How would you sharpen this?

[Jonathan McCullough]

http://i575.photobucket.com/albums/ss199/Jonathryn/Millers Falls/DSC03963.jpg

Seriously, the correct answer for me is, "I really don't know," and I'm hoping one of you may have had the experience of sharpening one of these.

I'm fairly certain it's a reamer to bring a hole to final dimension in metal, but it's dinged up, worn out, and after sharpening the tolerance won't be close enough to the original spec, 1/2". I've been picking these up for 25¢ to see if they would be useful to help carve inside the horns of saw handles.

[Paul Incognito]

I have a tapered reamer I've asked the same question about.
I figure the steel will be too hard to use a file. I was going to use the corner of one of my old oil stones. Maybe that will work for you? Or maybe the file sharpening trick; soak it in vinegar?
Hope this helps, but it probably doesn't...
Paul

[george wilson]

Why do you want to use a reamer? As a rotary file,or something? That is a metal cutting reamer. The only way to sharpen it is with a tool and cutter grinder,if you want accurate results.

[Dale Cruea]

It looks like the tapered reamers we used in die making and machine repair. We sharpened them in cutter grind dept. You grind the face of course like you sharpen a router bit. You will lose a little on the dia. but then you can run them a little deeper to make up for it. If you have a Dremel or a small die grinder you may be able to sharpen it. If I remember correctly the flute in undercut and not 90 to the cutting edge. Have fun :)

[Jonathan McCullough]

I'm inspired by Bob Strawn's pencil shave (http://toolmakingart.com/2009/07/27/pencil-shave/), but intimidated by the prospects of sharpening this thing. My first thought was to put a handle on it and use it like a Millers Falls No. 1 shave with multiple flutes. Maybe if I sharpened it, chucked it up on a lathe, and carved with it, it would have the added benefits of being dangerous as well as impractical. Bonus!

As for sharpening, I'm thinking it would be possible to make a jerry-rigged Dremel-holding jig that would follow the groove of a flute on the opposite side as I advanced it along the edge. Hmm.

[george wilson]

It would be DANGEROUS for wood. It was too few flutes to cut smoothly,and will grab if you try to use it in a lathe. It is NOT a rotary file. Be warned. Rotating under power,that reamer,especially if sharp,could could grab,and gouge your fingers to the bone. Personally,I would NEVER,NEVER try to freehand shape wood or anything else with it.

Get a real rotary file for your own sake. They have much finer teeth so they don't grab. Or use a rasp.

[Bill Moser]

Maybe if I sharpened it, chucked it up on a lathe, and carved with it, it would have the added benefits of being dangerous as well as impractical. Bonus!

Dude, if George says he'd "NEVER,NEVER" do something, well, personally, I'm not gonna do it :). Seriously, that sounds kinda nuts. And rasps really are the way to go...

[Jonathan McCullough]

Huh. Used one on a drill press in wood when I was a kid, but it was slow speed, with a smaller diameter reamer, and to enlarge a hole rather than to shape wood. I think I'm going to figure out a way to sharpen this, put a handle on it, and see how it works before getting carried away . . . on a stretcher. If you want to see something really crazy, have a gander at this guy (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3f-elZ1VKOU), carving cabinet doors with a carving spindle. One false move . . . .

[David Young]

Jonathan,
Bob Strawn's pencil shave idea can be modified by running a long bolt thru the cutter and adding a hex coupling at the end so that it can be mounted in a cordless drill chuck. Then set the clutch and carve away. It works great to rough out saw handles. I have two stet up one has a long bushing installed on the far end for two handed control, and the other works like a simple chucked burr. David
210822

[Jonathan McCullough]

Eureka. I was looking for something that would develop the right combination of torque and speed and finesse to get in those awkward areas. More and more, I've been using chisels and gouges to knoc off those high spots, but the grain direction and tight radius in some areas prohibit that. Thanks for the suggestion David.

[Tom Vanzant]

I think the man from OSHA would have fainted, if not at the spindle, certainly at the grinder... especially at the buffer on the far end.

[Jim Matthews]

Again - why the hell dinnit I think of that?

That is clever.

[Jim Matthews]

If you're going to rotate it by hand, why not?

I would mount it in my drill press (unplugged) with some sort of point at the bottom to keep the works centered.
Using a basic honing stone, twist the reamer and raise the stone at the same time.

Stay away from the valleys, you're only trying to raise a bur on the edges.
If you only turn the reamer one direction, you need only sharpen on one side.

If you intend to roll the reamer back and forth, you will need to rotate the reamer both ways to get a burr over each side of the flat.

I think as a hand tool, this thing has potential.
I think as a power tool, it's a trip to the emergency room waiting to happen.

[george wilson]

Pencil sharpener cutters would work fine because they have smaller,more closely spaced teeth that won't be so prone to grabbing the wood. They are like coarse rotary files.