- Joined
- Jun 3, 2010
- Messages
- 1,516
For the life of me I have never been able to get a V ground bevel on a small axe shaving sharp. Tried the various sharpening tools and they all failed. Tried the file and stone which worked better but never got that shaving sharp goodness I knew was possible. I am ok at sharpening scandi and convex knives. They always get shaving sharp even if it takes me twice as long as it should. The only thing that has worked for me is convexing the bevels on my smaller axes. My H&B forge hawks are nice but the bevel needed some work. On the Shawnee it was off. One side was just a fast swipe the other side seemed to have more attention. The Med polled axe was a little better but still wasn't shaving sharp.
Tools.
1. Sand paper, 400-600-1500-2000.
2. Old school mouse pad.
3. Two strops.
4. Sharpie marker.
The marker gave me a good idea which area was being hit by the sand paper. One mistake I have done in the past was to work the very edge only. I work the entire bevel constantly checking if it looks right and making sure the edge isn't being rounded off. This means not using too much pressure and visual inspection of the work in progress. I also use the finger nail or sharpie bite test to make sure the edge isn't being round off during the process.
I got the bevel fairly even and shaving sharp. Took some time though. Once done with the sand paper I strop the bevel using leather strops with green, black and guessing pink compound. Or was that white? Seemed to slip my mind. Only one more left. Will do this one later on. The bevel is more workable than the Shawnee. On a side note I am not really complaining about the H&B forge hawk and polled axe. Both were very usable as sent by the forge.
Up next for a little convexing.
As stated I am by far, and I mean very far from being an expert on this topic. Just showing what has worked for me. Heck it might not even be the correct method so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking.
Tools.
1. Sand paper, 400-600-1500-2000.
2. Old school mouse pad.
3. Two strops.
4. Sharpie marker.
The marker gave me a good idea which area was being hit by the sand paper. One mistake I have done in the past was to work the very edge only. I work the entire bevel constantly checking if it looks right and making sure the edge isn't being rounded off. This means not using too much pressure and visual inspection of the work in progress. I also use the finger nail or sharpie bite test to make sure the edge isn't being round off during the process.
I got the bevel fairly even and shaving sharp. Took some time though. Once done with the sand paper I strop the bevel using leather strops with green, black and guessing pink compound. Or was that white? Seemed to slip my mind. Only one more left. Will do this one later on. The bevel is more workable than the Shawnee. On a side note I am not really complaining about the H&B forge hawk and polled axe. Both were very usable as sent by the forge.
Up next for a little convexing.
As stated I am by far, and I mean very far from being an expert on this topic. Just showing what has worked for me. Heck it might not even be the correct method so any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for looking.