Keeping my tools sharp.

[Richard Carmen]

PLEASE HELP..............I must be doing something wrong. No matter how hard or what method I use, I'm not getting my tools razor sharp. I have stropped by hand. I've tried stropping wheels. I'm sure the materials I'm using are not at fault. It's my method / procedure being used. Does anyone have any suggestions that might help me overcome this problem?

[Inadv]

Richard,

It is really hard to give you defensive info without seeing just what you are doing. There are a blue bazillion "How-Tos" both on this message board and on YouTube. If you have a carving club you can get to and find some real one-on-one instruction that would be beneficial.

Depending on what tools you have purchased many come pre-sharpened and will only require frequent stropping to maintain them. There are several vendors that offer sharpening services at very reasonable rates. Unless a blade gets damaged in some way actual "sharpening" is unnecessary. Rick Ferry at Little Shavers on the west coast or Allen Goodman on the east are two that come to mind for excellent sharpening service.

Hope this helps. Trying to carve with dull tools takes a huge toll on the "fun factor" of carving. It is frustrating and dangerous too. Sharpening is the first and arguably the most important skill you need to learn.

L.P.

[Nomad]

Originally Posted by Inadv

Richard,

It is really hard to give you defensive info without seeing just what you are doing. There are a blue bazillion "How-Tos" both on this message board and on YouTube. If you have a carving club you can get to and find some real one-on-one instruction that would be beneficial.

Depending on what tools you have purchased many come pre-sharpened and will only require frequent stropping to maintain them. There are several vendors that offer sharpening services at very reasonable rates. Unless a blade gets damaged in some way actual "sharpening" is unnecessary. Rick Ferry at Little Shavers on the west coast or Allen Goodman on the east are two that come to mind for excellent sharpening service.

Hope this helps. Trying to carve with dull tools takes a huge toll on the "fun factor" of carving. It is frustrating and dangerous too. Sharpening is the first and arguably the most important skill you need to learn.

L.P.

Can't add to that. Well said!

[kdispoto]

It could be the angle is off. Try to locate a local carving club or other carvers in your area and see if someone can help out?

[RUssL.]

Tough love and what you don't want to hear:
Sharpening is a skill and skills are only learned through practice; the actual doing of the task.

That means many failures, trial and error and doing it over and over until you get it right.
Keep trying, you'll get it. We have all been there and it takes lots of practice and lots of dull blades before the one day/time that it all falls into place.
Trust me on this. I have really been there. I bought every sharpening tool/gizmo/machine in the book. When all is said and done, any of them would have worked if I had just stuck with it.
As it turns out I had to practice and practice with all of them...but I am finally, after 3-4 years, getting so that, at least on some of them, I can get a decent edge.
The only real answer is practice, practice, practice.
Sorry, but somebody had to be the one to break it to you. ;-)

RussL.

[rickm]

your not telling us what yr using. If you using a stone wheel getting it razor sharp will be hard, it still needs to be stropped or finished no matter how fine the stone. I use a cardboard wheel with compound to get the final edge, but even though cardboard doesnt heat up as much as other stuff, you sitll have to guard against getting that little blade too hot.
If your doing it by hand, make sure that the leather is hard on the strop, apply yr compound lay the knife just about flat and begin working. There is a lot of different ways to strop, some use the barbers method where you drag the knife across the strop and then pull it up abruptly at the last second to avoid rounding the edge. Others will just make little circles. I use both methods depending. In all it might take a while by hand to get it sharp. When sword makers in Japan make Katanas they take a month to sharpen it by hand. So if you think youll get results in even twenty minutes you might be fooling yourself. Another trick is to get some automotive sandpaper, 1500 grit or finer and work the blade on that for awhile before stropping.
I would suggest you join a local carving club and have people look at yr edge and they can tell you if you ahve nicks or the edge is rounded and show you how to do it. hope this helps.

[Nomad]

Ok, maybe I can add a couple things. One, if you don't have a small hand lens (a 10x loupe), I'd consider investing in one. This will allow you to see what is happening right at the edge while you are sharpening. Two (and this has probably already been mentioned), get a marking pen and mark the bevel with ink. Sharpen a bit and you will be able to see where you are sharpening on the bevel. You can't just go through the motions or steps of sharpening, you really need to look at the edge closely to see exactly what you are doing. For instance, stropping a blade that still needs more sharpening is useless.

[Robson Valley]

First, decide what the included angle needs to be at the edge of the tool. Find a protractor and draw the following angles on a sheet of paper:
Chip knives: 12 - 15 degrees
Carving gouges, etc: 20 degrees, maybe 25 for harder woods
Carpenters chisels: 30 degrees
Knot-buster chisels: 40 degrees
Paint the edge of your tool with a black felt marker so you can see where the metal is coming off. Lock you elbows to your sides so you can't roll the tool handle up or down.
I suggest 1,000 & 4,000 grit waterstones, 5 long pull strokes at a time. Then the leather strop with some stropping compound.
The black streak reveals what you're doing. While a little of it is from the marker pen, most is metal coming off the tool bevel.
Don't "test" the edge with your fingertip (too crude and you might get cut.) Instead, cut a chip, shaving, etc from a piece of carving wood. After all, that is the true test, no?

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Like said above, if a tool is dull stropping won't help, it must be sharpened first! If you don't have a club near by to help you with sharpening, take a look at Everett Elenwoods DVD on sharpening, also Youtube has several videos on sharpening. Just my opinion, I don't worry about angles when sharpening a knife, I lay the bevel flat. Hope this helps!

Dave

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Here is a link to the sharpening dvd, - SHARPENING SIMPLIFIED DVD - ELLENWOOD #978571

http://www.youtube.com/results?searc...ng+tools+&aq=f

Dave