Should I have my hatchet reprofiled? I just can't seem to sharpen it :(

Noshtero

Noshtero

Joined
Oct 10, 2002
Messages
1,551
There's always mixed opinions on how sharp to keep a hatchet. My trusty Snow & Neally still has the factory grind on it, and it's not all that sharp. It has a fairly wide convex grind, and I just can't seem to do anything with it. I can handle a convex edge on knives with stropping, but I don't even know how I would go about sharpening this hatchet. The bevels are smooth as a baby's butt, and anything I try to do with a stone just scratches at it but doesn't remove much material. This is definetly a deficiency in my skills.

Would it make sense to have someone just ditch the convex grind and put a flat grind on it that I could sharpen easily? Is there an easier way to keep this thing sharp?

Thanks.
 
No just strop it like you'd do any convex edge using low grit sandpaper, working your way up to fine. It will scratch it up but then you'll end up polishing it back out. It's not hard just time consuming:thumbup:
 
The last Norlands I bought was off of E-bay. It looked as though someone had been splitting bricks with it. I did a careful survey of its profile and found it was just dull with some bad nicks. I put together a hone using a block of wood with an old mouse pad and double sided carpet tape. I picked up several packs of wet dry paper from 100 to 1500 grit and went to work. It took me several weeks working at night in my spare time but now it will shave you and throw wood chips out the size of the palm of your hand on medium density wood.
Kinda good meditation for me. I was doing it around the time my dad was dying of cancer so I needed the mental down time.
 
riddleofsteel said:
The last Norlands I bought was off of E-bay. It looked as though someone had been splitting bricks with it. I did a careful survey of its profile and found it was just dull with some bad nicks. I put together a hone using a block of wood with an old mouse pad and double sided carpet tape. I picked up several packs of wet dry paper from 100 to 1500 grit and went to work. It took me several weeks working at night in my spare time but now it will shave you and throw wood chips out the size of the palm of your hand on medium density wood.
Kinda good meditation for me. I was doing it around the time my dad was dying of cancer so I needed the mental down time.
Click to expand...

I did that exact same thing pretty much as you describe but I used an adjustable tension strop instead of the mousepad to lay the paper on.
 
I found a picture of the hatchet I was talking about. This was just after I finished it. I shot most of the head with black paint to hold down on the surface rust in the field. Of course now most of it has been scuffed off. I have a second Norlunds that I restored. I left it natural and used a framer's hammer handle rather than a hatchet handle.

norlundsnessmucktrio2.JPG
 
If you've got a KMG and rotary platen from Rob Frink at Beaumont Metalworks it's easy as pie! I just use the long side with medium tension and it makes a fantastic convex edge on my hatchet. I highly recommend it!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top