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Thread: Dry Hand Sharpening Methods

  1. #31
    They are 3-5 micron particles (spyderco says that either in their literature or on their page). They say that, and then they say in different places that the same abrasive is used in the different stones, and that the UF and F are the same except for the surface finish.

    The binder cuts, too, so it's hard to describe how they really behave without describing the matrix that holds the particles.

    the UF cuts, in my opinion, finer than 3-5 would suggest after a very short period of time. the medium cuts very very fast at first and then settles in to cut something like a 2000 or 3000 grit waterstone would.

    You are right that diamond honing the stones can wake them up again.

    Mike - I'd leave the mill marks in the stone for now and use it for a while. They may be a little bit helpful in keeping the stone cutting without necessarily affecting the finish much. Once you get rid of them, it's difficult to get them back.

  2. #32
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    Thanks for that, David.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  3. #33
    Yep. Be interested in hearing what you think of them after you've had a few dozen items over them. They're sort of like oilstones in some regards (but without the oil and ultimately finer cutting).

  4. #34
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    I was trying to find the grit size information on George's original post, which is now all the way back on pg. 3, so I could link Derek to it but the wife made me work! David I do not find the particle size information on the little sheet that came with my stones so I am guessing you found it on the Spyderco web site.

    I checked my stones with my engineers square and did not find them to have any problems I could see. So as David suggests I am leaving mine as they are for now. Those scratches, even though I can't feel them and could not see them originally, obviously take off a little more steel. I think David's suggestion that they may help for a while is a good one. I am finding the surface on my stones more than capable of creating the edges I need. The spokeshave blade I just got from Glenn at WoodJoy was very sharp on arrival and I have been able to keep it at near original sharpness with minor effort. Working soft pine Windsor Chair seats with that very sharp blade in one of Glenn's spokeshaves has proven much less likely to create tear out.

    I have been experimenting with various tools for working Windsor Chair seats recently: inshave/scorp, spokeshaves, travisher, small convex plane, drawknives, various scrapers. This variety of tools has presented a number of sharpening challenges and a good test for the new dry sharpening Eze-Laps and ceramic stones. So far they have worked well for a variety of blades.

    I bought two "gull wing" type metal spokeshaves, cheap at auction, trying to find tools that can reach into all those depressions in Windsor chair seats. The handles of regular spokeshaves tend to hit parts of the seat before the blade meets wood. I have also been working on old Stanley plane blades that I have been trying to get back into working order. Old drawknives are another sharpening challenge I have been encountering. I find the bevels on the older blades habitually have multiple facets in them that start appearing when I try to sharpen them. It seems odd to me that my hand sharpening techniques seem to create more accurate bevels on the old blades. New tools certainly have much more accurate bevels. I can't help but wonder how the bevels on those old tools got so bad? Were woodworkers in the past that careless or am I just that picky?
    Last edited by Mike Holbrook; 09-22-2014 at 6:36 PM.

  5. #35
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    Quote Originally Posted by george wilson View Post
    I only ever sharpened axes with a file. In Alaska I did quite a bit of that.

    Axes are fairly soft usually,and whacking them into bark,dirt and wood does their overly sharpened edges little good. Therefore,I found a an edge filed sharp was plenty good enough,and a lot faster than stoning them.
    Surprisingly I have seen a 100mm grinder used both with a disc and flap wheel and the result was very sharp.
    Chris

    Everything I like is either illegal, immoral or fattening

  6. #36
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    I am finding rod sharpeners very helpful lately. I'm not entirely sure why but they seem to work faster than flat stones in at least some instances. Obviously they reach curved or bent blades easier, but they seem to work well on longer blades too. There must be some reason all those chef's frequently use rods or sharpening steels to sharpen all those large kitchen knives. I believe I read Spyderco suggests that sharpening on the corners of their triangle stones works faster than sharpening on the flat surfaces, even on knives that are not serrated. The opposite would seem to make more sense as a larger flatter surface would seem to be presenting more stone to the blade's bevel. I wonder if that corner winds up presenting a more abrasive surface? Maybe the sharper corner just works more like a sharper blade "cutting" more particles away? Maybe the smaller corner just refreshes the abrasive easier and avoids contamination? Maybe the small surface area of a rod winds up making a smaller more precise bevel?

    It is certainly easier to take a rod or rods to a tool vs taking the tool to flat stones. It is easy to touch up blades at a bench with rods as it isn't necessary to clear a place on the bench top for stones and space to move the tool over them. The big advantage I find is, it is just much easier to manipulate a rod into the angle and position needed and then draw it across the blade, at least for many of the tools I use. I can see why chisels and plane blades might work well on flat stones, with their typically straight edges.

    Rods register against hollowed bevels quickly and easily. It seemed to me yesterday that I could sharpen my WoodJoy, hollow ground, A2, straight spokeshave blades (2-3 1/2") faster with rods than stones. The set up and space required to work was certainly reduced.

    I bought a Zero Turn mower a couple years ago because the guys at the Lawn Care Forum kept telling me how much faster and better it would cut vs a tractor & finishing mower. I had my doubts that a 60" ZT would cut 6+ acres of grass in half the time a 6' finishing mower would. Boy was I wrong! I can mow everything in a morning or afternoon and it use to take two days. Turns out speed and maneuverability trump brute force and size. In my case something of this nature seems to be looking like it might hold true for sharpening with rods on many of the tools I sharpen.
    Last edited by Mike Holbrook; 09-25-2014 at 9:47 AM.

  7. #37
    Which particular rods have you found to be useful?

    Thanks.

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