Newbie Advice-Sharpening

[adaws26]

Hello all. I have spent many hours (more than my boss would like) reading through this site in the past week or so. There is so much great information here! I just purchased my first knife (Flexcut) and a v-parting tool from Woodcraft yesterday. Also got suited up with a kevlar glove, thumb guard and bought several pieces of basswood. I started carving the 5 Minute Wizard last night and am having a blast with it!

However, I'm a bit confused when it comes to sharpening. I have seen some contradicting advice. Some sites I have visited specifically say...do NOT sharpen your blade unless it has been damaged...stroping will be sufficient as long as you do it regularly. Others have said that you should use a diamond stone in addition to stroping. Some have suggested stroping compund while others have said, leather only. It all seems very confusing.

I am going today to purchase some sharpening materials and am wondering if anyone can give me an idea of what I should buy for sharpening and maybe suggest an efficient method of sharpening-beginning to end. Does everyone use a diamond stone regularly? Does anyone use bare leather or is compound a must?

Thanks!!

[AlArchie]

Stropping is USUALLY all you need to do, but +eventually (time depends on your carving and stropping style) you will have to touch up that bevel with a stone. Diamond stones are probably the fastest cutting, even in the fine ones, but a good arkansas stone or other quality stone will work as well as the diamond....a lot depends on what you learn to like.

You can strop on bare leather, but adding a compound speeds up the process. Stropping on bare leather will remove the wire edge, but not do a lot toward polishing the bevel, which is almost as important. The smoother the bevel, the easier the blade slices through the wood.

There are a lot of different approaches to the "process" but here's what I do, and it works for me.

Start with a fine diamond stone. Lay the blade flat on the stone, then raise the spine (back of the blade) about the thickness of a dime. Maintain this same angle and take ten strokes as if you are trying to slice a thin layer off the stone. Turn the blade over and do nine strokes, turn again and do eight and continue this process down to one stroke on each side of the blade.

If you have a blade with no secondary bevel, just keep the blade flat on the stone......it's a matter of personal preference and blade design.

The important thing here is to teach your hand to hold that angle constant without "rolling" blade as you stroke. I call this "muscle memory" ....pretty soon, your hand will know the angle.

Most any of the commercially available stropping compounds will work well, but everyone seems to have their own favorite.

Lay a good amount of compound on your strop.... you can add whenever you like...the stuff lasts a long time on one load. Then just drag your blade over the strop at the same angle you sharpened at....turn the blade and do the other side. For me ten or fifteen reps does the job. Be careful not to "roll" the blade up at the end of each stroke, or you will start to round the bevel.

Al

[aulddiy]

I could n't addanything to Al's suggestions. What I will say is it took me a while to get the hang of it. Practise is the key, do n't feel down hearted if you do n't get the edge you want right away.

[Dicky]

I will second what these two fellows suggest and add one more step. My strop has leather on both sides one has compound on it and the other doesn't have anything on it. I strop on the plain leather after using the compound. Some folks will then go to newspaper or brown paper after that.

[Tom Ellis]

Hello, You might take a look at tomz knife massager on Ebay. It has the diamond, the strop, and the compound. Keep Al's advice in mind, and let the machine do the work. It makes it real easy to lock your wrist at and angle, and the machine will do the rest.

Carve safe, Tom

[adaws26]

There are a lot of different approaches to the "process" but here's what I do, and it works for me.

Al, thanks for the detailed advice. This sounds like a great method and makes much more sense than some of the other info I have seen.

My strop has leather on both sides one has compound on it and the other doesn't have anything on it. I strop on the plain leather after using the compound. Some folks will then go to newspaper or brown paper after that.

Dicky, thanks for this great idea here. Best of both world's. I have not seen this suggested anywhere else. Thank you!

Thanks to all for the quick responses and good advice. Heading to Woodcraft and then home to sharpen my knife up and get back to my Wizard!

TD

[Spooker]

Hello Adaws,

I'm fairly new to carving as well and I had a real struggle getting the hang of the sharpening. I'm still not getting the sharpest possible edge, plenty sharp enough so the knife does the work and not my poor wrist and arms.

But one thing that helped me tremendously was 'muscle memory' I went through each step very slowly, over and over again, concentrating on hand and blade movements to make sure I wasn't rolling the blade and such. After a while it becomes second nature.

Spooker

[LorenS]

Hello welcome to the board, as already mentioned a consistent angle is very important while running the blade across the stone, and stropping on leather with a compound to remove any wire edges and polish the bevel and blade itself.

I use a stone found in most hardware stores current one is about 2"X6" one side coarse and the other fine. I use mineral oil as a lube and keep it in a low tupperware container which has oil in it as well. I use the stone for general shaping of the blade. I then have a piece of wood about 2" square and about 10 inches long on each side I glued a piece of felt and over that I have different grades of emery cloth 220, 400, 600, 800 or crocus cloth. Using each in ascending order removes a lot of the scratches in the blade quickly and easily. I then move to my strop witch is a piece of leather glued to a piece of wood 2"X 10" about an inch thick, charged with compound.

For quick touch ups while carving I also have a bench grinder 3450 rpm or so with a special buffing wheel I have only seen at the Woodcraft Shop in Bettendorf, IA. It consists of a loose stitched wheel and special compound, if possible it works best if the grinder is "reversed" that is to say the wheel spinning up and away as you stand in front of it. This way if a tool would happen to catch in the wheel it will not be propelled back at you. It only takes a couple of seconds to touch up an edge. The cool part is you don't have to worry about sticking a v tool into the wheel, both sides can be buffed. I is a good idea to have some type of guard behind and above the wheel as they are messy in the fact that some compound is thrown if unguarded it will leave a line on the wall behind the grinder and possibly the ceiling above. Give Larry a call at The Woodcraft Shop in Bettendorf Ia and he will fix you up with a wheel and the mystery compound.

[adaws26]

Thanks again to everyone for all of the great advice. I went to Woodcraft yesterday and purchased a piece of leather, about 6' x 12'. I cut it into 3 smaller 2' x 12" pieces and am going to make a 2-sided strop for my knfe, and then another wood dowel strop for my v-tool (got that idea from a post on this board).

Another question. I have seen strops sold with the "fuzzy" side of the leather up (used for stroping). I have also seen several people using a strop with the "smooth" side up. Which is the corect surface to use? Does it matter?

[Dicky]

You may have just put your foot in it. The question is sure to spark a debate. I use them both but prefer smooth side up as I feel there is less "give" to the leather when pressure is applied. Its probably just a matter of personal preference.