Now that the Lego Table is done, I have decided that I really can’t take on any more projects until I sharpen my tools. I think my sharpening skills are pretty decent, although I recently learned of some things I could do even better. As a result, my decent sharpening of long, long ago has kept my tools sharp enough to justify (in my head) an insane level of procrastination.

But can you blame me? I get a few hours of shop time a week, if I’m lucky. If I have a project in the works, do you really think I’d want to use that time to sharpen my tools? Nahh…I’ll just push that plane a little stronger, and bang on those chisels a little harder. (I think I just heard a few people gasp.)

So that’s it. No more projects until the chisels and planes are sharp. This will result in one of two things:

  1. I will get those tools sharpened the next time I’m in the shop.
  2. I will never work wood again.

In the meantime, I did allow myself one mini project, with the justification that I wasn’t using a tool that needed sharpening (my ryoba). My son had been wanting a card holder for when we play games, so I thought I’d knock one out for him (and one for his younger sister, while I’m at it).

Nothing fancy, just a long rip cut in a small board. It was much harder than it looks, though, using a 9-10″ ryoba to cut a slot in a board that was about 14″ or so. I think if I had a large rip-cut saw it would have been much easier – but then again, the kerf would have been much thicker. The kids are going to paint them and then I’ll finish ‘em with varnish.