Can the 630 be sharpened with a flat stone?

A

Angelus1781

Joined
Feb 22, 2003
Messages
702
I was just curious as I have never owned a recurve and was wondering if it can be sharpened with a flat stone instead of using the triangle stones on the sharpmaker.
 
Normally you hone a blade on the broad flat top surface of a bench hone. With a recurve blade you won't reach the inner curve using the top surface. Before I got rod-style sharpeners I would use the narrow side surface or the edge of a bench hone for recurved blades. In either case you first want to take any chipped or rough spots off the edge of the hone. I do this by rubbing the edge of the hone length-wise on cement.

Once the edge of the hone is free of nicks you can use it like the edge of a Sharpmaker. I usually hold the hone in my left hand with the side upwards rather than the top. I hone on the stone at about a 45-degree angle along the edge. I do this particularly if I want to remove material fast. During later refining steps I use the side of the hone rather than the flats.
 
You could possibly do the recurve with the edge of a stone, but I'd reccomend rounding it off first (grind it on the sidewalk or something). If the edge of the stone is a sharp angle, you could really chip up the edge of your knife.
 
the sharpmaker works great, i dont think a flat stone would work so well myself, it would have to be narrow for sure.
 
PS. If you use the edges of a bench stone I would suggest using not using a silicon carbide hone. The grit on SiC seems particularly coarse and irregular to me. I would opt for an aluminum oxide hone for this usage.
 
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