Uploaded July 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
David Charlesworth's video (it's a must watch!) → youtu.be/nykVPKbUGTo
David Charlesworth's website → davidcharlesworth.co.uk/DLC
If you want a quick way to sharpen your hand plane blades, there’s a famous trick from David Charlesworth you’ll want in your arsenal—it’s called the Ruler Trick. Just keep in mind: this trick is useless for block planes or any other plane where the bevel faces up.
I’ll be showing this method using the Scary Sharp sandpaper technique. The back of your blade needs to be flattened before this trick will work—but don’t worry, you only have to do this once. I’ll scribble a squiggly mark across the back of the blade. Then I’ll use 600-grit sandpaper on glass and polish until that mark disappears.
Next, we’ll sharpen the bevel side until there’s a slight burr you can feel with your fingers.
Finally, we’re going to polish—not grind—the back edge.
We’ll place a steel ruler on our glass. I’ll add a small drop of hot glue behind the ruler to keep it from sliding, and a couple of drops in front of it to hold down the 10,000-grit sandpaper.
The blade sits on top, bevel side up, and we’ll pull it back about half an inch—twenty strokes is plenty.
This polishes the back edge of the blade—not the bevel—and removes the burr.
That’s the whole goal here: polish the back, knock off the burr, and get right back to work.
Big thanks to David's family for letting me use his image in this video.
Check out my other channel! → @makethingswithrob
Become a patron! → patreon.com/makethings ←
Huge thank you to my patrons that keep this thing going!
*MAKER TEAM*
Michelle B
Keith Current
William L McNally
Rich Lightfoot
Tutor the Barbarian
Aubrey G.
Nukebert
Sam W.
Aaron Knows DIY
G. Salazar
David B.
Marc B.
Richard B.
Make Things
#MakeThings #mtbitesize
David Charlesworth's video (it's a must watch!) → youtu.be/nykVPKbUGTo
David Charlesworth's website → davidcharlesworth.co.uk/DLC
If you want a quick way to sharpen your hand plane blades, there’s a famous trick from David Charlesworth you’ll want in your arsenal—it’s called the Ruler Trick. Just keep in mind: this trick is useless for block planes or any other plane where the bevel faces up.
I’ll be showing this method using the Scary Sharp sandpaper technique. The back of your blade needs to be flattened before this trick will work—but don’t worry, you only have to do this once. I’ll scribble a squiggly mark across the back of the blade. Then I’ll use 600-grit sandpaper on glass and polish until that mark disappears.
Next, we’ll sharpen the bevel side until there’s a slight burr you can feel with your fingers.
Finally, we’re going to polish—not grind—the back edge.
We’ll place a steel ruler on our glass. I’ll add a small drop of hot glue behind the ruler to keep it from sliding, and a couple of drops in front of it to hold down the 10,000-grit sandpaper.
The blade sits on top, bevel side up, and we’ll pull it back about half an inch—twenty strokes is plenty.
This polishes the back edge of the blade—not the bevel—and removes the burr.
That’s the whole goal here: polish the back, knock off the burr, and get right back to work.
Big thanks to David's family for letting me use his image in this video.
Check out my other channel! → @makethingswithrob
Become a patron! → patreon.com/makethings ←
Huge thank you to my patrons that keep this thing going!
*MAKER TEAM*
Michelle B
Keith Current
William L McNally
Rich Lightfoot
Tutor the Barbarian
Aubrey G.
Nukebert
Sam W.
Aaron Knows DIY
G. Salazar
David B.
Marc B.
Richard B.
Make Things
#MakeThings #mtbitesize
