[Woodcarver] Sharpening Warren Blades

[Joe Dillett]

Hi Bob,

The information, in response to your sharpening question, is good and much
of it is based on individual preferences for different methods and angles.
You can conclude from that that there are almost as many methods and angle
preferences as there are carvers. In the beginning if you find a tool that
works well for your style of carving, study the angle of the cutting edge,
the heel and the shape of the bevel and how to reproduce those same angles
on your sharpening equipment. When that Warren Knife is new study how to
reproduce those same angles.

Most of the problems in sharpening with a stone come from not holding a
consistent angle. They either change the angle while moving across the stone
or each time they touch the stone is at a different angle. Those errors will
always produce bad results. Another common problem is that they never raise
a consistent burr across the entire surface removing all the nicks before
going to the honing operation.

Most of the problems in honing is again holding the proper angle and being
consistent across the entire cutting edge. Honing compound can be applied to
any porous surface like leather, wood, cardboard, soft felt, hard felt or
particle board as will as other surfaces. And each of those surfaces may or
may not require angle correction depending on how soft the surface is. A
soft leather surface is going to require more angle correction (lower
angle), depending on how much pressure you apply. A hard surface, like a
wooden strop, requires little no angle correction. The hard surface has less
surface contact than a soft surface so it will require more honing time
because only a few points are making contact.


Joe Dillett
The Carving Shop
645 E. LaSalle St. Suite 3
Somonauk, IL. 60552
(815) 498-9290 phone
(815) 498-9249 fax
http://www.thecarvingshop.com
jdillett at thecarvingshop.com
http://www.carvingmagazine.com Carving Magazine web site and Readers Forum
http://community.webshots.com/user/joe_dillett
**************************************************


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Bob Campanaro" <re2camp at aol.com>
To: "Wood Carver Mai llist" <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 7:51 AM
Subject: [Woodcarver] Sharpening Warren Blades



> Does anyone have any experience sharpening Warren blades? I seem to be
having a bit of a problem with them. I have a Washita, Soft and Hard Black
Arkansas oil stones. I have white, yellow and green stop compound, a bench
and "power strop" and I also have a few sheets of PSA micro grit  sand
paper.
>
> I have 3 of my favorite Warren blades that are pretty much useless at the
moment. It seems that once, stropping alone, no longer does the trick and I
hit the stones "poof" that's it, the blades are pretty much shot. I  hate to
have to keep buying replacement blades that are only going last me six
months or so.
>
> Any suggestions on sharpening theses babies or thoughts about the product
in general would be much appreciated.
>
>
> Frustrated,
> -- 
>
>
> Bob Campanaro
> re2camp at aol.com
> Stowe, VT