Sharpening Small Items

[Harbo]

I have been making a few blades (from gauge steel) to fit the handles I have made.
I can grind the knife edge quite easily on my Norton 3X but it leaves a coarse finish.
I tried all sorts of honing guides to hold them but because of the skew and the small size they could not cope.
Then I remembered my Edge Pro - it worked a treat!

Rod

 

[Aled Dafis]

Looks like an interesting bit of kit Rod. Do you have any links, or more information on it.

Cheers

Aled

P.S. Glad to see that the kit arrived safely.

 

[Harbo]

Aled

http://www.edgeproinc.com/

I have the basic one which I bought a few years ago on Ebay. It is fantastic for sharpening knives.
The Pro version will sharpen chisels and plane blades as well.
It comes with an assortment of "waterstones" of different grades and you can also get diamond ones too.
I think the videos will show it in use but the system controls the sharpening angle which is infinitely variable.
Very simple to use and very effective.

Rod

 

[woodbloke]

Rod - if the total length of the blade is a bit longer, the steel can be held quite easily in the standard Tormek jig - Rob

 

[laird]

That length of blade can be held on the Worksharp.

 

[bugbear]

I have been making a few blades (from gauge steel) to fit the handles I have made.
I can grind the knife edge quite easily on my Norton 3X but it leaves a coarse finish.
I tried all sorts of honing guides to hold them but because of the skew and the small size they could not cope.

Simply clamp to a 2"x8" plate of metal (or piece of plywood) and use a normal honing guide (e.g. Veritas, Eclipse etc).

A sort of super simple, super versatile:

http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx ... 43078&ap=1

Ohh - just remembered; whenever I have occasion to use a stone "upside down" (normally when taking stone to tool as opposed to vice versa) the lubricant always disappears very quickly. Do you find this an issue with the edge pro?

Googling shows there's an Aussie gadget that has a similar action to the edge pro:

http://www.ezesharp.com.au/sharpener.html

(hmm; that's only a 100 quid)

and a guy made his own:

http://members.optusnet.com.au/cjbiggs/ ... index.html

BugBear

 

[Harbo]

Rob - I did think of my Tormek but you are limited to a coarse and a fine grind and setting up the honing wheel is a bit of a fad (why could they not have made the leather wheel the same diameter?).

Bugbear - I was coming round to the plate idea when I remembered my Edge Pro which I "won" for about £30. The Lee Valley Tool looks good.
The lubricant is water - the kit comes with a small squeezy bottle - the stones do not need prior soaking and do not need much lubrication. I used a 220, 320 600 and 1200 which was giving me a shine - did not think there was a need to go lower for a knife? The stones are very quick to change.

Rod

 

[bugbear]

Bugbear - I was coming round to the plate idea when I remembered my Edge Pro which I "won" for about £30.

Heh. If they were on sale at that price, I'd probably have one too!

BugBear

 

[jlawrence]

harumph. I'd love to get my mits on an edge pro for £30

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I have a jig for my Tormek to grind the small bevels on marking knives. On the "smooth" stone this is still only 1000 grit.

I then freehand them on the hollow - this is not so difficult as it sounds. The waterstone also provides visual feedback as you can see when the blade is resting evenly on the hollow as kit leaves behind a double track. A couple of strokes on a 1000 Shapton followed by a couple of strokes on a 5000. On HSS blades, the edge lasts a very long time.

These just went off to Michael Connor (furniture- and toolmaker). She-oak knife/scratch awl set and second knife in Jarrah. All HSS ..

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Harbo]

Here's the finished knives:

Hornbeam and 2 Blackwoods.

Wish you could get Derek's ferrules over here?

Rod

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I have one of these for the kitchen. I must try it out as a system for the marking knives. It's been a plan for a while ..

http://www.lanskysharpeners.com/LKDMD.php

Video here: http://www.lanskysharpeners.com/video.php

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Mikey R]

Here's the finished knives:

Hornbeam and 2 Blackwoods.

Wish you could get Derek's ferrules over here?

Rod

Hey Rod, off topic question - where do you get your hornbeam?

 

[Harbo]

Mike - I bought some last year from Timbermill who have now moved to Alresford, Hants.

http://www.thetimbermill.com/

Rod

 

[marcus]

While not wishing to appear hopelessly old fashioned or anything, I can't help wondering if at any stage you considered holding the blades in your fingers and rubbing them back and forth on an oilstone in the traditional fashion?!



Marcus

 

[Mikey R]

Mike - I bought some last year from Timbermill who have now moved to Alresford, Hants.

http://www.thetimbermill.com/

Rod

Thanks Rod!