Sharpening Concave Blades

[Walter]

Has anyone ever sharpened CONCAVE blades like the Warren or X-Acto blades? I have tried to find a website that tells how but have failed so far. I really like my Warren #22B small 1 3/8" radius concave blade for carving small insects. At about $1.00 each, I could just buy a lot of them but I need to really learn how to sharpen every type and contour knife, tool and blade if I can. Thanks for any advice you can give me.

Walter

[Thomp]

depending on the size of the curve in the blade,
i use the scairy sharp method and wrap the wet dry sandpaper around a dowell, but the dowell has to match the size of the curve, I have several hooked or curved blades i use to use for fine detailing,,

for honing i took a piece of leather and used contact rubber glue and stuck the leather on several different sizes dowles,
some use the leather boot laces wrapped tightly around dowels for honing inside of their gouges,

its all good.. and will get your blades carving sharp..

[AlArchie]

both the emmery wraped dowels and the leather wrapped dowels are good ideas. Check the sporting goods section of most any store and see if they have the 1/4" diameter ceramic rods for sharpening hunting and fillet knives. some come as a pair with a wooden base but I did find one about 5 inches long with a turned wooden handle. That works great for those inside curved blades.

Al

[B. Williams]

I have found out that using some type of power strop works best for me. I use either a cloth wheel or a leather wheel with compound. The cloth wheel conforms to the shape of the blade no matter what the curve is. One problem with this method is if you use it to much or to long the blade will become where it no longer cuts as good as it used to because the softness of the cloth changes the angle of the cutting edge. Then it is time to spend that $1.00 for a new one you have worn the old one out. For me this is the easiest way to sharpen those curver blades.

Bob W.

[Butch_Speer]

Walter,
You might want to give these a try. I've used them for general sharpening & they work pretty good. For the price, they're hard to pass up.
http://www.eknifeworks.com/webapp/eC...=96&SKU=SI1020
http://www.eknifeworks.com/webapp/eC...=11&SKU=SI1000

[Walter]

Thanks guys, these are all good ideas. With a little practice, maybe I can master sharpening any curved surface. One of our club members showed me a knife he reshaped so it has both a convex surface nearest the point and a concave surface nearest the handle. He does not use it all the time but it comes in handy. I call that an "S" shaped blade.