Gordon gags when people say upcycle, because it usually means they’ve taken something useful (like a pallet) and made it useless (like a sign that says “Love is Everything” or “Live, Laugh, Love” or “I don’t need love, I have wine”).  But this is a post about upcycling and he’s just going to have to deal with it.

Small town hardware stores are great for finding new projects. Gordon found a 99 cent sharpening stone at Smithfield Implement last weekend that reminded him of this stone of his dad’s:

Paul doesn’t believe in throwing things away that might be useful, so he used a scrap piece of 2×4 to chisel a case for his stone. Because chiseling the entire things takes a whole lot of time, Gordon drilled out the space for his stone first. So if the upcycling mood strikes and you have a sharpening stone, do this:

Trace the stone.

Drill out the space (Gordon set the depth to about 1/4 inch on the drill press and used a Forstner bit), then chisel out the corners.

Rout the edges, mostly for looks, partly to fix any issues on the edges. Gordon likes using scrap wood because anything you do to it makes it classier, and if you make a mistake you just say “hey, it’s a piece of scrap wood.”

More drilling on the bottom to hold the oil.

Check the fit

Glue on a bottom plate and stain it all.

Sharpen all of the knives you have. This is one Gordon made at the cabin on the forge.

Now you have something to do with all those spare pieces of 2×4. And you don’t have to call it upcycling if you don’t want to.