sharpening a machete by wood and sand

I've heard of the technique before though I have yet to attempt it myself. Similar to the medieval-to-turn of the century "strickle" used to sharpen scythes.
 
i was watching a show on pbs many years ago and seen it done. not sure how good the edge was after but it did seem to be working.
 
Not sand really, more like really fine dust. It works really well Richard. We have people here who tap coconut trees for sap to make coconut wine. They use a kind of short handled sickle to cut really thin slices from the part of the tree that holds the fruit bunch. This part is a really tough, fibrous material and they need a really sharp, fine edge to cut cleanly. The cut must also be fine to insure a good product. These guys have no fine stones and the dust and wood works the best for them for this application. The finish looks to me to be a semi-polished finish around 600 grit.

This sickle is chisel ground and thin.

sanggot.jpg
 
I've gotten OK results using 60 grit SiC on a wax impregnated leather strop (very similar to wood density). Was able to raise a burr and remove it. Refined it down further with 220 grit on a rough leather strop - it would shave arm hair and crosscut newspaper, but not as nicely as from a stone. I've theorized before that folks in places lacking good quality stones might resort to various grits on wood or worked into weavings/textiles, its interesting to actually come across a reference to the practice. All you'd need would be one coarse stone for roughing out, thinning, and bevel setting, the rest could be done with loose grit. You might even be able to dispense with any stones if you had a variety of backing materials to work with.
 
i was talking to ken onion the other night and he said he uses a leather wheel that has been impregnated with waterstone dust and compressed to make the wheel hard. he said it works great but the wheel was around $800. when he bought it many years ago.

singularity, is that your knife and the piece of wood you use to sharpen with?
 
The two things I wondered, about this, is how hard and/or abrasion-resistant is the steel, and what's the composition of the sand? I'm betting mostly silica (like most sand), which might work on relatively softish steels, or at least those with minimal carbides in them. I tried something similar a while back, with some fine dust (mostly sandstone, I think) on a piece of 1x2 lumber. Didn't do much on the stainless blade I tried at the time, but I'll have to re-visit it with something simpler, a 1095 blade maybe.
 
Might even want to go a touch further down the scale, maybe 1055 or 1075. I'll give it a try with a CS machete I have that needs some TLC.
 
richard j said:
singularity, is that your knife and the piece of wood you use to sharpen with?
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Yes, Richard, that one's mine. That's the sheath that doubles as the sharpener. Hasn't been used and taken cared of since I sold my farm.


ROME said:
wouldn't the blade bite into the wood?:confused:
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Edge trailing strokes.

Obsessed with Edges said:
The two things I wondered, about this, is how hard and/or abrasion-resistant is the steel, and what's the composition of the sand? I'm betting mostly silica (like most sand), which might work on relatively softish steels, or at least those with minimal carbides in them. I tried something similar a while back, with some fine dust (mostly sandstone, I think) on a piece of 1x2 lumber. Didn't do much on the stainless blade I tried at the time, but I'll have to re-visit it with something simpler, a 1095 blade maybe.
Click to expand...

Well, we mostly have 5160 steel on our "sanggots" with non-optimal HT. I wouldn't want to try it with some more wear resistant steels
 
in beginning of the video it kinda sounded like he was doing both edge trailing and edge leading strokes though
 
ROME said:
wouldn't the blade bite into the wood?:confused:
Click to expand...

Maybe, but that's where some 'feel' and experience with the process comes into play. I'm sure the guys doing it this way, have been doing so for a long time. I have an oak strop block with some diamond paste compound on it, and I've started using a somewhat narrow elliptical motion on it, similar to the way many use a hard hone. Mostly lengthwise motion, parallel to the edge, but with a little bit of edge-leading and edge-trailing built in. It sometimes tries to bite in a little bit, but if the touch is light, I usually catch that before it digs deep. With my oak block, I've noticed it's much easier on this hardwood, aided by the fact that the wood itself has taken a bit of polish from the rubbing, and has become slicker in feel, much like a hard hone.

I've also used wet/dry paper on wood backing with an edge-leading stroke. Only issue I've had there, is the paper curls up at the edges, and the blade does catch that occasionally. I didn't use any means to stick it down, like gluing or wetting the paper, so that was my own fault. It does make one really pay attention to angle & pressure though, and that's one reason I like it. Great 'training aid' for good technique. :)
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
Maybe, but that's where some 'feel' and experience with the process comes into play. I'm sure the guys doing it this way, have been doing so for a long time. I have an oak strop block with some diamond paste compound on it, and I've started using a somewhat narrow elliptical motion on it, similar to the way many use a hard hone. Mostly lengthwise motion, parallel to the edge, but with a little bit of edge-leading and edge-trailing built in. It sometimes tries to bite in a little bit, but if the touch is light, I usually catch that before it digs deep. With my oak block, I've noticed it's much easier on this hardwood, aided by the fact that the wood itself has taken a bit of polish from the rubbing, and has become slicker in feel, much like a hard hone.

I've also used wet/dry paper on wood backing with an edge-leading stroke. Only issue I've had there, is the paper curls up at the edges, and the blade does catch that occasionally. I didn't use any means to stick it down, like gluing or wetting the paper, so that was my own fault. It does make one really pay attention to angle & pressure though, and that's one reason I like it. Great 'training aid' for good technique. :)
Click to expand...

Makes sense
thank you for enlightening me:)
 
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