sharpening with a file

hardheart

hardheart

Joined
Sep 19, 2001
Messages
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Old Hickory slicer, 1095. Sharpened with a Nicholson Handy File single/double cut and a Craftsman 6" mill bastard. Stropped on plain cardboard from the back of a notepad (background) 40 strokes per side. 21 cuts of mercerized cotton on a digital scale had a median of 110g. No, I am not quite that filthy at the moment - all that crap mixed with my hair is bits of cardboard and the remains of the wire edge, since I dumped the hair on the notepad before pouring it on the white paper for picture taking. Yes, when you sharpen with a file, there is no question of when you form a burr.

As you can see in the second pic, I ended up focusing on the section under the logo, the blade flexes a lot past that, and well, sharpening with a file isn't the most fun.
 
I think the double cut file is too coarse for this application. Using the single cut to set the bevels and then finishing on a stone gives great results!
Bill
 
definitely, I started with the double cut because the knife did not have an edge bevel on one side. It ended up gouging the metal in a rope pattern, took a bit to remove it with the single cut. My dad used to sharpen his Old Timers with a file when he was in a hurry, crazy slicing ability. On my edc, I go through around 9 steps and finish on 0.3 micron lapping film, quite a bit different from this. But, when I first joined BF, I did one step on a Lansky, the 280 grit medium, and got a shaving edge from a damaged one in a couple minutes every time.
 
Yikes! :eek: I am sure, slicing ability is great, but how does the edge holdup against rolling?
 
Being a woodworker, I sharpen my own chisels and plane irons, but my planer blades go out for sharpening. While in Albuquerque, I dropped in at a luthier's shop and the guy gave me a tour of his work area. There was this old man (the lutheir's father), sitting at a bench sharpening a set of 15" planer blades with a file. I couldn;t fathom that...it was beyond me....I thought they were just "lost in time".

Now I see some merit to it. Good post Hardheart!
 
Under magnification, it's sorta like looking at a mountain range, lol. I just sliced 3/8" manila rope 20 times, and then 20 more passes/side on the cardboard, and the edge barely scrapes a hair or two. But then I got to see what chromium oxide will do. 20 passes/side on a piece of water color paper (no backing, flexed in hand) loaded with CrO, and it's very roughly shaving in patches.
 
you need to get you a set of the cardboard wheels if you want a scarry sharp edge on your knives. its the only way to go for speed and consistent results. have you seen the vids i made on using these wheels?
 
I don't have a bench grinder atm, and I do get pretty sharp edges with my setup. This thread was just to look at extremely coarse edges. In fact, I started another one just to put out that really fine abrasives are not needed for arm hair shaving, which some people have a lot of trouble achieving.

I think the cardboard wheels make a good example, two steps of abrasives, no angle guide, and the edges are screaming.
 
Somewhere I have a file , extremely fine, for sharpening 'doctor blades' if anyone knows what they are. I've never tried it but it might be usefull for other knives.
 
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