Whats your favorite method to sharpen recurves?

V

VTguy

Joined
Dec 11, 2006
Messages
273
I have noticed that many people around here have recurves. I too have a couple. For a long time I avoided recurves because I was unsure about sharpening them. Since that time I got my father a sharpmaker (he still justs askes me to sharpen his knives for him:rolleyes:) and after seeing how well it did on serrated edges and on a BM Skirmish I got my brother I ended up getting both a 710 and ZT 0200. This question refers to the latter.
So here's the deal about a 1.5 months ago my 0200 fell out of my pocket coming home late one night. I did not notice this and thought it fell out at one of my friends houses, so I was not too concerned. Later, after not being able to find, it I finally scoured everywhere I had been and found the knife partially buryed in leaves and muck, 3 weeks later. Now to be fair for this type of abuse the knife did amazingly well, if it had not been coated it would have been destroyed, but is was, and it's not, mostly.
You see the only part that rusted was a few spots along on the edge which of course damaged it.
Now I am a hand shapener I like stones. Before this happened it wasn't a big deal I was just careful with the edges of my recurves so I only had to touch them up which I could do on my father's sharp maker and by jamming a triangle stone lengthwise under my strop but now I am forced to have to sharpen out damage, reprofile, set edges and polish the final edge which I really dont have the tools to do, I am discovering.
I can get the knife (The recurved base particularly) fairly sharp but not to my normal standard (hold the knife up and scare the hair off your arm)
So what are my options. Like i said I prefer using bench stones and am not really comfortable using the shapmaker as it was intended. I have gotten as far as I have by using the triangle stones as bench stones. But I can't seem to get the knife back to where I had it before all this happened. I am about ready to eat my pride and send it to Tom Krien and let him have at it
OH Yeah The knife was a gift from my sister so abandonment is not an option
HELP!!
 
i use a set of paper wheels made special for recurve blades. i also use a belt sander if i'm convexing the edge or reprofiling the blade then finish off on the paper buffing wheel. if you want more info send me an email and i'll be glad to help you out. i can even send pictures to help you sharpen them by hand. here is a video of how sharp the wheels can get a knife http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&videoid=43364157
here is a link to a thread i started that has some more information http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578787
 
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i use a 1x30 belt sander and homemade cardboard wheels on just about everything...

but if you don't want to buy a machine like that, try this:

get a dowel or section of PVC pipe that pretty closely fits the inside of your recurve. you don't have to be too precise, just don't get one that is too big. i would say a 1" pipe would be fine. you only need a 12" section.

get several sheets of wet/dry sandpaper (autobody shop or auto section of the local big box store) in coarse grits through fine grits. wrap a sheet of sandpaper around the pipe and either clamp it with some spring clamps or just pinch it in one hand. use it like a stone, but edge trailing (spine leading). this will allow you to do everything from regrinding a bevel to final polishing, depending on your abrasive selection.
 
I like that idea with the pipe and sand paper. I have heard many people talk about paper wheels but to be perfectly honest I can't quite envision what they mean, do you buy them, make them, do they need to spun like on a bench grinder?:confused:
I have a elderly friend who has a motor in her basement that belonged to her deceased husband it looks quite old but I took a brief look at it the other day and it appears to be an old belt driven bench grinder I was originally thinking about asking her if I could borrow it to set up a leather polishing wheel (w/green .5 micron paste) but maybe I could come up with something that could help me here.
I do not have a belt sander of any kind so that option is N/A, however, Maybe I could set up this motor to act as a bench style belt sander although I can certianly invision scrolling being a problem.
Anyways thank you for the great suggestions:)
 
vt, you can buy or make them. i made mine, i think that richardj bought his...

i'll take some pics and post them up today or tomorrow..
 
vt, i wouldnt make them if you want a good edge. the paper used is a special paper. plus using something home made could be dangerous and get you hurt. once you learn how to sharpen with the wheels, you can put an edge on from start to finish in a matter of minutes and get consistent results each time. if you need help with the proper setup you can contact me anytime.
 
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richard j said:
vt, i wouldnt make them if you want a good edge. the paper used is a special paper. plus using something home made could be dangerous and get you hurt. once you learn how to sharpen with the wheels, you can put an edge on from start to finish in a matter of minutes and get consistent results each time. if you need help with the proper setup you can contact me anytime.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the tip, Where did you buy yours? If there is any question about safety then I would rather buy them as I will probably be starting off with quite an old motor. Thank you very much for the offer of help I may do that, lets see how it goes:)

siguy said:
vt, you can buy or make them. i made mine, i think that richardj bought his...

i'll take some pics and post them up today or tomorrow...
Click to expand...

Thank you I would appreciate this very much
 
vt, send me your email address and i'll send you some information. i have been sharpening with this system for about 17 years and i havent found anything else to get a knife any sharper. i have been sharpening since i was 14 and i'm 48 now. i seen all kinds of methods and came up with quite a few good ones myself. its nice to know basic hand sharpening but the wheels are so much faster and do a much better job. the wheels are made from special paper that works better than cardboard or recycled material like some other wheels are made from. here is another knife i made and sharpened with the wheels. i doubt any other method will get a knife this sharp http://www.bladeforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578787 the paper was wrinkled in spots and the paper was in a damp garage.
 
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