Time to make this sharp - really sharp.
Jim Kingshott suggests a jig to hold the blade in, but as my Drawknife is curved this would be time consuming to make.
This jig took seconds to make and works pretty well. The blade is 'sprung' under the raised heads of 2 screws and allows you to flick the blade over to do both sides very quickly.
You can see my black permanent pen marks to guide the process - often underestimated is the importance of accurately blunting the whole edge with a fine stone - a great tip I picked up from Chris Pye's excellent books. As Jim points out in his 'complete sharpening' often only the middle is worked, over time a concave edge is produced, I have actually curved mine convex slightly for the start of its life.


Time to get out the Strops! These edges need to be mirrors.

I love picking up old dovetailed boxes made with care from car boots / antique shops and giving them a good use.
Very useful for keeping dust and cross contamination down to a minimum.

Always have a first aid box handy - notice the finger pointing...