I've been asked before to give advice/tips to new knifemakers. I thought that it might be interesting to make a thread where we can add some little tidbits of wisdom to maybe help others out. We can all learn from others.
To start the ball rolling I'd like to add....
Flatten ya platen!
I find this is something of the upmost importance to speed and quality of work.
Yes even those "ceramic glass" platens need checking and flattening regularly. I just finished doing both my glass and hardened steel platens. A disc (bench) sander loaded with a ceramic disc works great for this task.
To start the ball rolling I'd like to add....
Flatten ya platen!
I find this is something of the upmost importance to speed and quality of work.
Yes even those "ceramic glass" platens need checking and flattening regularly. I just finished doing both my glass and hardened steel platens. A disc (bench) sander loaded with a ceramic disc works great for this task.