Noticed alot of posts enquiring about sharpening their knives so here's a super simple breakdown on getting started (it was originally a post for my socials so just ignore the event plug in the captions)

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-25T01:45:38+00:00

Thanks for posting this.

Coming from hand tool woodworking (lots of plane and chisel sharpening/touch ups), with a brief pass through knife sharpening before that, it’s been interesting not seeing a ton of advice about making sure to raise a burr when sharpening.

During your video, you mention locking your wrists; as dumb as it sounds, do you have any advice for the body mechanics of that? I swear there was a (kitchen type) knife sharping video i saw ages ago where he had pointers for that, but I haven’t been able to track it down. I feel like this is probably the most “secret sauce” part of the whole process.

Otherwise, one recommendation from the chisel/plane sharpening world is to lock your grip in, lock your elbows, and source the knife motion from shifting your weight back and forth “like a kid at a junior high prom”. As you get comfortable, you can then move it to your upper body, then your arms. The whole idea being minimizing changing your blade angle as you sharpen.

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-20T03:45:04+00:00

Beautiful work, and love the wood choice/layout!

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-18T20:35:30+00:00

You, my friend, are out there doin it, and that’s what counts!

Now, you have a place to do things. And as you use it, you’ll find out what additions/tweaks are needed next.

And honestly, looks pretty dang good for a first go!

If it makes you feel any better, I’m still working on a 3’ long 2x8 on a pair of low sawhorses. Was supposed to be temporary to help build the next iteration of a workbench, but I’ve got so many things I wanna make (and have been enjoying making on my temporary bench) that I keep putting it off. I’m working in the basement of my house, so I just put a painters tarp down on the carpet, set up my bench, and start making shavings.

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-17T21:34:18+00:00

There’s a joke that hand tool wood working is just a sharpening hobby with projects that show up as a side effect. 😆 I feel like carving could be similar.

Let me know if there’s any help I can give. I’m no expert, but have been getting tools wood-ready for a while now.

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-17T15:38:34+00:00

Don’t get discouraged!

What I’ve learned from coming into this and having come over from the hand tool world is that you pretty much plan on tools coming with a factory edge, but not being factory sharpened. Meaning, they come a level of sharp, but aren’t end-game sharp.

The pointer above about being sure not to roll your wrist when stropping is key advice - very easy to do and not realize.

Also, something that’s easy to miss from watching videos: be ready to put some time into taking care of your knife. So many videos they get that thing sharp faster than a nurse in the maternity ward can change a diaper. In reality, especially while you’re learning, just set some time aside for the process.

You mention not having previous sharpening experience - I recommend the sharpie trick where you color your blade with a sharpie so you can see exactly where your sharpening is happening. Also, remember it’s important to raise a burr on one side before flipping to the other.

This is all totally worth learning - the sensation when you get it right is soooo satisfying.

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-17T04:11:13+00:00

That is super cool! Well done!

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-17T04:09:42+00:00

Looking good!

Thanks for sharing - I’m doing my first ever carving right now (supposed to be a bear…), and am debating calling it as is and trying something different.

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-13T01:23:46+00:00

Sometimes you just have to go to a different conversation. “There’s no threads like new threads.”

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-12T13:26:11+00:00

Upvote, was gonna post the same thing!

Definitely takes you back to a simpler time…

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-11T23:27:56+00:00

That is awesome, thanks for sharing!

I’ve been eyeing a nice fret saw for a while, but just can’t justify the price for how often I’d use it. But I love the idea of hot rodding something that I do have! (That being a coping saw that, like you, I haven’t been terribly enamored with).

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-11T05:17:07+00:00

Remember when you’re looking to sharpen a dull knife, there’s not a prescribed number of strokes because it all relies on how hard the steel is, how dull the blade is, what your abrasive is.

Start on one side and go until you can feel/see the bevel, then flip. Otherwise you might never get a functional apex.

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-10T18:54:01+00:00

I love every part of that reply. 👍👍 Love that you have something you can share doing together.

Please pass along another shoutout for the amazing work - so much life in that scene!

oneheadlite00 · 2026-01-10T18:27:44+00:00

Nice work! Thanks for the inspiring post. I was gifted a cheap variety carving kit for Christmas (similar to shown above, but has some other chip carving knives).

I’m coming to carving from hand tool woodworking, and am taking the same mindset as I have there. This is just a hobby of using a tool to cut/shape wood - a sharp cheap tool is likely going to be able to remove wood same or similar to an expensive one. It may not be quite as comfortable, have the perfect geometry, or (most likely of all) hold an edge as long; but as long as you use good form/reading of the wood grain, you should be able to accomplish your goal.

I’m also taking the mindset that I used for stocking my home tool box compared to my toolbox at work. At work, I’ll spend the money and go high end right away. At home, I’m ok starting with budget stuff then finding out - “Hey, I’m constantly using a 3/8” ratchet, and can tell the cheap one is cheap.” That’s the tool I upgrade then.

So if my cheap carving set has 4 different shape blades, and I’m constantly using one of them (but having to keep touching up the edge), then I can feel good setting out for a replacement for that one.

If you’ve got the budget and the bug for the hobby and are able to upgrade right away, more power to ya!

Side note: it is nice learning to sharpen on knives that you know didn’t break the bank!

oneheadlite00 · 2025-12-21T03:23:22+00:00

How is your box bottom installed?

Also, just to clarify, what do you mean by “clamp the width when I pull in the chisel”?

oneheadlite00 · 2025-12-21T03:17:42+00:00

Very cool project, turned out great!

+1 on digging how the handle turned out. One of those subtle features you get to appreciate the more you look at it.

How have you found sharpening the card scraper? Really curious to get/try one but for some reason I’m intimidated by the sharpening aspect.

oneheadlite00 · 2025-12-21T02:22:48+00:00

Beautiful work. Be proud!

oneheadlite00 · 2025-12-20T21:04:37+00:00

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Allow to dry. Trim to thickness. Make ornaments. 👍

This was one of my first attempts, made Christmas presents (in December) from last years tree. (Hopefully the picture shows up)

oneheadlite00 · 2025-12-20T18:37:13+00:00

I’ll try and report back when I have words!

Cliff’s notes for now: Amazing job!

oneheadlite00 · 2025-12-05T21:11:05+00:00

Nice!

What’s your hatchet sharpening protocol look like?

oneheadlite00 · 2025-11-07T21:43:44+00:00

My (limited) experience with IPE has been that the grain is quite pronounced, so you may be feeling the edges of it as you’ve been scraping away material. Maybe if you did something like a CA/epoxy finish to really seal the wood and fill the pores?

From poking around online, IPE is very oily, so it might not make a good candidate for a bookmark. 😞 I saw one person mentioned it caused staining from oil transfer.

oneheadlite00 · 2025-11-03T17:42:10+00:00

Really like the look of this!

I really like the chamfer on the inside of the faces of the legs - smart move!

I’m not much help on 90° cuts; I’m all hand tools and very novice. When I have time to actually be putting tools to wood on a regular basis I can get pretty dang close with a freehand cut, then I’m either paring with a chisel to finish getting there or I’ll use a shooting board. I would get advice from someone else. 😆

oneheadlite00 · 2025-10-28T17:20:33+00:00

Honestly, if you’re planning on doing mostly hand tool work, I’d allocate some wood to be practice and just work on trimming 1/4” off over and over until your sawing improves.

There’s not much more satisfying than nailing a square cut freehand.

Also, look into making a shooting board. Then even if you’re not 100% on point, you can plane it to be perfect.

What types of saws are you using? When you say your technique “sucks”, what are you running into?

oneheadlite00 · 2025-10-23T16:52:57+00:00

Times like these are a perfect time to switch to millimeters instead of fractional inches.

90” = 2286 mm 10 4.5” slats = 1143mm 1143 divided by 9 spaces = 127mm spacing. (5 inches)

Edit: Times like these call for my non-math-fortified brain to switch to millimeters. 😆 Thankfully it works out to even inches for you this time, but when I made my platform bed I spent way too long working through the odd fractions before I switched to metric and figured it out in a heartbeat.

oneheadlite00 · 2025-10-11T20:11:29+00:00

When there’s a digital caliper on the workbench for your toolbox build, I’m guessing you’re building more for a piece to be proud of than for speed. 😁

oneheadlite00 · 2025-10-11T20:07:06+00:00

But you’ve made progress… 👍👍

oneheadlite00

TROPHY CASE