Handmade sharpening equipment.

[Cereal_killer]

I was gonna make a thread just to show off my new 6" DMT base I made from a solid piece of cherry I had but I figured I could make it a photo opp for everyone.

Post your hand made sharpening equipment. It can be a simple base for your stones or something much more in-depth.

First is my new base and my 2 strops, they're made from glued together and sanded down 5-gal stir sticks. The leather is old tack leather (specifically stirrup straps) and the denim is a pant leg from my old favorite pair of jeans.


I saw cut the locally grown Cherry wood block to size but I carved out the recess using only my GB then sanded it down and once I get more gas for my torch I'm gonna blacken some stripes on it to highlight the grain.


Here's another piece I made, a quartz-ceramic rod out of a 1kw sodium light attached to a piece of HDPE. Its usually a hand held piece of equipment but I have it temporarily mounted to a 2x4 from when I was sharpening an aggressive recurve last week.



My next project is a cherry base for a single sharpmaker rod (flat side up), I'll tackle that after my fingers recover, the GB isn't a finger friendly wood working knife to say the least.

Let's see any home made instruments you guys are using...

 

[HeavyHanded]

Let's see any home made instruments you guys are using...

Nice job on the DMT base!



Here are a few shots of my Washboard, used just like a regular bench stone. The first with 30u AlumOx lapping film - used with soapy water has a great feel and grinds very clean - very good feedback through the 3mil polyester backing.

Now with 180 grit Wet/Dry and followed by white compound on paper:

This is what one looks like with no clothes, a block of silicon carbide compound next to it:

And back before I started bonding them to a block, one of my earliest prototypes with a Tram 14" bolo, and some of the single hit cuts it made through part of a Norway Maple that went over in my yard. This is the clear one I use in most of the videos, now glued to a block of wood for easier handling.

Here are my older end-grain strops in black emery and white AlumOx - I still have them - work very well for a "softer" strop and are easy to clean and relatively forgiving in use. Are a great option for budget-challenged sharpeners looking for a good finishing method. Scrapping them down with a hacksaw blade stiffens them up considerably at the same time it clears all the built up swarf off the paper.

Martin