Veritas Carver's Draw Knife -- sharpening, etc.

[Michael Ray Smith]

I've long been interested in Lee Valley's 4" draw knife, but I have a 4" Pexto that serves quite well. So I've never bought the Veritas, but my kids gave it to me for Father's Day this year. I like it very much. I'm not sure I need two draw knives of that size, so I may sell the Pexto.

Anyway, I generally sharpen draw knives the way Brian Boggs teaches in some video I saw on YouTube -- freehand, holding it in the crook of your arm with the edge away from you and sharpening with a stone held in the other hand. I've been doing pretty much the same thing with the 4" knife, with a bit of modification in the way it's held to adjust to the small size. Most draw knives have a convex bevel, and I just follow the profile that's already there, then usually add a very slight crown to the back of the blade just because they seem to work better for me that way.

The Veritas blade is a bit different -- it is straight -- no curve at all -- with a straight bevel, and a flat back. The primary bevel is 18 degrees with a 20 degree secondary bevel. The Lee Valley literature says that there's really no good way to set up a jig -- which I've found to be true with knives with convex bevels. But looking at the Veritas it suddenly occurred to me that the Lansky system I have for sharpening knives might work -- and it does. The only problem is that the Lansky system lets you adjust the bevel angle in five degree increments, and the actual angle you get can vary a bit from what you think you're going to get. So when I tried to match the 20 degree secondary bevel that Lee Valley put on it, it didn't work. The angle was too shallow, pretty close to the 18 degree primary bevel. But I switched to a (nominal) 25 degree secondary bevel, and it works fine. (I might well have switched to a 25 degree bevel anyway; 20 degrees just seems a little too fragile to me.)

[Steven Lee, NC]

Lie Nielsen has this

https://www.lie-nielsen.com/product/blade-sharpening/drawknives-drawsharp-?node=4203

I've been curious about it but not curious enough yet to buy it.

[Maurice Ungaro]

You can also get it from Benchcrafted. They developed it with Peter Galbert (his design).

[paul cottingham]

Just got one. I thought my drawknives were sharp, and they were, but now they are are really really sharp.
and I'm not in danger of removing my fingertips.

Im seriously looking at the carvers drawknife. Do you like it?

[Doug Trembath]

I made my own. After seeing Garret Hack use his in a class he gave, I immediately recognized the possibilities.

Planer blade and a grinder, torch to heat for bending the support arms, and to silver solder the blade to the arms, grind the tangs as you wish, make handles of your choice, and you have a wonderfully useful addition to your kit. Sharpening can be interesting, but infinitely do able...

No pics, didn't happen, I know, but the subject just came up, right?

I'll see what I can do...

[Michael Ray Smith]

Just got one. I thought my drawknives were sharp, and they were, but now they are are really really sharp.
and I'm not in danger of removing my fingertips.

Im seriously looking at the carvers drawknife. Do you like it?

Yes, I do. I wonder if it may be a bit fragile because the instructions include all sorts of warnings not to do things that might break it (such as, if it gets stuck, back the blade out of the cut rather than trying to break off a chip by lifting on the handles) and to always pull, rather than push, because if it breaks while you're pushing your hands and wrists will be on a collision course with the broken pieces. It even has a stamp on the metal to always draw rather than push. The blade is relatively thing, but I don't know if those instructions are an indication that it may be easily broken or if it's just an indication of advice Rob's lawyers and insurance companies gave him. But so far, I like it very much. It's very comfortable in hand, and I like the geometry of the bevel. I don't think I'll sell my Pexto, though. I think I'll keep it and use it to take off thicker shavings and save the Veritas for finer work.

[Michael Ray Smith]

I've seen that, but it seems awfully darned expensive. And to be honest, I wonder about replacement parts and how long it will last. A lot of the tools I use have been around for a century or longer, and when I buy new tools, I like to buy tools that I think will be around 100 years from now. When I see thinks like plastic parts and and that strip of Velcro or whatever it is, I wonder about durability.

[paul cottingham]

To be honest, I had the same concerns, but it is extremely well crafted. I thought it was gimmicky when I first read about it, but the reputation of Peter Galbert (and Benchcrafted) as well as several positive reviews convinced me.

I buy my tools with a few thoughts in mind, durability (love old tools, most of my saws for example are over 100 years old) craftsmanship (of the tool itself) and safety. I have almost no feeling in my right hand, so safety played an important role in making my decision regarding the Drawsharp. In my opinion, it is much easier and safer to get a great edge on a drawknife with the Drawsharp than any thing else I used. It also makes refurbing old tools much easier and safer as well.

It helped that I was able to buy it with a gift certificate from a friend in return for computer help! Made it feel like less of a gamble.

[Michael Ray Smith]

I stopped to give a few minutes thought to a sharpening jig for draw knives. Here's what I came up with, using a 4" diamond stone from DMT that rests in a groove with a depth about half the thickness of the stone. Seems to work okay. Not sure why I never tried something like this before. Anyone see any reason it won't work?
316489

[Allen Jordan]

That is a clever jig, might have to try it out someday.

[bridger berdel]

I don't get the need for a jig to sharpen a drawknife. It's a large, single bevel, open, unregistered cutting edge.

[Mike Holbrook]

I like the Barr Carver's Drawknife. It has a 6 1/2" edge which I find a great size. It is flat ground on both sides, allowing the user to sharpen it different ways. WoodJoy makes 8" and 6" drawknives that are very nice too.

Peter Galbert uses just a touch of bevel on the backside of his blades, making it easier to enter and exit cuts. There are diamond and ceramic rods, both round and elliptical, that work very well on curved or many other blades. If anyone finds the Galbert sharpener a little too specialized.

[Michael Ray Smith]

I don't get the need for a jig to sharpen a drawknife. It's a large, single bevel, open, unregistered cutting edge.

I'm not sure there's really a need for one, either, unless you care about the specific angle of the bevel. Pretty much anything I sharpen freehand tends to drift toward a higher angle over time. The Veritas has been designed to have a low angle bevel (20 degrees), and I'm interested in keeping it in the range of 20-25 degrees. But I generally do fine sharpening drawknives freehand to pass my sharpness test of shaving the hair off my arm.