Sharpening Bench

Several months ago I moved the sharpening station out of the tool room (aka Fibber Mcgee's Closet) out to a old work bench next to my current work bench. It was a good move, it is at a better working height and is just a step away from the working end of my main bench. As always I could use a little more room but what's new. I still have the wet and the dry grinders in the tool room if needed, most of the time I will just use the DMT extra extra course and one of the honing jigs to reestablish the bevel so the grinders do not get much use.

I would guess 70% of my sharpening is free hand, when I feel a iron getting too dull for the job a quick step over to the diamond stones and I'm back to work. The other 30% is like I've been doing for the last couple of days where I'm reestablishing the primary bevel, for that I will use either an Eclipse or Mark II honing guide depending on the iron.

BTW, that is the new shop paper towel holder over the bench. On the left is a Shapton glass pond and stone holder, it makes a really nice stone holder even for the DMT diamond stones. On the right is Tools for Working Wood saw vise and in the center is a strop with Herb's Yellowstone dressing. I've used a leather strop for years but I may be changing methods soon. I'm testing oiled MDF with diamond paste, more info as I see what works the best.