Summary of Unicorning results on table build
Bill Tindall, E.Tn.
I am making a narrow table for daughter that will serve a specific purpose. It will have a spectacular top, to be discussed later. The table is assembled with traditional joinery- double M&T back and side rail (because of height), dovetail top front rail, double M&T bottom rail, dovetail drawer dividers (vertical), single M&T stretcher, dovetail drawers.
Chopping results:
Chopping the tenon shoulders and dovetails summed to about 300" of linear chopping. My experience was that this amount would have severely damaged my chisel edge sharpened at 30 degrees. I would have had to sharpen at least once before finishing.
A pair of chisels ( used mostly one of them) were ground at 25 degrees, followed by fine diamond plate , 1 micron diamond on cast iron, Unicorn on buffer for about 2-3 seconds to yield the bright Unicorn glint at the very tool tip.
After completion of these tasks examination with 10X lens revealed one localized "dent" on one of the chisel edges and no other detectable damage. I could feel some dulling toward the end when the chisel was used for paring.
Resharpening:
The last of the dovetail preparation involves paring waste. I felt I had better resharpen before paring. 10 strokes on the fine diamond plate removed the Unicorn profile and established a burr. Sharpening continued as described above. The resulting edge felt sharper when paring than I have ever experienced before.
End grain shooting:
I adjust drawer lengths by planing end grain ends with a bevel up shooting plane, LV. I typically see damage to the blade edge after short stints of end grain planing. I added the Unicorn profile to this blade. After fitting 4 drawer fronts I could not detect any damage with a 10X lens.
Conclusion: A Unicorn profile adds robustness to my tool edges and makes them sharper than I have previously experienced. This technique has been a great benefit to my work.
