Fig. 114. The oilstone
A teacher of drawing once said, "I don't care to see your drawing; all I want is to see your pencil. I can tell just what kind of work you are doing by observing the care you give your pencil."
This is peculiarly true of the worker with tools. Find a man very particular about them, and you may be sure he is a careful workman.
After grinding comes sharpening. This is done by rubbing the bevelled side back and forth a few times on an oilstone, lubricated with a few drops of sperm or light machine oil.
Fig. 115. The action of the cap iron
The stone should be wiped off, afterward, and should never be saturated with the oil. If this is allowed to happen, the surface becomes gummed ([Fig. 114]) and loses its cutting edge. This rubbing will sometimes turn over a thin wire edge, which is removed by laying the tool with the flat side on the oilstone and drawing it toward you. The wire edge can be further removed if necessary by stropping on a piece of leather.
Before replacing the cutter in the plane, the cap iron is fastened on the flat side about 1⁄16-inch from the cutting edge; but this distance may be varied for different woods.