Thread: Knifemaking photo-essay (9) Finishing and sharpening

Sharpening.

1) I begin by carefully grinding the new edge with a 180 grit belt.

2) One way to envision your sharpening angle. With a drop saw, cut a wedge to your selected angle, place it on the sharpening stone, and set the blade flat against the angle. You can now see what your sharpening setup should look like.

3) I begin stoning the edge using the fine (brown or red-brown) side of a Norton IB8 aluminium oxide stone. The IB8 at top was brand-new when it was given to me in 1980, the bottom one is new and unused.

4) An IB8 sharpening stone in a wooden holder, which is fixed securely to the bench.

1) Sharpening - forward stroke. I’m using turps as a cutting fluid. I’ve also used WD40, CRC 556, kerosene, honing oil, and light machine oil. The stone is a fine finishing stone I bought from a second-hand shop.

2) The reverse stroke.

3) A fine wire forms at the newly sharpened edge. Running the edge over timber breaks off that wire.

If all goes well the blade is now shaving-sharp. I test all along the edge by trying to shave off my arm hairs – if the edge (or part of it) won’t shave, I sharpen it some more.

4) A selection of finishing stones – the first three were bought from second-hand shops:

a) A fine, hard stone. This one appears to be synthetic or man-made; unfortunately, I have no idea who made it, and I’ve never seen one of these for sale brand-new.

b) An Arkansas stone.

c) A hard, natural stone.

d) A Spyderco ceramic stone. I imported two of these from the USA – one fine and the other ultra fine (they both look the same, and I long-ago lost track of which is which!).

These images give an idea of the knife’s size.

I’ll conclude this photo-essay by mentioning that I sometimes get asked how long it takes me to make one of my full-tang knives. They can take from 8 – 10 hours (or more) spread over a minimum of five days. That 8 – 10 hours is measured as follows: start the clock, do an operation, stop the clock; then add up all the time spent on the various operations. It doesn’t include “support” time spent making and maintaining machinery, sourcing sanding belts and materials, drinking coffee, etc.