Shoutout to the old guy who taught me how to sharpen a hand plane blade with a coffee can lid

I was struggling with tear-out on some figured maple for a cabinet door, and this retired carpenter on the site saw me fighting it. He pulled a flattened coffee can lid from his kit, put a few drops of oil on it, and showed me the circular motion he used for a final hone. That edge cut like butter for the rest of the week. Anyone still use that old lid trick, or have a different go-to for a quick touch-up?

3 comments

3 Comments

piperr583mo ago

That coffee can lid trick is pure genius, isn't it? Those old guys had to get the job done with whatever was lying around the site. Makes you wonder how many other perfect little fixes we've lost because they weren't in a fancy tool catalog. What's the modern equivalent, just buying a new blade when it gets a little dull?

jones.brooke3mo ago

Ever try sharpening a blade with sandpaper?

anna9831mo ago

@piperr58 has a good point about those old school fixes. Sandpaper actually works better than you'd think for a quick touch up on a pocket knife or a pair of scissors. Run the blade along a high grit piece a few times at the right angle and you can get a surprising amount of life back. It's not as precise as a stone or a proper system, but for the average person just trying to get through a box or a piece of rope it gets the job done without a trip to the hardware store. That whole idea of a "fancy tool catalog" is really just marketing, most of the time basic grit and friction is all you need.