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Carvers....Advice on sharpening strops please. |
surfintiki
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Joined: Sep 30, 2004
Posts: 1566
From: S. Chatham, MA
|  Posted: 2005-01-29 11:03 am Permalink
Hmmmm...I've carved five little tikis, and I was worried my tools are getting dull. I showed my tools to the local guru, and he tells me my tools are still WAY sharp, and barely need stropping, and a long way away from needing stones. I guess my tools are just the best!!!
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Aaron's Akua
Grand Member (8 years) 
Joined: Jul 09, 2004
Posts: 1594
From: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
| Posted: 2005-02-15 1:22 pm Permalink
Ben, I had to take a sick day, so I finally got a chance to watch the entire video. I also went back though BK's "Tiki Carving Methodology" post one more time. I think I've learned a ton about sharpening (short of actually doing it).
Lake says with the strop you don't need to use stones or paper, and he sharpens every 20 minutes or so.
With your sandpaper/clipboard method, you don't need oil, honing compound, or even a strop. This seems right for me, because I do a lot of lunchtime carving in the park with no power source nearby.
Using your method, or any for that matter, how often do I need to sharpen my chisels?
Just trying to get this all sorted out before I purchase my sharpening supplies.
Mahalo,
A-A
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Benzart
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Joined: Jan 09, 2004
Posts: 10309
From: Port Saint Lucie, Florida
| Posted: 2005-02-15 1:55 pm Permalink
How often to sharpen tools? The Age old question with a simple answer: When they need it. Some people sharpen their chisels every day before they start carving. Some do it once a week.
I Personally don't care for the power strops too much as they leave a "Rounded over" edgd and Not a straight one. They are good for quick sharpening but if you look at a tool that has been power stropped for awhile, the edge is not straight, Plus it is rounded. The tool edge shouldbe a straight 90 degree angle from the length of the chisel and the Bevel should be a Straight line from the tip to the beginning of the bevel and not rounded.
All sharpening methods CAN produce these curved and rounded edges but the power buff does it more often and quicker. The rounded edge needs a Hugher angle of attack so that instead of holding your chisel at, say, a 30 degree angle, you are holding it at a 45 or more degree angle and it won't cut evenly.
You will notice as you are using a tool that it will start leaving Lines on the surface of the wood. That is from small nicks usually caused by sand or silica embedded in the wood. If the tool is a Roughing-out tool you can let it go longer or until the nick gets bigger (and it will). If it is a detail or finishing tool, you will want to take care of it right away. the longer you let it go, the longer it takes to get it sharp again because it takes more time to grind out the nicks. With the Clipboard of sandpaper. it takes only a few minutes to go thru each grit and end up with a polushed edge. I finish the process with the cardboard sheet that has been coated withhi grit paste as in the DVD. I find it works very well for me.
SoIf you don't mind the "Nick lines" in your work, and want to grind your tools down to nubbs prematurely, don't sharpen too often. Otherwise, remove the small nicks as they develop.
More later
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Aaron's Akua
Grand Member (8 years)
Joined: Jul 09, 2004
Posts: 1594
From: Rancho Santa Margarita, CA
| Posted: 2005-02-15 2:22 pm Permalink
Advice well taken. My chisels will all be mirror smooth in no time! I'm heading down to the body shop supply for some fine grit paper right now. Thanks a bunch, Ben. Take it easy, rest the hand, & we'll see you up & carving in no time at all.
A-A
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Lake Surfer
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Joined: Oct 21, 2002
Posts: 3322
From: Milwaukee, WI
| Posted: 2005-02-15 10:02 pm Permalink
Excellent advice all around guys!
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cheekytiki
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Mar 09, 2004
Posts: 1088
From: The Haole Hut, London, UK
| Posted: 2005-02-16 12:33 am Permalink
The only advice I'm going to impart on this subject is if you use V shaped chisels, keep them sharp!
If you are cutting deep Vs especially in hard wood the chisels can split at the base of the V where the hook tends to form, as I've found to my dismay a couple of times now, and I'm not using cheap chisels.
Chisels aren't cheap, but five minutes sharpening before you start work costs nothing.
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Benzart
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 09, 2004
Posts: 10309
From: Port Saint Lucie, Florida
| Posted: 2005-02-16 05:50 am Permalink
Yes Cheeky, that cracking is a Sad end to a good chisel. What Usually causes that cracking is improper sharpening. The V-tool is actually 3 chisels in 1 the 2 sides are lke straight chisels and the "Foot" is a gouge. . Sharpenint the V is a 3 step process and the most common mistake is OVER Sharpening the foot. As you sharpen the sides, the foot ( the area on the bottom outside of the tool where the 2 sides meet) starts to protrude. That proturbence(?) is called a "Beak" because thats what it looks like and That portion needs to be sharpened just like a gouge with the Rolling motion from side to side. Look at it under a magnifying glass and you will see it, a perfect mini gouge. Over sharpening this area, thins it at the outside edges og the gouge so what you end up with on the tool is: 1 straight side and a thin metal strip, a gouge and a thin strip and another straight side. Those thin parts will Always crack. I learned that the hard way.
JUST to Confuse you, the Japanese style of V-tool is created in such a way as to NOT Have that middle gouge part instead having a sharp angle. It can suffer the same fate of cracking though from improper sharpening also, but it is not as easy to do and therefore dosen't happen too often. just keep the angles even and true.
The Best thing you can do while sharpening is to look at your edge thru a magnifying glass often to See how the edge is going.
Hope this helps
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AlohaStation
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Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2014
From: So FL
| Posted: 2007-08-02 11:13 am Permalink
I saw this at Sears this week and was wondering if anyone had used anything similar. Normally I sharpen my chisels with sandpaper or a stone, but I have some gouges for the lathe that need constant attention. This looks like a cheap and easy tool??
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Benzart
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 09, 2004
Posts: 10309
From: Port Saint Lucie, Florida
| Posted: 2007-08-02 11:21 am Permalink
Aloha, These small grinders are great for fixing chipped tools and can be great for the first stage of the thick turning tools. They have a fairly smoothe stone which leaves a pretty decent edge but the tool will Still need more grits to get down to the mirror finish you need.Careful using it though because it can "Cup" the edge, which is very Undesirable.
Hope this helps.
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AlohaStation
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Joined: Sep 27, 2004
Posts: 2014
From: So FL
| Posted: 2007-08-02 11:49 am Permalink
Thanks Ben
So if I were to use this in conjunction with my stones/paper I should be good? The biggest problem is with my Scraper, which requires a sharp 90 degree angle. Almost impossible by hand!!
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Benzart
Tiki Socialite
Joined: Jan 09, 2004
Posts: 10309
From: Port Saint Lucie, Florida
| Posted: 2007-08-02 2:00 pm Permalink
Yes you can use it along with your sandpaper but I think the scraper would be better with a file for the 90 degree edge, I'm not sure how this grinder would work on that edge.
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T_birdman
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Joined: Jun 19, 2007
Posts: 269
From: San Gabriel Valley-SoCal
| Posted: 2007-08-02 8:29 pm Permalink
Any suggestions for a vintage Draw Knife that has a few small nicks in the center, and some rippling on the angled topside?
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