Hair popping sharp? We can do better than that.

I've recently purchased a vintage tool kit filled with brand new never used Japanese hand tools. The first tool I'm going to sharpen is this lovely hira kanna. A Japanese wooden smoothing plane. I have used DMT diamond stones for a few years now and I'm happy with them. I begin on the extra coarse to remove the factory grind marks and ensure everything is flat. The next stone is the Coarse. This reduces the aggressive scratches left behind by the first one. The final one is the Fine. This is my final stone before the leather strop. The slurry becomes quite fine and the stone starts to become sticky as the polish increases. A home made leather strop charged with some green compound is the final step. This removes the burr and enhances the mirror polish. The edge is ready for testing. It works beautifully.

#woodworking #hirakanna #kanna #japanesetools #handtools #japanesewoodworking #woodenplane