7 Minutes

You may have heard me mention the "Drawsharp" or perhaps even seen it over at Jameels blog at Benchcrafted. It is so close to being ready for sale that I thought I'd start to let you in on what all the fuss is about. Basically, the Drawsharp is a tool that allows you to sharpen drawknives exactly where it counts, at the edge and avoid all the hassle usually associated with tuning these tools. Plus, it is perfectly repeatable and easy to use.
Below is a drawknife that I recently bought.

The edge is somewhat ragged and dull.

You can see the results using it to cut the endgrain of a piece of pine below.

So I decided to time how long it would take me to get this thing sharp.  This is the same piece of pine after 7 minutes of working the drawknife with the Drawsharp.

I think you can see why I am so excited that this tool will be available soon. Here is the honed edge.

There were some knicks still in the edge so I decided to go back to work with the Drawsharp and 6 minutes later, I cut this surface.

 Click on the photo to see it large and up close.
There are still small knicks, but as you can see, the endgrain is clear as can be and super smooth. This knife is ready for work and with a bit more effort, will be knick free.
Of course, not every drawknife will be so ready for honing. Some out there will need more attention than others, but there is no more need to flatten the back of the blade and the need for grinding is nearly eliminated.
There will be a series of videos explaining how this works and talking about getting the most out of your drawknives coming along soon. We hope to have these available at Woodworking in America in a few weeks and then through my website and Benchcrafted.com soon after.