Water or Oil Stones

[RandyHjr]

I have yet to sharpen my carving set. I will be doing ALOT of carving and will have to sharpen them at some point. I have a flexcut slip strop coming. It seems to be easy to use and good for beginners. My problem is I have no one to teach me or show me how to sharpen my knives. I have the stanard beginner set with the gouges, bent v tool, strait chisel etc. What is the best and easiest way for me to teach myself? Also is water or oil better? What grits? All information will be put to good use. thanks

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Here is a video from the forum: Woodcarving Illustrated - How To Magazine for Carvers - Sharpening a Carving Knife

Dave


BTW - I like diamond stones with water.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

This may also help: - SHARPENING SIMPLIFIED DVD - ELLENWOOD #978571

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--9BcM5kUJo

Dave

[brent]

My personal preference is oil. Water stones tend to wear away rather quickly, then there is the water+steel issue. make sure you wipe them dry.
Oil tends to be messy, but I feel that it moves the steel particle better than water.
Water stones have to be lapped periodically. The oil do sooner or later, but not near as often as water.
You can find a good amount of info on sharpening here or on the web. Try searching youtube also.

Good luck!

[Claude]

In general, you won't use your stone(s) to do much sharpening of your gouges and knives unless you chip an edge. The Flexcut slipstrop is good for the gouges and v-tools, but it's a little small for my preference for knives. I took on old piece of shelving about a foot long and, using contact cement, glued a scrap piece of suede to it rough side up. Put on some compound, and it's great strop. You could use the compound that comes with the slipstrop. BTW, can't remember if instructions come with the slipstrop, so just in case, rub the compound directly onto the shaped wood of the slipstrop, as well as the two leather areas. Sharpen your gouges and v-tools by pulling them toward you (away from the edge). After you do the beveled side a few times, turn the gouge over, select the appropriate shape and make a couple of strokes on the inside of the gouge.

To see if your knife is really sharp or not, put your head near a lamp and hold the knife flat under the lamp. Angle the blade so it reflects the light up into your eyes. Slowly rotate the knife until the edge is up. If you can see any reflection off the edge, the knife is not sharp. Try this with one of your old kitchen knives and see how much light is reflected by the edge.

Claude

[RandyHjr]

ok, very good information. I can see how the slip strop isn't long enough for the strait chisels. I will order a strait piece of of strop for my strait knives. I have access to super glue and some other epoxy type glues that should work. what grit stones should I get. I am going to try and keep my blades fresh with the strop so I avoid having to use the stones. I still want to get them just in case I do get a chip. A chip with no stones around would leave me unable to carve for a couple of weeks. I will check out the videos when I get home from work today. Thank you for the links. I look forward to putting pictures up of my first carving.

[Claude]

If you get a piece of glass and some fine sandpaper (600 grit, 1000 grit, 2000 grit), stick a strip of the sandpaper to the glass using spray adhesive (like post-its use), you won't need any stones at all. Google "scary sharp" or use the Search button above.

Claude

[RandyHjr]

Thanks Claude, that might be more reasonable for here. The glass part may be tricky though. I will see what I can dig up. I know I can get some varnish. Think a really good flat coat of varnish on wood would do the trick?

[cameronwe]

What is the general feeling on diamond sharpeners?

[Dicky]

very good, very aggressive and very expensive. On the up side they are fast, come in fine grits and need only water for lubrication.