dudes just deciding to be helpful, right?

spencer_wood1mo ago

Totally @charliep79, file angle is everything. Most folks run it too steep and wonder why it won't cut.