Anyone around Leeds? Sharpening carving knives help :(

mohk · 22 Aug 2017

Hi there,

I hate to be "that guy" and I'm sure this forum is plagued with posts like this, but I need some help.
At the start of the year I found myself interested in carving, and messing around with a chisel led me to the conclusion that actually what I'm into is whittling.
I got a knife (Flexcut KN12) and all was well, but then my girlfriend's mum went overboard for my birthday and bought a knife kit.
The kit arrived with not-blunt but definitely not carving-sharp edges, and despite trying to care for it the Flexcut isn't so good anymore either.
I've tried cardboard and Brasso for honing as the internet suggested, and I've tried a strop. Neither of these rescued the Flexcut, and I think the gift kit was never sharp enough for that to work in the first place.

I got a 400/1000 grit diamond plate off eBay to try and get it there, but I just can NOT get a sharp edge on any of them. They don't even pass the "paper test", much less shave hairs.
I feel like I enjoyed carving a lot, but now that the blades aren't sharp it just feels very hard work - even in pine.
I understand Lime/Bass is the wood of choice, but I can't find a local supplier and the price of batch-buying and postage is prohibitive just at the moment. I feel getting softer/easier wood is kind of the wrong way to approach the issue when a carving-sharp knife is clearly something other people have!

I've watched/read sharpening videos/guides until the cows came home, and was still watching them when they went out again the next day.
I even tried a local knife sharpener, but he turned out to be a big-tools/kitchen tools sharpener and couldn't get a satisfactory edge either (to his credit, he said that might be the case right from the off and refused any form of payment as he hadn't been able to get an edge).

Anyway - apologies for the above spiel, but I always feel context is good.
In summary: My knives are blunt and I'm incapable of making them sharp. Is there anyone on here around the Leeds area who might be able to get them into a serviceable state for me?
I don't have much money to speak of so I'm largely asking for charity-help, though I could get you some beers/juices/chocolates/whatever you're in to in return.

Apologies for my incompetence

PAC1 · 22 Aug 2017

Sorry too far away to help with sharpening technique. This works http://www.rutlands.co.uk/sp+woodworkin ... arp+ws2780. It is a bit industrial and expensive
A good source of Lime is Duffields at Ripon.

profchris · 22 Aug 2017

I'm not the world's greatest sharpener, but I'm sure I could get a usable edge using the 400/1000 diamond stone. My guess is your technique is wrong, maybe pressing too hard and/or unintentionally rounding off the edge rather than sharpening.

Try like this:

1. Wet the 400 grit side, then stroke the knife along the stone, as if you were carving wafer-thin slices off it. 4 or 5 strokes on one side, then the same on the other. Press just hard enough so that you can feel the stone doing some work. Check that you can see bright metal along the bevel. Repeat the process, keeping the stone wet - this gives you a slurry of steel/diamond particles which helps - until the brightness reaches the edge both sides. This should cut paper easily, though it will feel a bit rough.

2. Repeat on the 1000 grit side. until all the coarse scratches from the 400 grit stone have gone. Press even more lightly as you get close to completion. This should cut wood.

Dry off the stone afterwards, otherwise the steel particles on it will rust!

If you slide the knife the other way, so that the edge trails on the stone, it's easy to unintentionally lift it as you end the stroke and thus round off your edge.

For stropping to get a better edge you have to stroke so the edge trails, but by then you'll have worked out how not to round over the edge.

Worth a try?

mohk · 22 Aug 2017

Brilliant - that's a good thing to try next. All the videos/guides were saying to have the edge trailing, so that's probably a large part of my issue.
I'll try that tonight. Oil or water on the stone, by your reckoning?

Thanks!

ED65 · 22 Aug 2017

After struggling with issues like this for a long time and reading of similar struggles others have had, for years sometimes, I'm certain this is a technique issue. You should have no trouble at all getting an edge that can shave hair honing on a 1,000-grit plate followed by stropping.

If your technique is dead on you can get a shaving edge directly off the 400, although it wouldn't be refined enough for carving.

Are you familiar with the marker technique (AKA "Sharpie trick") for marking the bevel to check where you're actually removing metal? I found it very helpful working on certain edge tools to check I was maintaining the right honing angle, which invariably I wasn't and that's why I was having trouble getting a good edge.

You may be honing at too shallow an angle (hence not removing steel right at the edge) but it's more likely you're honing at too steep an angle as most beginners do. Another possibility is you could be largely honing correctly but rotating the knife slightly right at the beginning or end of strokes, leading to a dubbed edge or one that's just too thick to cut effectively.