Sharpening 'other than field' knives
 

My Father in Law was apprised of my penchant for sharp pointy objects, and of my late-in-arriving BD present (12"x2" Norton fine/extrafine India Stone, the HH6 and Harsey conspired in this...)--- So, last time we went to see him, I was handed 8 turning knives. All of them had been put on a grinding wheel to be "sharpened" ... or rather gouged to death and made ugly...


research being done - will add to post in a bit

All that typing - gone - because I took too long - I will write everything up in Word and then post it a little later...

Okay - I think the past couple of hours was the end of the sharpening on the knives - I did not remove all of the pits/scouring/etc. on all of the faces - I need to see how th FIL handles the knives on a lathe before I put a final-final edge on them - as they are at the moment I'd use them without fear of burning - I'm worried that he's been using bad edges for long enough that he's compensated his technique to poor tools - thus runs the chance of catching a sharp edge on his work because he's been digging rather than shaving the wood for a while now.

8 knives total:
5/8" angle double bevel chisel
1" angle double bevel chisel
1/2" round edge chisel / parting tool
1/2" compound (boat front) parting chisel
1/2" simple parting tool
3/8" bowl gouge
3/4" bowl gouge
1" bowl gouge

(I will attach a couple of pictures - the first will be in this order r-> l )

I need to make a note to myself. Next I see X SF, I will give him knives, stones, copious amounts of beer and seared animal flesh. Last two items was a bribe.

I await pictures. I never have been able to sharpen a knife.

Yes, I know there are still cutting marks from re-facing, yes, one of the bowl gouges has an uneven face border on the tang - you should have seen them last month, when they looked like the faces had been hit with chainsaws...

All 8 as of about 30 minutes ago:

I'll bring my sharpening gear - make sure there is light cutting oil and/or WD-40 in industrial size containers - and no beer until I get at least one knife sharp, depending how bad the edge is...

And he's a SF medic! When he cuts himself (or you) he can stitch you up!!!

I never said I was bringing my personal M-5 bag, just sharpening gear - the last 'sharpening' incident that required my medical experience was provided to well, you know who... plastic, frigging plastic at SHOT....

I have some needle and thread in my med kit, if needed. I think I'll wear chainmail to be on the safe side.

Next project - a sharpening 'table' to fit on top of my Work-Mate. I will steal design and ideas from Mr Harsey's shop; non-slip areas so tools don't slide, an area that holds the stones properly, and some way to get good light on tabletop...

no idea how long this will take to design/build - I'll keep notes.

Basic idea - 3' wide by 2' deep, at least 1" thick top, lock onto the jaws of the workmate, 3 sides with a raised molding to keep tools from rolling off...


And just for TS - a built in band-aid holder.

Hi HOLLiS,

May I suggest that you get a Spyderco Tri-Angle Sharpmaker. Watch the DVD. I think I can guarantee that you will be shaving hair with your knife in an hour or so.

It's also a good bit of understanding that will help you in free hand sharpening.

sal

There's a thread about sharpening around here somewhere, but I better check to see if it's any good or not.


Edited to add: will go out in shop and draw my "edge" picture and post in the sharpening sticky.

Sal,
I know I could Google up a pic if this but could you post one of the sharpener you mention? (just in case you know where to find a good image :cool:)

This particular sharpener has been mentioned here several times in the past.
Thanks!

her ya go

http://spyderco.com/catalog/details.php?product=77

Tormek
 

I don't believe it has been mentioned, but since this thread deals with tools other than just knives, I have to mention the Tormek wet sharpener. It is not a cheap investment at about $500.00, but it is totally worth it if you have to sharpen a lot of tools.

The basic Tormek comes ready to sharpen chisels, plane irons, and other straight tools. It can also be used to freehand sharpen knives and gouges, but specific jigs are sold to sharpen all manner of edged weapons and/or tools. One of the main advantages is that the slow grind speed and water bath eliminate the possibility of ruining the heat treatment of the tool (not my department). It also makes getting a repeatable result easy. It for the most part removes the "magic" of getting a good result.

I can easily get a chisel razor sharp in less than 5 minutes, and that includes plugging it in and pouring water in the reservoir. It has totally revolutionized sharpening at our shop. There is no question that it has already paid for itself in time saved sharpening and labor saved using sharp tools rather than putting off sharpening them. It is not a total replacement for good stones or other techniques, but I highly recommend it for woodworkers.

I don't have personal experience with the knife sharpening jig for it, but my overall impression of the quality of the piece of equipment as well as the quality of the engineering leaves me little doubt that it would work well for knives also. YMMV.

Stay away from the cheap knockoffs. I think Jet makes a cheap version that doesn't hold up.