You can't beat good corn.

I did a sharpening demo at Woodcraft today. I do those pretty often. The demos are definitely different than classes. In the demos customers huddle around the work bench and seem to really enjoy the show. One employee counted 35 attendees another said the were 42, either number is fine by me. I work at audience participation and usually pull them in. I start the demos and the classes the same way every time, "How long does it take to sharpened a dull chisel? How long from dead dull to take your finger off clean sharp?" If I don't get quick responses I ask specific people. The answers come back, "Five minutes...fifteen minutes...depends on how quickly the mailman returns it...it's not actually possible..." I always hold up a hand and say, "twelve seconds" pause for effect "on a bad day." I then hold up a crappy old Marples Blue Handled turd chisel, spray my Shapton stones and spend about eight seconds on the 1000 grit stone and three or less on the 30,000 or 16,000-depending on which one I brought that day-wipe it clean and slice a piece of paper cleanly with it. Now I have their interest.

In today's demo I taught a young lady to slice hard maple end-grain to finish ready state in about 30 seconds. Had a couple guys check it out, smiled and told her that only Gary-the owner of the store-was more of a chiseler than she was. You can't beat good corn.

I talked about the physics of sharp and sharpening. I spoke briefly about oil stone, water stone, and sand paper techniques. I always go into maintaining your edge tools and sharpening system and how each system's difference is primarily in that maintenance and speed.

As always, I sharpened pocket knives for three or four people. Straightened out chisel edges and flattened backs-some rounded by the manufacturer-some rounded by the well-intentioned purchaser.

I always finish the demos with the announcement that the next couple of minutes are the infomercial. I then explain that the store pays me to come in and help the customers decide on the best will to lighten their wallets. I appreciate the fact that the store doesn't tell me to push anything. On the other hand, its clear that they can't pay me to do these things without a return on their investment. I enjoy going to the shelves with the last dozen or so people that have specific questions about products. 

The demo was scheduled for an hour but I never leave until all of the questions are answered-three hours today. The store sold a bunch of water stones, some Shapton gear, strop material and buffing compound. Best of all my Sharpening class next week is now full. A couple folks signed up for my -still unannounced- Handtool Woodworker class. That's a pretty good day in my book.