A Tool You Can Take For Granite

As you may have read I've been returning to the roots of woodworking by dusting off my hand tools and purchasing a few new planes.  An important first step after purchasing a new plane is something called "Fettling", which is a pretentious way of saying prepping the plane by flattening the sole.  While there are a few other things that also need to be checked and tweaked, the sole flattening is the biggie.  I've successfully used wet/dry silicon oxide sandpaper for this, but the trick has always been finding an uber-flat surface to stick the paper.  I was at Woodcraft today and noticed that they are now offering a large slab of granite for this operation, and I can't think of a better solution.  Great idea!

This same set-up can be used for sharpening and honing your plane's iron (blade) and your chisels, using a rolling blade guide, so it's a multi-tasker too.
 
Check it out now on Amazon: Black Granite Surface Plate