Sharpening Revelations

D

devo55

Joined
Oct 15, 2004
Messages
296
OK...admittedly I am a Noob with a capital "N". Most of my sharpening has been done on small knives with a Lansky rig. Results were OK, but not special. When you get to large knives, like khuks., a Lansky just doesn't cut it. :D What to do? Dan Koster advised to go ahead with a good file and profile an edge. A file is a scary thought. Imagine all that metal being removed and the possibility of deep scratches as well. The failures of 7th grade metal shop class come to mind.

Well, a careful hand with a good file will produce a decent edge angle on a large blade. I did just that on some of my larger hawks and khuks. After getting a good edge angle ground, I then used a mouse pad and wet/dry paper. Use a progression of grits on this. Start at 200 grit and progress to higher grits such as 400 then 600. 600 grit only seems to polish, so you can not do much damage at this point. You get a convex grind which is supposed to be very durable. Bonus is that your wrist become very conditioned by grinding on the mouse pad in circular motions.

Anyway, until I got brave and used a file, I just could not imagine how to get my khuks and hawks sharp. A good file and mouse pad with wet/dry paper are the answers unless you have a powered belt.

A powered belt (Delta?), as discussed in recent threads, is my next purchase. The powered belt will enable me do edge profiling and handle shaping. I have some blade blanks that need canvas micarta or dymondwood scales.

Sorry if I have gone on a bit. The mouse pad and abrasive paper method was a revelation to me. Works well.

Jeff
 
Glad it worked for you, Jeff. An idea is no good until it's put to the test. Looks like this one's a good one. ;)

Thanks for adding your experience to it.



Do you have a strop? If not, get that next.
 
IF"EN YOU DON'T STROP I"M GONNA BEAT YER ASS 'TILL YOU CAIN"T SIT DOWN FER A WEEK!!!!:mad:
 
Yvsa said:
IF"EN YOU DON'T STROP I"M GONNA BEAT YER ASS 'TILL YOU CAIN"T SIT DOWN FER A WEEK!!!!:mad:
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Oh My! How often did I hear somethin' similar when I was growin' up!!!!! :D ;) :grumpy: :(
Ever git beat with a wet rope about 1/2" in diameter? It smarts like a sumbitch!!!! :eek: :mad: :grumpy: ;)
 
devo55 said:
I have some blade blanks that need canvas micarta or dymondwood scales.
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Avoid dymondwood like its a flesh eating disease.

I remember my first convex edge. I had just bought a cold steel frontier hawk, and it came with a horrible edge. The bevels were about 40 degrees and they didnt even touch. That was disapointing after watching a guy shave hair with it on their video. Anyways, i didn't have any other sharpening equipment except for a Smiths Tri-Hone and a triangular Chinese file from Big Lots. I started working on it in my basement as I watched movies after school. It took me at least three days, but I finally got the bevels to touch. I looked down the edge, and thought, "I just wrecked this one, the edge is all rounded looking." But I actually got a decent polished edge (thanks to the arkansas stone :rolleyes: ) and the thing could slice computer paper. That was my first accidental convex edge.
 
Jebadiah_Smith said:
Avoid dymondwood like its a flesh eating disease.
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Dymondwood is purty and stable. What don't you like about it Jeb?:rolleyes: :confused:

Other than it making a knife look cheap that is.:p :D ;)
 
Yvsa said:
Dymondwood is purty and stable. What don't you like about it Jeb?:rolleyes: :confused:

Other than it making a knife look cheap that is.:p :D ;)
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The godawful stench of it. The cheesey look.

Remember my first knife that I posted? The dymondwood handle slabs cracked around the pins :mad: . Personally, I wont be going near the stuff again.
 
Jebadiah_Smith said:
The godawful stench of it. The cheesey look.

Remember my first knife that I posted? The dymondwood handle slabs cracked around the pins :mad: . Personally, I wont be going near the stuff again.
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Hehehehe!!!! Hahahhaha! Hehehehe.:D :D :D :D I don't blame you Jeb. I don't like the dayumed stuff either although some of it sure is pretty, in a cheesey sort of way of course.;) :rolleyes: :p
 
Yvsa said:
Hehehehe!!!! Hahahhaha! Hehehehe.:D :D :D :D I don't blame you Jeb. I don't like the dayumed stuff either although some of it sure is pretty, in a cheesey sort of way of course.;) :rolleyes: :p
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Pretty if you're into the psychadelic tye-dye stuff. It would be great if there were a Tactical Hippie market. Or if you want a red, white, and blue handle. I wouldn't be surprised to see a bong carved out of the stuff.
 
Jebadiah_Smith said:
I wouldn't be surprised to see a bong carved out of the stuff.
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Now That would be COOL!!!! :cool:

Speaking of bongs. :D ;)
I still have the ceramic Dragon Bong that our daughter got me for Christmas one year.:eek: :o It is just too damned nice too throw away! Of course it has been disassembled for years now with the parts long thrown away but a trip to our local head shop could easily remedy that if need be.;)
I keep hoping that it will be legalized someday, or at least legalized medically for use in Oklahoma.
And who knows? We may spend our slobberin and gigglein and fartin and shitin days retired at our daughters in Phoenix where I understand It Is legal for medicinal use.:D

Can't you just see a couple of really old and wrinkled old farts settin and tokin on an antique Dragon Bong?!!??!?!?:rolleyes: :cool: :D
 
People get pretty creative with bongs dont they? Give a pot head a box of random junk, and in five minutes he'll have a bong. My friend has one made from a whitetail antler.
 
Jebadiah_Smith said:
People get pretty creative with bongs dont they? Give a pot head a box of random junk, and in five minutes he'll have a bong. My friend has one made from a whitetail antler.
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Years and years ago when I worked in a small machine shop of all pot heads I helped a good friend of mine make a pipe.:D :cool: Turned down some extremely well seasoned American Black Walnut on the engine lathe. Threaded one end on one piece with a single point tool and tapped the other piece.
Actually it was the other way around as I cut the threads too fit the tapped hole as we were limited on the large sized taps we had.
Then he brought in a rough piece of Beautiful Black Ebony and I turned a bowl out of it.
After I turned and drilled the hole in the bowl I made a brass liner for it so the hot weed wouldn't destroy the Ebony.
Then before he put the bowl on permanently I assembled it with a large bronze ring we had left over from another job and turned it too fit the walnut. There was also one on the bowl end too plug the rather large hole we had drilled through it. Another piece of the Ebony was turned too fit it and then a small carbeurator hole was drilled in the center and nicely chamfered.
It looked like a solid piece of walnut with a bronze ring magically placed in the center and on the end.:cool:

After it was all machined Dave took it home and carved it in shallow Bas Relief taken from some antique drawings he had in an art book. Then he finished it with several coats of tung oil.
It turned out beautifully!!!! :cool: :D :cool:
Dave took it too our local head shop and they offered him $750.00 for it on the spot, didn't even stutter.:D :cool:
Like all good pot heads everywhere he told them, "Thanks, but no thanks. I'll just keep it.":D
I don't know whether it was ever broken in or not.:rolleyes:
 
$750.00!!!

Make a few wood bongs and I could buy a heck of a grinder, a forge, and enough steel and belts to last me years. Too bad I'm not into that stuff. And look what happened to poor Tommy Chong.
 
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