Sharpening D2?

[justold52]

carvin don ;

My brother-in-law uses a leather wheel to sharpen his carving tools.

He made it all by him self and works gr8. He calls it his power strop
(dang I fore got how to spell that word) strop ?

(Like the leather strap used to sharpen a razor)


EDITED Thanks Johnet

[jonet143]

strop

[carvin don]

You got it... after sharpening a knife, stropping can maintain that edge for a long while, as long as you don't over-strop and round the edge. A flat stick and a good piece of leather glued to it with some aluminum oxide works wonders as well!

[carvin don]

The edge that needs to be obtained first, is that when you can feel the edge with your fingernail on one side? Then work it out.

Archer,
Not necessarily...

Try taking a black magic marker and mark along the edge of the knife the bevel you desire. Take it to your stone until you've removed the black mark, do this on both sides, and at some point you should see a wire burr develop. (I can't stress enough the importance of GOOD LIGHTING! A fellow carver taught me that! A good light source will enable you to see burrs, nicks, rounding and all things dull.) Make sure to keep that angle steady for both sides. Once you have that wire burr, take some aluminum oxide compound and apply it to your strop and remove that burr. When stropping, keep that blade flat, or rather at the angle you sharpened your knife to and make one sweep up, stop, lift the knife off (or do the barber roll, keeping the blade to the strop at all times and turning it over to lay flat on the opposite side) bring the knife back down on the opposite side and strop it. Continue till burr is removed. (you will see your strop darken as the burr is removed, any streaks or track marks in the leather you see mean to keep stropping.) Stropping should be executed just as evenly as when you sharpened the knife on a stone. Stropping will also polish up and remove scratch marks caused by the stones, making for a smooth, clean cut.

I sure hope I'm not messin' any folks up here, cause' I'm no expert, and learn by trial and error. There are many methods out there that work, but I was always told you have to do two things to get that edge...create the wire burr, then remove it...sounded simple and looked simple when I watched him do it! I will have to post some pics of some knives I've "altered" in the learning process! I would love to hear some other folks opinions on sharpening, as someone elses method might work better for you. Happy Sharpening!

[Froggyedge]

I agree with you, I prefer to remove the factory bevel on my carving knives as well. If sharpening by hand on a diamond stone for instance, I would lay the blade flat to the stone and take her down from there. This however, can be time consuming, hence the purchase of the power sharpener. Some folks raise the angle slightly, others even higher yet, whichever angle you choose, be consistent on both sides.
The thinner you get that edge, the easier it will slice through the wood, but is also more brittle and prone to "chip" and "nick" if you are carving through harder woods or hit a knot. Thin blades are great for detail work. ...This method works for me... I think it's best to choose a system you are comfortable with and stick with it...

I think you have given very good explanations! And photos too. Thank you!
I agree with you and what you have learned from experience.
Often you read that when sharpening your knife you should always try to keep the angle used by the manufacturer. I have several knives where that would mean a very steep angle and following the instruction would mean never having a sharp knife!
I am used to Scandinavian knives, which usually have a wide bevel and a rather thin edge that really bites into wood and they make good slicers too. Quite a few knives come from the factory with an edge that will just slide along the surface of the wood if you try to make some thin shavings. Knives with a thick edge sharpened at a steep angle may take a lot of abuse without being damaged, but unless you are planning to do a lot of chopping such knives will not perform very well IMO.

[carvin don]

Thanks Froggyedge...Nice knife