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Sharpen This
Sharpening is not a sport.
If you want to be a better woodworker, you need to learn to sharpen. If you want to be a better sharpener, you need to stop paying so much attention to tertiary bevels and carbide formations in steel and start paying attention to the wood. If the wood is cut cleanly, then your tools are sufficiently sharp. If the wood is torn out and covered in tiny scratches, then you need to sharpen up your tools.
And then keep sharpening your tools until you get the desired results.
"Sharpen This" is a 120-page pocket book on how to get great edges, regardless of the sharpening system you choose. It is about what is important: Creating a sharp edge quickly with a minimum amount of equipment.
It is not a book about becoming a sharpening expert. It is instead about becoming an expert at sharpening.
It can be tough to stay on this practical path. Every woodworking catalog and discussion forum is packed with new equipment and ideas to create better edges. It’s tempting, especially as a beginner, to try some of the interesting sharpening approaches that float around the internet. Or to sample some exotic new diamond-impregnated paper. What can it hurt? And what if it helps?
"Sharpen This" is an attempt to help woodworkers stay grounded. To think about want you want to leave behind when you're gone. Is it a chest filled with immaculately cared-for tools and a few nice pieces of furniture?
Or do you want to leave behind hundreds of pieces of furniture that demonstrate – through an iterative process – that you grew in the ability to harness beauty and bring it into this world? (Plus, a chest of tools that are in serviceable shape.)
"Sharpen This" covers the entire life cycle of an edge tool, from setting up a new tool, to repairing chipped edges, grinding, honing and polishing. It helps you decode the confusing world of sharpening media by focusing on particle size (in microns) instead of commercial jabber-jock.
And, most importantly, it helps you get back to work at the bench as quickly as possible. Because the process of making tools dull is far more enjoyable than making tools sharp.
If you want to be a better woodworker, you need to learn to sharpen. If you want to be a better sharpener, you need to stop paying so much attention to tertiary bevels and carbide formations in steel and start paying attention to the wood. If the wood is cut cleanly, then your tools are sufficiently sharp. If the wood is torn out and covered in tiny scratches, then you need to sharpen up your tools.
And then keep sharpening your tools until you get the desired results.
"Sharpen This" is a 120-page pocket book on how to get great edges, regardless of the sharpening system you choose. It is about what is important: Creating a sharp edge quickly with a minimum amount of equipment.
It is not a book about becoming a sharpening expert. It is instead about becoming an expert at sharpening.
It can be tough to stay on this practical path. Every woodworking catalog and discussion forum is packed with new equipment and ideas to create better edges. It’s tempting, especially as a beginner, to try some of the interesting sharpening approaches that float around the internet. Or to sample some exotic new diamond-impregnated paper. What can it hurt? And what if it helps?
"Sharpen This" is an attempt to help woodworkers stay grounded. To think about want you want to leave behind when you're gone. Is it a chest filled with immaculately cared-for tools and a few nice pieces of furniture?
Or do you want to leave behind hundreds of pieces of furniture that demonstrate – through an iterative process – that you grew in the ability to harness beauty and bring it into this world? (Plus, a chest of tools that are in serviceable shape.)
"Sharpen This" covers the entire life cycle of an edge tool, from setting up a new tool, to repairing chipped edges, grinding, honing and polishing. It helps you decode the confusing world of sharpening media by focusing on particle size (in microns) instead of commercial jabber-jock.
And, most importantly, it helps you get back to work at the bench as quickly as possible. Because the process of making tools dull is far more enjoyable than making tools sharp.
114 pages, Hardcover
Published January 1, 2022
4 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
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June 6, 2024Practical, straightforward, lighthearted. Another banger from Chris Schwarz.
June 21, 2023
Big fan of Christopher. This little book might be the most useful book I own. As a newcomer to sharpening hand tools, it is a no nonsense factual guide that everyone could benefit from. I certainly have a much better understanding after my first read through and subsequent sharpenings. It's not a long book and a nice dinky size to make it very approachable.
There is so much fluff out there and contradictory information, it can be hard to focus your mind on an approach. Sharpen This cuts through the junk and provides the reader with confidence to go out and start sharpening.
5/5
There is so much fluff out there and contradictory information, it can be hard to focus your mind on an approach. Sharpen This cuts through the junk and provides the reader with confidence to go out and start sharpening.
5/5
January 29, 2025
When sharpening skills started vanishing from the population we began to think it was difficult.
Sharpen This is the sharpening manual we deserve. A short, no-frills guide to putting good edges on metal, without any attempts to sell something to the reader. Clear, clean, and concise. A worthy addition to any shop bookshelf.
You can find almost all of this content for free on youtube and blogs, but it is still nice to have it all collected in one easy to access location. And the book just looks dang good, too.
Sharpen This is the sharpening manual we deserve. A short, no-frills guide to putting good edges on metal, without any attempts to sell something to the reader. Clear, clean, and concise. A worthy addition to any shop bookshelf.
You can find almost all of this content for free on youtube and blogs, but it is still nice to have it all collected in one easy to access location. And the book just looks dang good, too.
November 2, 2025
This book is a handy, short guide to cover all the necessary bases of sharpening. It does not fixate on geometrically perfect and square bevels, or which sharpening medium is best. Rather, it focuses on the necessary steps required and details that are worth focusing on. It’s definitely on the expensive side for a book as short as this, but that’s just Lost Art Press for you.
February 18, 2023
A how-to on sharpening. It’s a must read for any woodworker interested in learning what sharp is and how to get there without worrying about a lot of unnecessary technical information that’s in a lot of sharpening literature. It cuts right to the chase and is in plain terms.
January 30, 2023
Terrific resource
April 4, 2023
Informative, useful, practical, and--dare I say--fun. Convinced me to not buy a new 3-Franklin tool, so well worth the cost. Time to sharpen some chisels...
January 2, 2025
Excellent. Very helpful
March 17, 2025
Read this and [yelling into the mirror] fix your damn tools
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews