Workshop Request: how to sharpen tools

I always sucked at sharpening stuff.

Would you consider having a tool sharpening class? by “tools” I mean:

  • chef knives
  • hunting knives
  • swords
  • daggers
  • chisels
  • drill bits
  • cutting blades
    etc

(yes, I could just look up some youtube videos of questionable sanity and experiment, but I would rather pay someone that knows to teach me)

Thanks!

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Most knives have a bevel on both sides. When we tell someone that they should put a 20 degree angle on a knife, we mean that they should sharpen each side to 20 degrees. This creates a total angle of 40 degrees.

Image result for angle to sharpen a knife

The reason why your knives get dull after you sharpen them is because the sharpening process heats the metal up and you let it cool down naturally. This process is called annealing, and its how you make metal softer.

If you want the metal to be harder and less malleable you are going to have to heat treat it. Ideally after you are done sharpening the tool you heat it up with a torch and then quench it in oil/water like you are an old timey blacksmith. That will make the metal harder and less likely to dull, although it will be more brittle.

Drill bits are tricky, but it is possible to sharpen them, although its easier to just get a new one instead.

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Also most consumer grade knives are a stainless steel which does not hold
an edge as well as carbon steel. Many people also mistreat their knives.
I’ve started using a Japanese wet stone to do my knives and do them once a
month roughly. They’ve never been better. I was using a pull through
sharpener before and it ripped the shit out of the cutting edges. It took
me 3 to 4 good sessions on the wet stone to repair the damage on some of my
knives.

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A workshop is a good idea. I could see lots of people being interested in
knife/tool sharpening.

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As a woodworker and woodturner I sharpen a lot of tools: plane irons, chisels, a vast array of turning tools, card scrapers, etc. I’m also a bit fanatical about my kitchen knives.

This is only true if you sharpen your tools on a high speed grinder and let the edge get blue. If you are using oil, water or diamond stones, or a slow speed grinder then the edge will never get hot enough to anneal the metal. It also depends on the type of steel you are sharpening. Carbon steel cannot take “bluing” of the edge. High speed steel can take bluing without damaging the edge. If you do blue the edge of a carbon steel tool then you only need to remove the part that is blued and then sharpen the “un-blued” part.

Twist drill bits, the most common type of drill bit, are quite easy to sharpen with the proper jig and a grinding wheel. I do it all the time using a device called a Drill Doctor. Back at 45W I sharpened an entire drill index in less than 30 minutes. Most twist bits you buy are dull right out of the box so learning to sharpen them is important. Brad point bits are virtually impossible to sharpen. Forstner bits can be sharpened by hand with a diamond file.

Kitchen knives are a bit trickier. At one time or another I’ve owned and/or used virtually every knife sharpening gizmo known to man. All of them sucked. I finally broke down and bought a Chef’s Choice Electric Sharpener. Should have got one of these years ago. I can sharpen a really dull kitchen knife in less than a couple minutes.

For plane irons and chisels I use japanese water stones and a honing guide. For turning tools I use a variety of different methods depending on the type of tool. For bowl and spindle gouges I use a Wolverine Jig with a Vari-Grind. For skew chisels I use the Wolverine Skew attachment. For scrapers I just use the grinder platform.

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At a recent meeting of the Pacific Woodworkers Guild, we had a fellow named Derek Darling from the Lee Valley store in Coquitlam give us an excellent presentation on sharpening various types of tools. He is the education coordinator at the store. I bet if you contacted him and asked him to do a presentation he would likely agree. BTW - he did not promote Lee Valley products or try to sell anything.

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I have something similar to the Drill Doctor I was going to drop off at VHS someday but left it at FreeGeek first so they could sharpen there’s first.

Did not know that bits are so bad right out of the box. I should probably do mine first.

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Cheap drill bits are shocking out of the box. But the price difference
between mastercraft and good industrialized bits is 3 fold at least. So if
you are good with a grinder you can save some money. Drill sharpening
freehand is one of the first things I learned as an apprentice.

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Sent message asking. Will let you know what I hear back.

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There was also a “sharpen anything” workshop that the tool library put on; if we can’t get someone, maybe we can reach out to them.

I know they only have one lathe for their wood lathe workshops, might be cool to propose some sort of deal to gain goodwill.

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I found this youtube video on sharpening knifes which had a unique idea.

Anyone have a reason why its not a good idea? I would think something better then plywood wood be a good idea. Not like we don’t have a lot of spare wood around. Only thing I don’t know is if either of the grinders we have would work as you have to turn it backwards.

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LOL. Okay this is not a great way to sharpen a knife but god its definitely the VHS way

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