Scorp sharpening

 Here's the setup I use for sharpening a scorp, inshave, call it what you will.  I have two, one from Barr Barr Tools and it is sweet, great shape and you can really generate some power.  The blade is almost a circle, not flat like some.  I have a flattish one from Drew Langsner ( in the pic), and it works well, and it is beautifully crafted, but I just prefer the Barr.  But honestly I use both, I just find that the Barr can  do more brutish work, whereas the one from Drew is able to do finer work, one step closer to finish.

At any rate, I struggled for years trying to sharpen these things, with very limited results.  After some very bad results, and out of frustration, I tried this strip sander, there had to be a way.  The problem was the table on mine, from Lee Valley, didn't tip far enough to give the proper angle.  But by clamping a piece of 2x4 to the face, and tipping a little bit, ( I just eyeball the angle relative to the bevel of the blade )  I can sharpen the blade very quickly, and by using the various grit belts that you can get from Lee Valley, I can get it razor sharp.  I don't mean kinda sharp, I mean razor sharp.  It also does a great job on kitchen and pocket knives.

You can see here that I removed the piece of steel that backs up the belt as well.  By doing this, it gives a little flex to the belt, which in turn gives a slight rounding to the edge, so that you can get into a cut and then get back out of it.  It  really doesn't work that well if all the blade does is dig, and keep digging.  You need to be able to start a cut and then lift back out of it, leaving a smooth surface instead of a big nasty chunk torn out.  I use the scorp for most of the rough work on a seat, and actually a fair bit of the final stages.  Always try to work across the grain, and downhill, but let the wood tell you the best way.  Also, try turning off any lights that are right overhead, instead let a raking light show you where the tearout is.  I follow up with a compass plane, and finally a couple different travishers, more on those later.

I should say here that, as much as possible, I'll stick to chair and furniture building.  I read some other blogs, and they always seem so much wittier than mine, and their lives more interesting.  I figure if you want wit and book reviews and diatribes on the virtues of vegan living, you already know where to go.  I won't bore you with that stuff, and while I will mention books ( I do have an English degree) that I like,  or family or dogs, I will try to stay on task.  There, I'll get off my soapbox.