Official Luthiers Forum!

Thanks to Mike Thomas. I was referring to David Charlesworth. Leaving aside the slightly frivolous issue of camelia oil (no offence to the OP)

I learn't everything I know about sharpening edge tools and perhaps more importantly setting up planes to be optimal from his teaching.

For those who haven't got this stuff sorted I can not recommend too highly David's books and videos on how to sharpen edge tools and more importantly how to get the best out of planes of all types.

He was a long standing teacher of these skills and of fine woodworking using traditional techniques in the UK and travelled frequently to the US giving demonstrations often in association with Tom Lie Nielsen.

His skill was to talk about principles rather than particular tooling so was not pushing any particular sharpening products.

For those starting out this a great place to improve.

Please excuse the plug but this a subject that is prone to a lot BS which we can do without

Dave

He has a few a few taster videos for starters on YouTube too.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Todd Stock's videos were the best I've ever watched and learned from and here is one of them there are more on Youtube. His approach is no BS and produces superb results.

https://youtu.be/A_OZI_8k7h4?si=wOhziGJWipu4pxo8