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Want to get started with freehand sharpening

Orion's Belt

Orion's Belt

Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Messages
1,554
Lately, I've been skipping the Edge Pro and using my DMT pocket stones (blue/coarse and green/extra fine) that I normally keep in my back pack for field touch ups. I figured a way to keep them steady to allow me to use both hands for greater angle control. The edges that I'm getting are as good, if not better, than the edges that I get on the EP. Plus, you get that satisfaction of a free handed edge. I finish with a home-made strop (terrible quality) to remove any remaining burr and fine tune the edge just a bit.

So, what would be a good, relatively cheap free hand set. I was thinking about the DMT Diasharp in coarse and extra fine plus a real strop with some Hand American diamond spray (1 or 0.5 micron). To be clear, I'm not looking to get a super polished edge, just one that is sharp and aggressive. That is something that the DMT pocket stones seem to give me over the EP. I'm not looking to reprofile free hand as I can set the edge with the EP and finish it free hand. Thanks for any advice in advance!
 
If you want aggressive cutting then diamonds will provide that. In my personal opinion the duo-sharp stones (the pok-a-dot ones) seem to be slightly more aggressive than the dia-sharps that seem to refine the edge more.

A duo-sharp in Coarse/Fine and a balsa wood strop with 1micron diamond would be a good combo.
 
Thanks for the advice on the stones. I was planning on a 2 sided horse hide strop and leaving one side bare to finish the edge off. I'll look into the Duo-Sharp stones.
 
Please don't put compound on a quality horse hide strop. If you want to use compound on leather use some cow hide or tooling leather.
 
I will definitely not do that, thanks for the tip. How about kangaroo leather for compound and horse hide for bare?
 
I would use balsa for 1um & 0.5um compound, save roo leather (very fine grain) for 0.1um or finer compound.
 
The advantage to using balsa is.... It's cheap, has very little give to the surface, and your saving the good leather for finishing. Once a piece of balsa becomes loaded with metal sward there is no need to clean it you just throw it out.

I also wouldn't bother with more than 1 compound and I would also stay above 1 Micron. Going to a smaller abrasive will start to make the edge slip over the object being cut in most cases.
 
I was planning on staying at 1 micron and just for a few swipes per side to refine the edge a bit and then a few swipes on bare horse hide. Will any balsa work? Like hobby shop balsa blocks, etc.?
 
Orion's Belt said:
Lately, I've been skipping the Edge Pro and using my DMT pocket stones (blue/coarse and green/extra fine) that I normally keep in my back pack for field touch ups. I figured a way to keep them steady to allow me to use both hands for greater angle control.
Click to expand...

What did you come up with?

~ P.
 
Orion's Belt said:
A little jig that sits on the table. It's super high tech and involves duct tape. :D
Click to expand...

th_laugh.gif


Thanks for the response!

~ P.
 
Orion's Belt said:
I was planning on staying at 1 micron and just for a few swipes per side to refine the edge a bit and then a few swipes on bare horse hide. Will any balsa work? Like hobby shop balsa blocks, etc.?
Click to expand...

I've been using some balsa 'blocks', purchased at a large 'Hobby' ;) chain store. They are roughly 5.5" long, 2" wide and about 1.5" thick. I'm sure they were cut for carving & whittling projects. Roughly similar in size to a medium (6") bench hone, and thick enough to sand down to a clean surface when they get excessively dirty. Those seem to do well enough.

I've heard recently, some denser grades of balsa are available, and might perform better. But, I haven't felt the need to get too fancy with balsa anyway. A big part of the advantage of using balsa is the simplicity and minimal expense associated with it.
 
Obsessed with Edges said:
I've been using some balsa 'blocks', purchased at a large 'Hobby' ;) chain store. They are roughly 5.5" long, 2" wide and about 1.5" thick. I'm sure they were cut for carving & whittling projects. Roughly similar in size to a medium (6") bench hone, and thick enough to sand down to a clean surface when they get excessively dirty. Those seem to do well enough.

I've heard recently, some denser grades of balsa are available, and might perform better. But, I haven't felt the need to get too fancy with balsa anyway. A big part of the advantage of using balsa is the simplicity and minimal expense associated with it.
Click to expand...
Thanks, I'll look around locally for some balsa before I buy online.
 
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