How do you sharpen your blade?

L

lucas teixeira

Joined
Jun 23, 2013
Messages
46
I hope that already there is not a topic with the same proposal.

* The idea is we post about:

Preferred edging mode (stone, sandpaper, file ...):

Sharpening style (flat, convex, concave ...):

angle:

What do you not like:

General observations:

Photos:
 
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Preferred edging mode: fine stone

Sharpening style :flat

angle: 20º on each side

What do you not like: Convex

General observations:

Although the convex edging well be spoken .... I feel less cuts, despite being very robust.

Use the file only for initial or concert thinning.

I take great care not to scratch the surface of the tool. Only the edge.

Photos:
20TfYob.jpg


iza0Eww.jpg
 
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I sharpen convex with a file, then hone to very fine and polish. I don't like a concave bevel unless I want the edge to stick in the wood as in a wedge or an axe used primarily for holding an underbucking tool.
 
Preferred edging mode: Sanding flap-disks to set convex bevels, and a stationary belt sander/grinder to do flat grind bevels

Sharpening style: Combination scary sharp and mouse-pad sharpening systems, using a drywall pad with a range of sandpaper grits and a strop with compound

Angle: 25 deg. flat grind for hatchets and carvers, and less for convex on larger fellers and some hatchets, hewers are between 25-30 deg flat/chisel grind

What do you not like: I have to wear gloves so that I don't cut myself... :)

General observations: Effective system, easy to learn and creates a nice hone-able edge

Photos: https://youtu.be/cSK0OnL2FUg
 
Good Job Rooster!

Yet I will make a video too!

Detail, do not let the tool wear long process ... 2 cubic meters and reafio.

Make circular movements with the stone, with very low pressure.

Spent about 30 seconds .... and the ax always doing beard.
 
[video=youtube;DwdpN_raecY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwdpN_raecY[/video]

this is how i sharpen! well, i guess profile is more correct. i start out with a 60x belt, then 100x, 120x, and then 220x to get as many of the scratches out as possible. i dont touch the edge with the grinder (1 1/8" makita belt sander with a jig i made). I use a 600 mesh diamond stone in a jig similar to the one i made for the grinder to finish the edge, and then strop it on a 4"x24" strip of leather glued to a 1x4 pine board. i charge the strop with chromium oxide (green) compound. the green stuff is great, it is definitely aggressive enough to easily put a mirror finish with a serious quickness. a mirror edge is both sharp and strong!

here is the USFS info sheet on this style of axe grinding: http://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm08232327/

for those folks who have heard "NEVER use a grinder, you will ruin the temper" i will say this outright: that rule is hogwash, to a point. If you get the metal too hot, yes, this can and will happen. the trick is never allowing any portion of the blade to get hotter than you can indefinitely hold in your bare hand. also, remember-- the thinner your bit is, the faster it will heat up. also, the finer the grit of your belt, the hotter the grind will be!
 
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Legal grinder!

The edging is not fragile? low angle ...



esmerilhadeira legal!

A afiação não fica fragil? angulo baixo...
 
lucas teixeira said:
Legal grinder!

The edging is not fragile? low angle ...



esmerilhadeira legal!

A afiação não fica fragil? angulo baixo...
Click to expand...

the angle is pretty low, but i can tell you that i have chopped through hundreds of trees that were both green and bone dry while clearing trails this summer with that axe. As long as you avoid rocks, that angle is thick enough to do some serious work. it hasn't rolled or chipped on me ever, and it sinks extremely deep.
 
I use my Lansky guided system and a HF swivel vise. I like my AXE equally sharp to my EDC fixed blades or spyderco flat grind knives.

This way its easy for me and simple to set up and under 15 min usually since I don't have to adjust the AXE or flit over to do the other side ect.. Set once and that's it.






 
idaho_crosscut said:
https://video-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/h...=e0d9936e5de8e2d7f055d395f0b9521e&oe=569ECFB4

this is how i sharpen! well, i guess profile is more correct. i start out with a 60x belt, then 100x, 120x, and then 220x to get as many of the scratches out as possible. i dont touch the edge with the grinder (1 1/8" makita belt sander with a jig i made). I use a 600 mesh diamond stone in a jig similar to the one i made for the grinder to finish the edge, and then strop it on a 4"x24" strip of leather glued to a 1x4 pine board. i charge the strop with chromium oxide (green) compound. the green stuff is great, it is definitely aggressive enough to easily put a mirror finish with a serious quickness. a mirror edge is both sharp and strong!

here is the USFS info sheet on this style of axe grinding: http://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/htmlpubs/htm08232327/

for those folks who have heard "NEVER use a grinder, you will ruin the temper" i will say this outright: that rule is hogwash, to a point. If you get the metal too hot, yes, this can and will happen. the trick is never allowing any portion of the blade to get hotter than you can indefinitely hold in your bare hand. also, remember-- the thinner your bit is, the faster it will heat up. also, the finer the grit of your belt, the hotter the grind will be!
Click to expand...
Variable speed, and new abrasives also keep friction down, thus avoiding overheating. Also, a tool laying in the sun on a hot summer day will get so hot that I can't indefinitely hold them..can't never be to careful, though.. Good post!
 
Clean up previous owners file/grinder marks with coarse sandpaper working down to finer paper.
 
idaho_crosscut, I am sure you know what you are doing grinding your axes. But, most people do not, and many good axes are ruined becauce of it. Nobody, not even a bonehead who believes everything on the internet, ever ruined an axe with a file. You also misquoted. The statement was " Never use an electric HIGH-SPEED dry bench grinder" There are low speed and water stone grinders that will not ruin an axe as quickly. If you are in a hurry to sharpen your axe, maybe you are just in too much of a hurry period. They have these damn saws with chains now for people in a hurry.
For me personally, that whole sharpening technique that you reference is just too high- tech to be used on man's most primitive tool, the axe.
Dick Proenneke didn't need no stinking grinder for his axes!
 
Old Axeman, it isn't so much about the speed, as it is the precision and consistency. it really isnt that much faster than a file in the right hands, to be perfectly honest. yes, being able to use a file to a high degree of precision is important, but it would take me a lifetime to gain the skill necessary to grind my angles as nicely as i am able to do with the grinder. I would rather work on being a competent chopper, so i don't have to "hurry" when chopping out a massively blown in wilderness trail because daylight is fading, the mules are stomping on ground hornets nests, and you can literally see camp over the pile of logs you literally can't get around.
 
use power tools depends on great skill and intelligence. Our friend there from above seems to have.

I will post pictures of destroyed tools I have at my house. No fault of the electric tool, but an employee who had no skill.


Vou postar fotos de ferramentas destruidas que tenho em minha casa. Não é culpa da ferramenta eletrica, mas o trabalhador que não tinha habilidade.
 
chOWLKG.jpg

AgSNfCx.jpg


I can not really see clearly oxide per account.

there are deep moto-grinding marks, the ax lost its geometry, in addition to the cutting angle being so obtuse that are making a new forge to recover this ax.


Congratulations to those who are wise and know how to use high speed tool.
In the case of the photos below is not the case.
A tool killed by a fool.
As the friend "old axeman" value the ancestry of the ax. And I imagine that everyone here tambe because we could be using a chainsaw.
 
1. File of different types to start, progress getting finer
2. Puck to finish.

Remember it is more about proper bit shape and angle than overall sharpness. A bit that can shave but has bad shape will not be as effective overall or chip/break vs a bit with proper shape that isn't as sharp. Some will argue, and that's cool, but it is the truth. I never prescribed to putting in the time to make a bit edge to a mirror or an awesome shine, because as soon as I put it in the wood and use it for an amount of time its gone anyway. That's more cosmetic than anything. Loggers that used an axe 8-12-14 hours a day had a wet grind wheel, file, stone, and maybe some sand paper. That was enough then, and we don't need to reinvent the wheel now.

Oh, and never use a grinder, ever. Just my opinion.
 
Operator1975 said:
1. File of different types to start, progress getting finer
2. Puck to finish.

Remember it is more about proper bit shape and angle than overall sharpness. A bit that can shave but has bad shape will not be as effective overall or chip/break vs a bit with proper shape that isn't as sharp. Some will argue, and that's cool, but it is the truth. I never prescribed to putting in the time to make a bit edge to a mirror or an awesome shine, because as soon as I put it in the wood and use it for an amount of time its gone anyway. That's more cosmetic than anything. Loggers that used an axe 8-12-14 hours a day had a wet grind wheel, file, stone, and maybe some sand paper. That was enough then, and we don't need to reinvent the wheel now.

Oh, and never use a grinder, ever. Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

This is my view as well. Files and stones are good enough. I only go to fine stones when I'm bored or intend to give the axe to someone else.

I found that making wood shavings tells me more about how the edge profile is than anything, especially on hatchets, but even most of the bigger axes will make nice curls fairly easily when the profile gets good. The sharpness is secondary after a point. Just my method.
 
idaho_crosscut---I spent a good part of my life working with an axe everyday for 2-3 months without returning to a location where electric power was available. And yes I know well about the mules stomping and blowdown. That is EXACTLY the stiuation where file and stone skills are crucial.
 
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