Early on when deciding where to have a sharpening station in my woodshop, I decided that I wanted it to be at my shop sink in order to keep the mess contained in that area. In the two photos shown below, you can see the bottom of my sharpening station. When not in use, the station hangs on my wall with a french cleat. The cleat is on the other side (top) of the station. It is held on with the three screws that you can see at the top of the photos below.
The black material is grippy shelf liner. The two smaller pieces go under the sides of the station when it is installed. The larger piece goes on top of the station when in use to hold stones and plates in place. And as you can see, when the station is stored, the shelf liner pieces hang on cup hooks.
The boards on the bottom are 1 “x 3” select pine. The boards are arranged the way they are for two reasons. The first is that they stiffen the main board which is a 12″ x 36″ shelf board. The second reason is that they lock the station into place at the sink.
Below is a picture of the utility sink in my shop. The sides of the sink were added by me. They are made from the same type of shelf board as the sharpening station but they are 8″ x 24″. The long board on the bottom of the station goes on the outside of the sink along the front edge. The three boards in the shape of a ‘C’ fit inside the sink and between the side shelves. The two small pieces of shelf liner lay on the side shelves of the sink under the sharpening station.
Here you can see the sharpening station when it is installed. You can also see the french cleat that is used to hang the station on the wall when it is not in use.
There are three things I like about this setup. The first is that the mess of sharpening stays contained in the sink area. The second is that there the water is easy to access while sharpening. Thirdly, this was very easy to build so when it inevitably gets destroyed from use, it will be very easy to make a new one.
