[The Major]

Okay…I think I’m ready…knives, gouges/chisels, Dremel and accessories, basswood board, super simple pattern of a flower (I got off this website), dust mask, shop vac (for dust) and safety glasses.

I’m ready to carve.

One thing though…sharpening. This may seem like a real stupid question, but how do you know when its time to sharpen? And how frequently? Is it recommended that I have a sharpening kit before even starting to carve?

Thank you in advance for your advice.

The Major.

[Ashbys]

I moved the thread here as I think it is more suited . If you look through this area I think you will find what you need . But the simple rule of thumb is if the knife glides through the wood , it is sharp , if it pulls , it needs honed , if it drags it needs sharpened .

Sounds simple but almost every carver , will streach the knife cuts longer than he should.

Hope this help and good luck major.

Ash

[heineda]

Hello,

Unless the person you bought the tools from sharpened them for you, they will need to be sharpened before they are ready for use. Once they are sharp, frequent stropping should keep them well honed and sharp for a long time. I stop and strop the knife I'm using about every 15-20 minutes. If you notice the tool is requiring a lot more effort to cut than it did before, it may be time to sharpen. Once you become comfortable with your tools you will know right away when they need to be sharpened. If you keeps your tools honed frequently on the strop, they will not require sharpening very often. Stropping is the key to keeping your tools in shape.

Carving,
Dan Heine

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Look up "scary sharp" on google, best simplest way to learn and to start out in my opinion....I still use it and have other means and tools. I use 400, 800, 1200 and 2000 grit...you can go lower and coarser if you desire, depends on the edge on the knife you got....this method also teaches you to keep your blade flat, and will help you with stropping. imho.........others will no doubt add to this.

[The Major]

Thank you Ash for moving my message to the proper forum!

Thank you Dan and David for your advice!

I did check out the ‘Scary Sharp’ website. Very, very informative…thank you! An inexpensive way to keep an edge on my tools!

Certainly saves having to track down what kind of stones to buy and how to go about getting a strop. (I imagine that you would get a strop at a barber supply store, right?)

What about sharpening the half-circle gouges. I'm afraid I'm not sure how you would do that...same approach as the ‘Scary Sharp’ but you would use sandpaper on a dowel the right size and the ‘cup’ of the gouge? Doing it very carefully?

I apologize about asking so many blasted questions...I just want to do this right!

Thank you again for your time and assistance!

The Major.

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

Go here ...
http://www.littleshavers.com/Directory06Sharpening.html

[Claude]

Rick sells great stuff, but if you don't have the time or money to order (meaning you're really in a hurry...), do what I did: found an old piece of suede leather about a foot long, cut it more or less straight on one edge, and glued it to a leftover piece of flat shelving I had using contact cement. Rub some compound into it, and have at it. By the way, one of the magazines recently had an article about making your own custom strop from a piece of basswood - don't remember the magazine or date, but think it was Susan Irish who wrote it; if not, my apologies to Susan and whoever the real author is.

Claude

[BobD]

Technically, any wood charged with the compound would work...leather just holds the compound better.

Susan did the article with us. It's in issue 35 (Summer 2006)

Bob

[nadcarves]

You can see dullness by reflecting light off the cutting edge.The visible white line is dullness, a lack of a white line indicates sharpness to some degree. To pick up gas money,at carving shows, I buy and cut down the old leather belts that ran antique farm equipment. These are old dirty pieces of leather that have been work hardened over the years.They hone very well...I sell a 4 by 8 strop for two dollars, and load it with compound .For some of the designer colored ones out there, wholesale has got to be much higher than that..How soon will they be putting peppermint flavoring in the secret Ozark stropping compound that you buy? Looking at some of the pictures of various strops, a few appear to be very soft.. Softness, a trait not wanted.. Rounds the tools...Why would you buy them ?,,,better question, why do the dealers sell them?

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I have a bunch of "chrome leather" looks kind of like suede but thicker......I mount it on a piece of wood, usually a length of plywood and glue it all the way around with Elmers carpenters glue, never had one come off...glue one side, clamp it for a half hour, roll the leather and glue another side and clamp etc etc......an exacto knife is a good one to cut off the excess leather. the rough on the chrome goes away very fast after you put compound on it and strop a couple of times....