Not been on here much, I have been busy with life and stuff. I have found sharpening to be increasingly such a simple please. More and more I see the benefit of simple methods and decent sharpness. Hair whittling may be nice but won't last very long when doing rough work. Find the edge that works FOR YOU and figure out how to recreate it. Don't get hung up in mirror polish and many grits of stropping. Yes, these things have the place but they won't help you on a working tool. You will ding the edge, drop the knife or damage it if you are really using it for work. Better to be able to rework the edge on the fly. And when you do shovels, hoes, weedeater string cutters, utility knife blades or cheap scissors, it just isn't a requirement. And I have seen that I am very unlikely to use a sharpening system because of how unflexable they are. I haven't ever seen a wicked edge that could do a chisel, gouge or a macaroni tool. Sorry, rambling. The point of this post is learn how to sharpen, and enjoy the fruits of your labor on a whole lot more tools that just a pocket knife. Happy 4th of July! (early!)
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If you can sharpen a knife, especially freehand, you can sharpen just about anything.
- Thread starter Squashfan
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Wowbagger
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Squashfan,
Yes those.
But I strongly disagree for some other things. Especially fine woodworking plane blades and steel cutting drill bits etc.
Making a roundy edge that cuts hair is one thing. Making precision (flat beveled) edges that cut bubinga and purple heart or steel (drill bits) is a whole other world. I find most people who can sharpen a pocket knife can not begin to really get a grip on what is required for those other things (plane blades and bits).
And a jig produces a very noticeably better cutting tool. And I am thinking my little Spyderco Dragonfly in XHP-189 besides my plane blades. Really worth the use of the jig for cutting things that are tougher than hair.
But I suppose that is just my opinion . . . so . . .
And to you sir as well !
Yes those.
But I strongly disagree for some other things. Especially fine woodworking plane blades and steel cutting drill bits etc.
Making a roundy edge that cuts hair is one thing. Making precision (flat beveled) edges that cut bubinga and purple heart or steel (drill bits) is a whole other world. I find most people who can sharpen a pocket knife can not begin to really get a grip on what is required for those other things (plane blades and bits).
And a jig produces a very noticeably better cutting tool. And I am thinking my little Spyderco Dragonfly in XHP-189 besides my plane blades. Really worth the use of the jig for cutting things that are tougher than hair.
But I suppose that is just my opinion . . . so . . .
And to you sir as well !
- Joined
- Mar 15, 2007
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I'm sorry to disagree my dear sir.
I found out that for plane blades(for me anyway) the most efficient way of sharpening is freehand giving a convex face to the bevel.
Actually the finest of them the #4 smoothing plane is better to sharpen it with a slight camber across the width too to avoid the square corner edges to dig in your piece of wood.
Besides freehanding you can change the angle in about ten strokes to tackle difficult grain or if the edge is not holding up well.
In my experience if the back of the blade is flat (diamond plate flatness) and the edge square...ish to the sides, I didn't found the need for a flat bevel yet.
Of course both ways would work nicely but I find it is lot quicker freehand than setting up a sharpening jig.
A picture of my workspace, and partner
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David Martin
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Squash, I whole heartedly agree. Tinkering and OCD is fine too. DM
Im one of the guys that believes there is no need for jigs for us average Joe's . We have had sharp things for a long time. We've been able to get a sharp edge on things way before jigs, you just haft to take the time to learn it and I find something satisfying in my edges .
I understand that some things may need jigs if you had to have an insane level of precision or something like that .
I also think that a basic understanding of sharpening will help you sharpen anything . Don't know if I agree 100% if you can sharpen a knife you can sharpen anything but it will surely help you if you know the basics of sharpening as in bevel angles, burr formation etc.
I understand that some things may need jigs if you had to have an insane level of precision or something like that .
I also think that a basic understanding of sharpening will help you sharpen anything . Don't know if I agree 100% if you can sharpen a knife you can sharpen anything but it will surely help you if you know the basics of sharpening as in bevel angles, burr formation etc.
Wicked edge and other modern guided systems didn't exist when most of the current museum piece furniture was made. How did they do it back then? No super straight cutting table saws, no fancy power tools.
Bottom line of this thread. Enjoy sharpening. It doesn't have to be perfect, just has to do the job at hand. Don't over think it as we are all apt to do. And, when you can sharpen a knife, it opens the door for you to learn all kinds of sharpening skills. I didn't say anything, I said JUST ABOUT anything. Oh, and don't cut yourself.
Bottom line of this thread. Enjoy sharpening. It doesn't have to be perfect, just has to do the job at hand. Don't over think it as we are all apt to do. And, when you can sharpen a knife, it opens the door for you to learn all kinds of sharpening skills. I didn't say anything, I said JUST ABOUT anything. Oh, and don't cut yourself.
No doubt over the years as technology got more advanced the skill required went down.
No doubt also sharpening helps other skills as well . It took awhile for me to be able to hold a knife in my hands and use my shoulders with my wrists locked , that really helped me on my job when I haft to weld . Also if I haft to mark steel or draw something those years of keeping my wrists locked but only moving my shoulder or whatever you want to call it . Point being I guess is it helps with your coordination and you will see the effects in a lot more things than sharpening.
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Happy 4th of July to American friends!
I totally agree. My ZDP mirror face shaving edge was gone when I went shredding documents. The knife was for cutting out corners where staples are attached and halfing some of the pages to fit the shredder. A DMT F edge (600) is much more aggressive and lasted longer. I touched it up (always have the DMT) and thanks to my doing the sharpening always the same way, was able to quickly went back & work again. The chip when hitting staples is a different matter. Sharpening it out takes hours with my method (DMT card one hand, knife the other).
I took the chance to also reduce the angle.
Was it fun? It was! :thumbup:
I totally agree. My ZDP mirror face shaving edge was gone when I went shredding documents. The knife was for cutting out corners where staples are attached and halfing some of the pages to fit the shredder. A DMT F edge (600) is much more aggressive and lasted longer. I touched it up (always have the DMT) and thanks to my doing the sharpening always the same way, was able to quickly went back & work again. The chip when hitting staples is a different matter. Sharpening it out takes hours with my method (DMT card one hand, knife the other).
I took the chance to also reduce the angle.
Was it fun? It was! :thumbup: