[Manteo]

I am thinking of moving to power honing simply because I can't seem to master honing by hand. I have read all the posts here on sharping and several books and still can't seem to keep a keen edge on my knives and its getting very frustrating. Someone told me though that if I can't get it done by hand that I will probably have the same trouble with power, if not more. Still, I'm thinking of either the Ultimate Power Honer, the Worksharp 2000, or the Port-a-Strop. Any thoughts and/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Manteo

[millhoused]

If you have a local club you will find someone who will take the time to show you how it is done.

You might want to check out this web site:
http://www.woodcarvers.com/sharpening.htm

Everett Ellenwood has a DVD that shows how it is done by hand.

In my very limited experience I almost always use power because I do not have the patience to do it by hand.

Occasionally that just means that I destroy a tool at the speed of light.

[Thomp]

Manteo,

First of all it depends on the tool quality as to how long it will keep an edge,

then it depends on you using the stone while matching the outer bevel on the blade and raising the wire edge, once the knife is sharp from the stone it can be honed, but without the sharpness coming from the stones the hone is useless,
a power hone will eventually polish a knife to sharp, but were talking an eon before its noticeable..

read all you can on sharpening look up the scary sharp method

another thing you may be failing at is the blade might be flexing, and your winding up sharpening only a small section in the middle of the blade,

on flexible blades i hold my index finger on the blade as its ran over the stones and hone so the pressure is more evenly distributed over the blade (not just where the blade flexes)

sharpening & honing is a pain in the fanny i know, but you got to be good at it for your carving to be best it can,,,

if you got good tools you dont have to do it as often
good luck

[VAwoodcarver]

Well i would suggest that you stick honing and sharpening by hand imo, because you can mess up a whole lot faster and a whole lot worse with a fast moving machine. I suggest that that you just stick to honing by hand, you will get the hang of it eventually, just keep at it..

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

If it isn't clear to you yet, hand sharpening, it won't be any better on a machine and will sure burn the steel in a hurry!

[Dundee]

I have not mastered sharpening either. Although I didn't have issues with stroping using the yellow compound and a butz strop I did buy the worksharp 2000 after I spent several hours trying to sharpen a gouge with water stones. I have vaporized the edge on several of my gouges with it. For honing I bought the leather wheel made for the 3000. It is heavy glass and is tricky to get balanced so it doesnt wobble so much. It generates a lot more heat than the slotted 6000 grit disk. But you only get 1 of those in the $15 abrasive kit.
So for honing I wouldnt look at the 2000 only the 3000.

[Mark N. Akers]

Maneto:
I just recieved a Ultimate Power Honer,I'd highly recommend it.

[Capt. Bandaid]

Most of the jet pilots in our military started with gliders and prop airplanes. We crawled before we walked. Learn to stone and stop by hand before you buy power equipment. There is no substitute for knowing what you are doing before you do it. First off, if you take care of your tools, there is little reason to stone them frequently. This will just eat away the metal edge quicker. If you do not know how to hold the tool when manually stropping it, a power strop will only ruin the edge faster.

[Gulf Coast Handyman]

Manteo, this may halp


http://www.pinewoodforge.com/strop.html

Dave