How do you sharpen a spear point marking Knife

[Brian Deakin]

I have purchased pfeil Swiss made Marking Knife Kit
Can anyone please help me with advice on how to sharpen the blade I had thought of purchasing the The Veritas (LV) Skew Angle Jig

My Question Would this approach work ,and are there any advantages or could I attain similar results without the jig

regards Brian

[Tom Scott]

I freehand sharpen mine.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Hi Brian, I have a bit of experience here.:D I sharpen and hone freehand. The critical thing is the careful placement of each bevel flat on your stone or other sharpening media. I find a forefinger on the back of the blade with light pressure and a back and forth movement does the trick. It is important not to rush. After basic shaping, hardening, and tempering, I do the 2 bevels time 65 blades per session. I tried using a jig but found I spent too much time inserting and removing in addition to making fine adjustments. I have found that freehand is the fastest and most efficient for me and I have tried about every method my mind could come up with. After doing 1000+ blades I am stilll using the freehand method.

[Bill Moser]

Brian - I just sharpened my japanese spear-point marking knife using a Veritas MkII jig, and used the blade of a small square against the side of its angle registration guide to set the angle of the knife in the jig. This worked only because the knife is just a flat piece of steel - no handle. I think it would be very difficult to sharpen the pfeil knife in that (or any) jig. I had to use the jig to re-grind the blade because I was starting to dub it over with freehand sharpening. However, it was a pain to do that way. In the future, I planning on just being more careful with freehand sharpening (and doing it more often!)

[Terry Beadle]

+1 with Dave Anderson's coaching. I would also recommend you start with a one direction only to get the feel of doing free hand honing. Get the bevel of one side of the blade at the top of the stone fartherest from you flat on the stone and draw it steadily ( not fast ) towards you. Do it 3 times. Switch to other bevel and do that side 3 times. Repeat twice more and unless there's a knick to remove, you should be about ready to go to a higher stone. Recommend you start at 800 grit or 1000 grit and work you way up to 6K or 8K.

With practice, you should be able to feel the surface of the stone and use Mr. Andersons back and forth method. Don't forget to do the back dead flat and only on the polishing stones. So start taking off the burr from 3000 grit and above, don't do the back on grits lower than that unless you've never fettled the back flat before. What you are trying to do is just keep the fine polish on the back from the original fettling.

[Andrae Covington]

Even though I use a Veritas MK II jig for virtually all my sharpening, this is one of those things I do freehand. I have the Veritas striking knife (no longer available, alas) which is similar to the pfeil. The blade is so short and then with the wooden handle, there's no way to put it in a jig. I recommend lapping the back first, then work the bevels enough to make sharp edges.

edit: Ah, LV does still sell the striking knife, under the less-used Utilitas brand. Thanks Ron Kellison

[Tony Shea]

Hey Dave,

I have your knife and love it. It's my go to knife for all marking tasksbut one. But I've picked a much thinner one up from Czeck edge as I often can't fit yours in to mark skinny pins, as I'm a tails first guy. Boy don't I struggle sharpening this thin knife. I just can't seem to find the bevel at all, it's so tiny. Do you have any advise on these thin knives with basically no bevel to rest on? I don't beleive you offer these thin knives otherwise I would have bought your's. Like I said, your knife just feels right to me and does 90% of my marking. Just an awesome tool.

[Ron Kellison]

The Veritas striking knife is once again available. http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=60044&cat=1,42936,60044

Regards,

Ron

[Brian Deakin]

Hi Dave Thank you for your advice I will when the time comes sharpen the blade freehand as you have advised

regards Brian

[Brian Deakin]

Thank you terry for building on the advice given by Dave
regards Brian

[Brian Deakin]

Thank you for you reply it had not occurred to me that the knife would not fit in the jig

regards ​Brian

[Brian Deakin]

Thank you to everyone for your help and advice. It had not even occurred to me that the knife may not fit in the veritas jig. I will as Dave and Terry suggest when the time comes sharpen the blade freehand
again many thanks

regards Brian

[Dave Anderson NH]

Sorry for the late reply Tony. Bob's knives (the really thin ones) have the bevel at a really high angle in relation to the thickness. I don't know what he recommends, but my approach would be to bring the stone to the knife. Easiest would be to clamp the knife in a vise with the blade sticking out and angle the stone as close to the angle of the bevel as possible. Since the blade is thin, only a few strokes on each bevel should be necessary to restore the edge. Finish off by honing the back of the blade. I always found that bringing the sharpening media to the edge was the easiest way to sharpen with odd shapen items like drawknife blades. scorps, and wheel type marking gage blades.

[Roy Lindberry]

Hi Brian, I have a bit of experience here.:D I sharpen and hone freehand. The critical thing is the careful placement of each bevel flat on your stone or other sharpening media. I find a forefinger on the back of the blade with light pressure and a back and forth movement does the trick. It is important not to rush. After basic shaping, hardening, and tempering, I do the 2 bevels time 65 blades per session. I tried using a jig but found I spent too much time inserting and removing in addition to making fine adjustments. I have found that freehand is the fastest and most efficient for me and I have tried about every method my mind could come up with. After doing 1000+ blades I am stilll using the freehand method.

Dave,

I just took a peek at your site, and you make some beautiful tools! As I was browsing through your gallery, I saw some pictures of your plane till build. Its a great design, and I was wondering if you would document the build (or have already). Both your plane till and saw till look very close to what I've been thinking about for myself, but was hoping to get a closer look.

Perfectly understandable if you aren't able...but I thought I'd ask.

[Dave Anderson NH]

I'll take a look and see if I saved the working sketch Roy. I know I did one but whether or not I scanned it or even saved it is something I don't remember. I did the plane till over 10 years ago. If I still have it I'll scan it as a pdf and post it in a separate thread.

[John Coloccia]

For awkward things like this, plus for touching up turning tools as I work, I use a Diasharp mini hone, obviously bringing the hone to the tool.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2005910/18128/DiaSharp-25-Diamond-Offset-MiniHone-Coarse.aspx

DMT also makes a broadhead sharpener. I've often wondered if it would work for striking knives.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2083211/34542/DiaStrike-Diamond-Broadhead-Sharpener-Fine-Model-DSTRIKE-F.aspx