Oddball sharpeners

J

jla3156

Joined
Jan 20, 2014
Messages
116
My dad has been using ceramic thermowells he gets from work for years and I started using them when I learned to sharpen. Any other odd or different objects people use for sharpening?
 
Coffee mug bottoms, microfiber couches, edges of cardboard, a brick... Almost any abrasive surface can be used in a pinch.
 
I've got a couple of bulbs from high power lights that a guy who worked for the power company gave me, at the time we were bowhunting aquaintances and he gave them to me to touch up broadhead blades. They worked really well for that purpose, and since then I have used them many times to touch up the edge on many of my hunting knives, they work on a wide variety of steels. They are about 1/4"n diameter and about 3 1/2" long, I don't know what kind of lights they came out of, just that he said they were 'high power'.
What's a 'thermowell' ?
 
It's usually a hollow white ceramic tube. It gets inserted into heated manufacturing equipment with temperature measuring sensors inserted into the tube. When the sensor fails, it is easily replaced. They work just like a 'crock stick' for honing knives as they are made of the same material. Not sure what the grit rating would be though.

Fish30114 said:
I've got a couple of bulbs from high power lights that a guy who worked for the power company gave me, at the time we were bowhunting aquaintances and he gave them to me to touch up broadhead blades. They worked really well for that purpose, and since then I have used them many times to touch up the edge on many of my hunting knives, they work on a wide variety of steels. They are about 1/4"n diameter and about 3 1/2" long, I don't know what kind of lights they came out of, just that he said they were 'high power'.
What's a 'thermowell' ?
Click to expand...
 
Fish30114 said:
I've got a couple of bulbs from high power lights that a guy who worked for the power company gave me....I don't know what kind of lights they came out of, just that he said they were 'high power'.
Click to expand...

These are porcelain filaments from High Pressure Sodium lights (600W, 800W or 1000W most likely), I had heard of using them years ago, and recently a friend with the Electric Co. hooked me up. They work real well, somewhere between sharpening and honing best I can tell.
 
AxisFan said:
It's usually a hollow white ceramic tube. It gets inserted into heated manufacturing equipment with temperature measuring sensors inserted into the tube. When the sensor fails, it is easily replaced. They work just like a 'crock stick' for honing knives as they are made of the same material. Not sure what the grit rating would be though.
Click to expand...

Not sure what the grit rate is or how to figure that out, but they seem to be fairly fine.
 
A friend of mine gave me the hollow, sodium light filaments, and it works good enough to touch up an edge. It now resides in a piece of stag. I don't know how long it'll take to wear through the interior, it was free, along with the stag, that was a shed.
 
Those tubes from HPS (high pressure sodium) bulbs are a material called quartz-ceramic and are extremely hard, you'll most likely never wear them out, this varies but I have seem them from as course as ~2k grit equivalent all the way to ~5k. I have made many sharpeners out of those, what you need is a 1000watt bulb, the element in those bulbs are about 10" long. They'll raise a burr, even on my ZDP blades in just a few passes. Very useful piece of free gear and "harvesting" then is the best part, I shoot the base off with my .22. If you ever break one open try to make sure its not near your face, some pretty nasty elements in there and even at room temp, unless it was totally burned out (usually they're replaced before they burn out) they'll be above atmospheric pressure.
 
Cereal_killer said:
....what you need is a 1000watt bulb, the element in those bulbs are about 10" long......
Click to expand...

This has it's own space in the desk drawer.
P1270003M_zps0a61158b.jpg
 
A. G. Russell mentioned about High Pressure Sodium lights ceramic rods, however he blame them to clog prematurely and been not cleanable. Does somebody have experience on cleaning those? Now is a good time to get those since everybody replaces HPS HID lamps with LED lights. The bulbs have mercury inside so the proper treatment is needed. IF they work well I would like to make ceramic steel with it since it is 10" long. So far I could find 8" rods which are too short.
Cereal_killer said:
Those tubes from HPS (high pressure sodium) bulbs are a material called quartz-ceramic and are extremely hard, you'll most likely never wear them out, this varies but I have seem them from as course as ~2k grit equivalent all the way to ~5k.
Click to expand...
Is it good grade of ceramic?
In add to the discussion with the title pf this thread in addition to coffee caps and bricks I heard about people using with big success re-surfaced ceramic tiles for floors. I guess it is sintered ceramic - LOL ???
 
Mr. Wizard,

I am actually very grateful for the advice. I almost ordered it from Amazon from UK at over $20 plus long shipping but then I realized that I can get it here in Walmart or Dollar General. I am trying to mostly stay home because of the virus but very next time I will go shopping I will get it. In the previous post I was mostly interested in learning about alternative materials for sharpening. I was watching youtube in Russian and found that several unrelated people claim on getting good results with floor tiles. Is it really good idea or it is just a Russian thing? I was hoping that somebody who has either first hand experience or scientific knowledge could comment on using lamps rods and floor tiles as sharpening medium.

A. G. Russell in his youtube tutorials claimed that only his ceramic is good since lamps rods are impossible to clean. He also demonstrated an "eraser" which makes his rods like new. Something tells me that his locution is a clear salesman pitch, however, I would like to learn independent experts opinion.
 
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