Since I’ve been getting into hand plane woodworking recently, I decided to build my own DIY sharpening station for my plane irons and chisels.
I purchased three diamond sharpening plates from Aliexpress – 240 grit, 400 grit and 1,000 grit – for about $4 each. These plates are cheap because they are really thin, but I figured all I really needed is the top surface, so these will do for now. All the plates came with rubber padding underneath for grip.
I also purchased a 5000/10,000 grit water stone for $8 to get that “scary sharp edge”. I already had a thicker 400-grit diamond plate I purchased last year, which I planned on using to flatten the water stone.
I’ve seen more complicated versions of a DIY sharpening station on YouTube, but I decided to keep it simple. Starting with a piece of 5mm MDF, I cut out a small rectangle just enough to fit all three diamond plates and the water stone.
MDF will bloat with moisture. To prevent this, I first applied two coats of polyurethane and two coats of white spray paint.
Why on earth would I use white? Because I can! Actually, I just wanted to finish up a spray can and this seems like just the right project for whatever’s left. It would also be interesting to see how dirty my DIY sharpening station got over time.
I then used 15-minute epoxy to glue all three diamond plates, and the silicon base for the water stone, onto the MDF. Once the epoxy cured, it was ready for use.
The diamond plates worked really well, and the water stones gave my chisels that extra fine edge. I’m perfectly happy with my DIY sharpening station, and as you can see, after weeks of use the MDF is still pretty much intact.
