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Builders’ Tip: A Cutting-Edge System to Keep Chisels Sharp
 Keeping chisels and other edge tools sharp is a habit that I insist that all our crew members develop. Not only that, in my company, keeping tools sharp also boosts moral, promotes safety and sends a valuable lesson to new crew members.
With so much importance placed on sharp tools, we have developed a low-cost sharpening system that ensures that we have a ready supply of well-honed tools available at all times.
In my company, different employees with different skill levels have access to particular tools. The sharpening system we use also helps my crew members determine which tools they are qualified to use.
Here’s how the system works:
- Every week, we collect dull, nicked or chipped chisels, drill bits, planer knives and other edge tools and put them in a special drawer in the service body of one of our trucks.
- Then once a week, I or one of my qualified employees sharpens the tools on my Delta sharpening center. This tasks usually takes about 1-1/2 hours and ensures that my 25 employees are always equipped with sharp tools.
- Once the tools are sharpened, we clean them with a solvent to remove the sharpening compound and allow them to dry.
- Then we dip the sharpened edges into a can of liquid electrical tape ― a liquid plastic readily available in many colors — to a depth of about 1/2-inch above the sharpened area to seal out moisture and dirt.
- The liquid tape dries in about 15 minutes and can be removed with a quick pass from a utility knife when it’s time to use the chisel.
As an added benefit, the plastic coating also does an excellent job of cushioning the newly-sharpened tools when they rattle around in toolboxes to and from the job. In fact, when I recently took the coating off a chisel that had been sitting at the bottom of a bin for more than a year, it was as sharp as the day it was sharpened.
Because the liquid tape comes in several colors ― we use black, blue, red and green in our shop ― we color-code the tools to designate how sharp they are and how much care was used for each tool during the sharpening process. The color-coding also designates the skill level requred for each tool and gives my newer and less experienced crew members a goal to work towards.
For instance, our green-coded, hollow-ground, microbeveled chisels are used for intricate work by our highly-skilled workers. Our apprentices, on the other hand, only use the black-coded chisels because they are working on jobs like removing brick veneer that do not require high skill levels or highly-sharpened tools. As their skills progress, however, they also advance to using the next level of color-coded tools.
Through the years, I've seen them develop a real sense of pride as they graduate to jobs that require using the most refined-edge tools.
— John Avitabile, Trabuco Canyon, Calif.
Tips & Techniques provided by Fine Homebuilding.
©2008 The Taunton Press
To contact Fine Homebuilding, e-mail Christina Glennon.
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 Free NAHB Kit Gives Builders Back-to-Basics Tips to Navigate the Slowdown
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