[BLSHIMLA]

hi all, I am trying to find a electric knife sharperner for my carving tools. I found one at chippingaway.com, but new to this so was wondering if any of you all had any suggestions on where to buy one. It is for carving knives and chisels.
tks....bambi

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

do not, repeat, do not put your good carving knives and chisels in a power knife sharpener!
You need to learn how to sharpen by hand, unless you have gobs of money, because you are going to grind up your tools in short order and still will not have a good carving edge on them. Take a look at the "scary sharp" method in a google search, good way to start, you also need a good strop. imho

[Tucson Bill]

Hi Bambi,

Not sure what you mean be "electric knife sharpener". If you mean the kind that you would use to sharpen a kitchen knife, reread Hi Ho's post about 6 times.

If you mean one that is designed for sharpening carving tools, Rick at Little Shavers sells the Burke system.

Be advised that you first need to know how to sharpen your tools PROPERLY by hand or you are sure to ruin your tools no matter what system you buy. Sharpening is an acquired skill and takes practice, practice and then a little more practice.

[MDWine]

I'm glad I read this! You probably saved me some money, and time, and a few knives.

I was very tempted to buy one of those JoolTool sharpeners, but figured that I must absolutely learn to do it by hand first, before considering a machine.

Good advice Dave, and thanks!

MDW

[BLSHIMLA]

Thanks Hi Ho Silver for the email. I will take your advice and keep trying by hand. Also Tucson Bill for your email too. Any suggestion on what kind of stone to use when sharpening. Hard to find anyone around where I live to teach me, so trying to learn on my own. Have a great day and keep the chips flying.
Bam

[AlArchie]

There are all kinds of stones around that will do the job.......problem is finding and trying out the systems until you find the one you like. Hi-Ho recommends the Scarey Sharp System which uses abrasive paper backed on a steel or glass base. Seems like a good system

Or you might try the small diamond stone (actually diamond dust imbedded on a small steel bar). These are available in the discount store or large hardware stores in their sporting goods section for around 5 to 7 bucks.

These cut fast, are easy to stick in your carving box or evem pocket if you want.

Yhen you should find a good strop......where do you find that? Well if nothing else, you can use the back of a wide leather belt. Use an abrasive paste or nothing at all. If you are having problems finding the stropping abrasive, you can use ANY metal polish that come in a tube (Flitz, etc) from the hardware joint down the street. They may also have various polishing bars (jewelers rouge).but the tube type polishes work just fine.
If you are not familiar with stropping, just ask around here and you should get some good advice.

Al

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

We all seem to learn from each other here, I do recommend the "Scary Sharp" system as Al stated, however I also found that I like a diamond sharpener Al recommends to rough in the edge, then go to the scary sharp sandpaper system, the advantage to the scary sharp system, is its only sandpaper and a solid backing of somekind so very reasonable price to start out, I use a 1/4 chunk of plexiglas....once you learn how to sharpen....... you can buy any sharpening machine you like, the world is open to you and so must be your pocket book ha ha!

[wade clark]

Great advice! Learn to do it cheaply! Then if you really feel like you need a "sharpener" to speed sharpen your tools, get out the c.c. or check book and spend $450 to $500 to do the same thing a little quicker. But don't spend the money til you know how to do it cheaply. Speaking from experience here, as everybody else is too. I have the Tormec system with all its' jigs and haven't begun to figure them all out yet, but use the leather strop wheels all the time. It's fast and nice, but it won't outsharpen the scary system (sandpaper) and a simple leather strop!
Wade