[William]

Banjo, you made a good choice with just the fine system.

I have been using this method for some time now and find it very good, easy and clean. You can get sandpaper up to 400 grit in a hardware store and up to 1500 grit in an automotive store if you need coarse but you will use the fine paper the most, and now that I have a good edge that's all I use.

I start with 1000, 1200 and 1500 and then switch to "micro-mesh" 3600, 4000, 6000,8000, and 12000.


One mistake that I made was applying a lot of pressure with my right hand as I was drawing the edge over the paper, the blade would bend slightly in the center and after a while the cutting edge had a slight dip in it. Now I put a little pressure on the back of the blade with my left hand to keep the blade straight.

Bill
^v^

[Thomp]

Banjo,

just apply your compound to the strop i like white or flexcut gold because of its its contrast, when you make a few strokes and the compound will start to darken, thats showing you its working,

like william said, too much pressure and the blade will show ware in the center, thats another reason why i put my finger on the trailing edge of the blade then drag the blade never push a cutting edge into the wet/dry paper or a strop. you can get away with it on a stone or diamond stone.. but never with a hone or flexible sharpening device...

you can provide even pressure with your finger more easily than with your wrist.. i guess no more pressure than it takes to hold a vine ripe tomato while slicing it , firm but not strong, no more than an ounce of down pressure usually needed, let the slip or compound do the work..

another sign the strop is working right is easily detected,
after you use the wet dry to sharpen,
if you look at the surface of the blade cutting edge,
its got a multitude of microfine scratches on the surface,
which work out when honing to a brite chrome highly polished finish where the compound has worked its magic.. most likely when you get this far the shinny spots are carving sharp.... get the rest of the blade to match..

if you see only a partial shine or only the center of the cutting edge has got attention,
then your pressing too hard move your finger up or down the blade and repeat the honing till you get the blade finely polished the length of the edege..

this can be caused when your honing a real flexible blade like a warren blade or exacto knife some use fir fine details..

Now sharpening and honing is not a instant gratifying task, some edges take as long to sharpen as they take to dull out. be patent

especally if your Sharpening a hard blade like a razor knife, recently i just finished another Straight razor carving knife blade, it took me most of a day for the initial sharpening and stropping the whole blade to shiny chrome finish,
its sticky carving sharp and ready to use.. After i get he special handle made for it.. (i got the cart before the horses but im waiting for parts for my beltsander i burned up)

[Banjo]

I'm glad to know about the pressure. I guess I thougt the more pressure I put on it, the sharper it would get. It's nice to know I don't have to wear myself out llike I've been doing applying pressure! The tip about putting your finger on top of the blade is a good one, too. Seems like it helps to keep an even pressure on the whole blade. Maybe I haven't screwed some of my tools up so bad, I can't straighten them out. Thanks guys, I really appreciate all your help!

[Dean Dickerson]

I've been reading posts on sharpening tools, and most seems to agree that the "scary sharp" method works well. Does the system work well for palm tools, knives, gouges and V's also?

[Thomp]

It will work for any edge tool as long as you can keep the angle matched to the wet dry paper,