[Mischief]

My first carving is taking forever and 50% of the time i am experimenting with sharpening the knife i bought. I have managed to sharpen most of the blade to satisfaction but I can never seen to get the tip sharpen the same as the rest of the blade. I am laying it flat like the rest of the blade but the tip always is somehow different and i can even see the bevel being slightly different. Any tips?

[Plain_Ol_Ed]

There's a chance that you are putting more pressure on the rest of the blade than the tip. It is kind of natural to do this for many folks.

[xsailer]

You aren't the only one Mischief. I've spent hours learning and have the same prom\blem. I'm always, overly careful I think, of putting equal pressure on the length of the blade and still have the problem. What's weird is I don't have this problem on all of my knives. Go figure.

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Ed is right, you are putting more pressure on the tip, and/or changing the angle, not keeping the blade flat and then there is always the lifting and rolling the edge when you turn the blade over lol.......it takes practice...get an old something you don't care about and practice on that.....maybe a piece of hacksaw blade? Did you look up "Scary Sharp": procedures and follow that.....also go to littleshavers site and look at the sharpening section.

[dryheat]

When I had the same problem I wiped the blade with Lacquer Thinner or Alcohol and then used a gun bluing pencil to color the blade, I think you could use a marker but it wouldn’t last as long, then, using a magnifier you can see exactly where you are putting pressure. Use a light touch until you see where you are stropping.
Hope this helps.
Ed

[Robert Cahill]

I am not the best one to be giving sharpening advice but one thing I found I was doing while honing on a strap was I was careless at the end of the stoke and turning my blade toward the strap causing a slight round over on the blade. Now I try to remember to turn the back of the blade toward the strap when finishing the stroke. I'm not good with words so hope this makes sense

[JerryH]

Mischief, I experienced the same problem as you early on and soon learned the problem was mostly with my thin bladed knives. The heavier blades do not flex as much. I learned how to control the pressure by using some magic marker ink on the edge of the blade and watching it every few strokes on the strop. Pressure has to be applied in different places on different knives. At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it! :>)
Jerry

[Tom H]

Mischief, If the blade on your knife is flat with no bevel, you might try to place the blade tip flat on the strop, and place your index finger directly over the tip. Strop in each direction with a little pressure on the blade tip. Your finger on the blade will keep the blade flat against the strop. Do not run the blade over the end of the strop nor roll it for the return stroke. After several strokes on the tip, move your index finger back a wee bit towards the handle and with the same pressure, strop that area of the blade. Keep moving your finger and stropping until all the blade has been stropped.

This works for me, and I mainly use the knife tip for carving small.

Tom H

[vic n]

A couple of points that have been hinted at:
Whether using a stone to sharpen, or a strop to hone .... put one, two, even up to three fingers on the blade for equal pressure.
Hold your right(side pulling the blade) arm/wrist firm so as not to change the angle.
At the end of your stroke, stop the blade completely, then pick up and move for the next stroke. Vic