[Thomp]

A great way to tune up your tools, especally for beginners or those who cant afford all them stones....
a very inexpencive method explained.
i didnt write this but here is a link to scary sharp method of sharpening your tools.

CLICK HERE

[windsong]

Thomp
Thanks for the link i,m alway intrested in new way to sharpen my knifes.
I hope some day to make a knife that never need sharping.Ha Ha .
Vic.

[Thomp]

Good luck with that knife vic,

but unless you seal it in a big glass test tube that aint going to happen,

i swear i have had pocket knivesw in the past that dulled themselves....

I use this scairy sharp method between my stones and buffing hone

but there is no reason you couldnt sharpen a new store bought blade the same way especially if you didnt have wet stones... just go through the grits till it gets fine...

[tnartist05]

Thanks for this link!! Thomp

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

Hey Windsong, try storing it in a vacuum......and I don't mean a Hoover ha ha

[whitecree]

He's formalised it, but this is how I've been sharpening for quite some time now. Since few of my knives have a completely straight edge, working on a table saw doesn't go so great (for me), but I can wrap a piece of snadpaper around a dowel and then treat the wrapped dowel as a stone.

For final honing, I like to use some extremely fine micro-abrasive paper I get from Lee Valley

Using the 0.5 micron stuff has to be tried to be believed.

[Banjo]

Thanks for the link, Thomp. I am sharpening impaired and get sooo tired of sending my tools off to someone to be sharpened. I just ordered the fine sharpening system. I probably needed the coarse one, too, but I'll see if I can learn to use the fine one first. Wish me luck!

[Thomp]

Originally Posted by Banjo

Thanks for the link, Thomp. I am sharpening impaired and get sooo tired of sending my tools off to someone to be sharpened. I just ordered the fine sharpening system. I probably needed the coarse one, too, but I'll see if I can learn to use the fine one first. Wish me luck!

Banjo,

this above tends to lend me to believe, that you are wearing out your tools trying to keep them sharp. or you got some really cheap soft steel tools.

there is a difference in quality tools and those sold at harbor freight that closely resemble tools,..Arn't. but its a good thing for beginners that buy cheap tools they definately learn how to sharpen from buyng soft steel tools becuse they spend as much time maintaining them tools as carving..
im not saying thats your case but if the shoe fits.....

Banjo, it is a very rare occasion that i ever put a tool to an abrasive stone or wet/dry once it has been sharpened, unless i debark a cypress knee or drop a tool on concrete. or somebody(which will remain nameless) uses it to chip ice or open a can of paint...

otherwise I just maintain the edge with compound and a hone, i prefer a pig skin leather hone and flexcut gold compound, but there are many different compounds from rouge to powder...

Sharpening:
there is nothing magic to sharpening A tool, its just a fact of matching the existing edege to the abrasive and consistently making strokes,
Now you can't see it happen like threading a needle, because its happening under the steel hidden from view, a bit of faith, concentration, and consistency will prevail..

usualy I set my blade on the medium or fine stone or wet/dry backed with high temper glass and wet, and put my finger on the trailing edge of the blade. I sharpen by the sence of touch with the finger,
This way i feel the blade lift or the angle change if it happends while sharpening... and am able to correct it immediately

Get the angle:
if you rock the blade with your wrist before you start sharpening you can feel a very suttle bump, thats the angle you need to maintain.
you are feeling the side of the cutting edge set on the stone-wet/dry, remember that position and get comfortable so your arm movement don't get bound up while making the stroke.,
pull the blade down the stone, lift and move it to the other end f the stone and repeat, i suggest water or oil to keep the stones/paper from cloging, but give it 10 on the left 10 on the right .. and check sharpness,
in some cases you will see little fuzzy bits of steel hanging off the edge, that looks like filings thats a good sign, and called the wire edge, it means your almost as sharp as your gonna get,,
now move to the hone.

Honing:
A hone made from a stiff ruler or section of yard stick, is smooth and hard enough to support the work then with some michels craft store pig skin leather, rubber glued to it will make a fine hone,

While thick leather will last forever it works soft eventually and becomes spongy, the tool compresses it and makes a hammock u effect (see photo) on the edge so the micro fine abrasives of the strop compound are working on just the very final edge of the tool and eventually it will round out the bevel making the cutting edge area rounded and wide.

to make several, cost bout the same as buying one, but when i need a hone i need it then, so during my rounds i buy and keep a small stock of pig skin leather on hand. usually used on purses and wallets in craft stores..
I get my pig skin prepared cut to size so it wraps all the way around the stick, draw a line down center long ways,
when using rubber glue you dont get a second chance, so be right the first time.. cover the area of the stick with contact cement, elmers in the school supply area at wally world is fine.
also coat the intire back side of the pig skin. the side you marked the line on..
set it aside to dry,
it should be dry to touch so none of the contact cement comes off in your finger,
when the hide and stick both are dry place the stick's edege exactly on the line and strech the hide a little then lay it over to one side, stop and work out any wrinkles now.. then fold over the other side strech rub and press the pig shin and make it smooth,
you can press it between 2 heavy books overnight to insure ti stays but i usually just trim off excess, apply compound and put it to work...

eventually all tools wear note the scond drawing, showing sharp and over honed edges,
eventually any hone will wear back the edge, making the edege thick, when this happends the blade can still be carving sharp but by being overly thick little details crumble and pop off when carving vecuse the blade is acting like a wedge, your expending more effort to make the knife cut the same wood, or maybe your thinking this is the hatdest wood you ever carved,
well its time to reshape the cutting edge, get back to the stones or wet/dry scairy sharp method and get that edge rite..

good luck

[Hi_Ho_Sliver]

I would like to try some pigskin on a strop, have always heard its the best....but no pigs here alas

[Banjo]

Thanks, Thomas, for all the good tips. I actually have some pigskin left over from a craft project and will certainly give it a try. I just never feel like I'm getting the angle right when I'm using a strop. And I worry about how much pressure to use too.......am I using too much or too little. You gave me some good tips and I'm anxious to try them out today. Thanks again.