paper sharpening wheels - when your time is important to you

i was thinking which knives i have sharpened over the years that have been the most challenging blade shape. after doing some thinking, the cotton sampler design was one that started out to be challenging but once i found a trick it was no longer challenging. the straight section past the belly to the tip was hard since the knife had to be held in line with the wheel and the knife facing away from me while being kept paralell to the floor.

this would require twisting your wrist around quite a bit while drawing the straight section across the wheel to the tip after going past the belly. keep in mind that my wheels are rotating to me and i'm holding the knife on the back side of the wheels.

i turned off the motor and switched to my buffing wheel so i could use it to make dry runs on so i could find a better way to sharpen the knife. i did this with the motor off for safety. after a while i found a way to sharpen the entire blade while keeping the knife off to the side of the wheel.

i have a little challenge for thoes of you who have a set of wheels. trace out the pattern on a piece of heavy cardstock and see if you can figure out how to sharpen a cotton sampler and keep the knife on either the left or right side without having to go in line with the wheel. (dont post your answer and i ask that anybody that doesnt have a set of wheels to refrain from posting.)

as an example is how you would go about sharpening a tantol blade on them. to do the tip, you would have to hold the knife with the handle facing away from you. dont post anything here in this thread but send me an email telling me how you would sharpen a cotton sampler once you make it past the belly.

i done the sharpening in one motion and the blade never left the wheel until the tip was reached. the only tip i'll give is it took 2 motions not normally done when using the wheels. lets see who's the smartest between you guys when it comes to using the wheels.

before sending me the email with your only answer, make sure to do several dry runs to make sure you're right. this isnt a contest but a learning experience. i'll post the correct answer or answers next week or weekend. if nobody gets it i'll post how its done.


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This is a great idea Rich. Sort of a sharpening 101 pop-quiz!! I'll have to take the "No Credit" for this one though.
 
Hope you dont mind Richard just wanted to add a little tip i saw a while back . If your doing your sharpening thing inside like i do at least in the winter i do you might want to think abought some kind of air filter . This is a tip i saw on This old house you need a box fan an air filter the kind you use on central air or heat and a tarp strap or bungee cord all you do is place the filter onto the fan wrap the strap around the whole thing place the fan somewhere near where you are working turn the fan on and place it so it blowing away from you and you have yourself a cheap easy to make air filter .
 
i think i seen that episode a while back, its a good show. our house had a coal furnace when i was growing up which required a window so the coal could be put in the basement. the window was set in a pit that was blocked up so a small door could be placed on top. i placed a furnace blower on top of the pit and cut a piece of 2" blue styrofoam that fits over the window when its open.

i cut an 8" hole inside the styrofoam and placed an 8" piece of flex duct inside that runs over by my bench where i grind or sharpen. it works great for drawing out dust and some smoke but i dont do much heavy grinding in the basement to cut down on hot sparks flying around. i need to fix up a booth to catch the sparks and more of the smoke so i can do some heavy grinding down the basement when i cant go outside.
 
In the winter i have a small laundry room in my apartment where i was doing my sharpening old lady was getting little mad from all the dust so i thougt i would try this worked pretty good must say plus got tired of wearing a dust mask summer i just moved whole setup onto my back porch wher she doesnt care exept when she hangs laundry out . Got to at least try and make em happy right .
 
so far cbwx34 is the only guy to guess right. i'll let you guys hang a little longer (:p) before i post how its done
 
just like the company name says, "razor sharp edgemaking system". i have done quite a few for buddies around town. with the slotted wheel, you can maintain the edge just like you would with a strop. just a pass or 2 across the wheel with some white rouge and its shaving sharp. a buddy brought me his dads old razor that was in need of cleaning up and sharpening. a few days later i seen him with a nice clean shave. he said it gave him the best shave he ever had even for the first time shaving with a straight razor.
 
I "turned on" a person in another forum to the Sharpening Wheels, thought I'd share his results....

Do you remember helping me out with the paper wheels? You sharpened my Kershaw Cyclone for me free of charge so I could see what the paper wheels are capable of.

Well, after all this time, I think I've finally got it down! I was having trouble getting my edges to look good. I have been getting knives sharp for some time with the wheels but I was having trouble with the way my edges looked.

The photos are my third succesful attempt to produce sharp, even, good looking edges. (the knife is a Gerber Paraframe)

I also got great results on a Mini Buck and an Old Timer Stockman.

They are all wicked sharp and look great. I'm dancin' in the streets!

Just wanted to share my excitement with you and thank you again for all the help that you provided.

It took me a long time to get to this point and it is such a relief to know that I have reached my goal with the wheels.

It was the fact that I had solid evidence that it can be done. (the cyclone you sharpened for me). That's what kept me plugging away at it.

I knew that if you could do it, I could too eventually.

If you hadn't done that for me, I probably would have given up about 8 months ago with the impression that the wheels don't work like people claim they do.

By sharpening my knife for me, you gave me the determination I needed to reach my goal.

Now I can finally get the edges I was striving for in a matter of minutes and I just cannot put into words how happy that makes me.

Many, many thanks!

Rick
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While I like using a variety of methods to sharpen, the Sharpening Wheels are probably the quickest way to put a great edge on a knife.

cbw
 
Sorry, this thread was too long to read at the moment - but are there paper wheels that will fit on a good variable speed drill. I have room for that but don't care to mount them on a more permanent, good sized electric motor. Especially because I don't need to sharpen much. :)
 
call around to any hvac company and see if they have any old 1/2 hp 1725 blower motors for a belt drive squirrel cage blower. i carry my portable setup in an old returnable beer bottle case. with the fold lock top you can use it as a table if you take it somewhere and need more height. i have my motor mounted on a seperate piece of wood which is mounted to another piece that is a little longer than the arbor shaft the wheel attaches to. the seperate piece is a spacer so the wheel can clear the longer piece of wood.
 
i have said this many times before (to one member in particular :p) that if you use too much pressure, you're going to take off a lot of metal with the grit wheel and take a lot of life out of the blade. you dont need to push so hard you work up enough of a burr for 2 knives. light passes will work and check the edge after each pass for a burr. if the edge is dull, try the slotted wheel first before going right to the grit wheel. most of the time an edge can be brought back with a few passes on the slotted wheel and a generous application of white rouge.
 
I offer professional knife/scissor sharpening. $1. per inch for a v edge. I sharpen convex edges, recurves, touch up serrations and do regrinds. Check out my new website for vids of knives I sharpened or reground in action.
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Yer working too cheap Richard! You ought to double or triple those numbers..just sayin
 
believe it or not, i have always charged about the same price ever since i started sharpening with the paper wheels. i cant see charging more for the short ammount of time it takes me to sharpen a knife. i do charge a little more for a convex edge but sometimes i dont if its a knife that can be convexed just as easy. if someone wants to pay me more i wont complain :D.

when i first started sharpening by hand, i would charge a little more but i could sharpen most knives in less than 1/2 an hour and get a mirror edge that can whittle the hair thats already been whittled. a few friends told me that kind of an edge was a waste since the edge didnt hold up as well as one that i finished off with a ceramic stick. to get the mirror edge i had a pure white and almost translucent arkansas stone that looked and felt like smooth glass.
 
for anyone looking to get a set of wheels, you can pick up or order them from grizzly imports or woodcraft stores. if you dont have any luck, there is a dealer directory on the makers website. in some states there are numerous dealers other than grizzly or woodcraft. http://www.sharpeningwheels.com/map.htm
 
here is a tip from a new user to the wheels for anyone with a high speed buffer that wants to slow it down. i removed the link due to the possibility of the product burning up the motor.
 
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Any idea what kind of compound the white rouge is?

I've been looking at what Caswell offers and I suspect it's the "White Lightning Stainless Rouge":
https://www.caswellplating.com/buffs/compound4.html

Though I'm a little curious if the "Green Micro Fine Honing Compound" would put an even finer edge on the blade, if it's even possible.


It also sounds interesting to experiment with some of the other compounds. My runs with the grit wheel is still a little bumpy, and so my mirror polished edge doesn't look perfectly flat. With a Hawkbill blade, I can't use my EdgePro to flatten it out. So I'm wondering if using a compound that isn't as aggressive as the silicon carbide on the grit wheel, yet not as micro-fine as the white rouge would let me flatten out uneven areas on the edge.
 
i dont know what is in the white rouge but i might be able to find out. i have tried other compounds including the ones from sears. i have tried some that a friend brought me from a company that i used to work for that made aircraft lights. (they had a nice buffing room with some real nice equipment too.) i found it was best to stick with the compound that comes in the kit since it works. it wont hurt to play around with some different ones but it will be hard to tell any subtle difference.

if you want to sharpen your hawkbill, get a pringles can and cut the bottom off, bend one side so it looks somewhat flat so you can sharpen the entire blade. put on some wetordry and work slowly to smooth out the edge pushing the blade away from you. if you dont have any luck and want to send it to me, i can fix it up for you.
 
a member posted about the router speed control and later another member said the buffer motor is the wrong kind for the speed control to work. see if you can find a variable speed motor or a 1/2" 1725 rpm motor and an arbor to mount the wheels on.
 
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