Recurve Sharpening

[65535]

I know this has been brought up a lot, but I was thinking recurves are sharpened best on a round ceramic steel or similar, right? is there anyway to grind a ceramic (spyderco ceramic stone) on the edge so that it is curved? Or would I need to get a dedicated steel? Think D2 tool steel.

 

[Jeff Clark]

The shape of the Spyderco rods will work well on a recurve. You do most of your work using the edges of the rods. You finish the job using the flats. The edge will not contact the center of the flats when stoked on the recurve section of the blade, but that is not a big problem. Just lighten up your honing pressure since the honing will be occurring along narrow strips near the edges of the rods. You don't want to bend over your edge.

Your biggest challenge is that D2 is hard to sharpen with ceramic hones. Ceramic hones don't hone very fast and D2 hones very slow. I would get an elliptical-cross-section diamond "steel" like an Ultimate Edge to do my primary honing on a D2 recurve blade.
http://www.theultimateedge.com/home_frame.html

 

[pbubsy]

I found sharpening recurves to be easy just by taking a dowel (maybe 1/2'' thick) and wrapping it with 1200 grit carbide paper then using it with stropping motions. Did the trick for me!

 

[JD Spydo]

There is a sharpening tool that Spyderco makes that will work quite well in the field. Spyderco's 701 Profiles is a set of 2 ceramic stones with 2 radii ( one on each side with different curve configurations) is great for backpacking, tackle boxes and survival kits.

The 204 Sharpmaker is probably the best non electric kit currently on the market to do a deluxe job of recurve sharpening that I am aware of. Recently I did a modification of my TORMEK sharpening system. I took one of the stones and ground a radius on one side and it does a super job for re-profiling recurves. You can see the TORMEK system at >> www.sharptoolsusa.com <<.

There are also several sharpening tools out there with rounded surfaces which will do an adequate job. Great thread>> because this just doesn't get talked about much. Even some of the better sharpening books, manuals and videos don't cover this subject adequately