Sharpening Help?

[Rob Luter]

No luck with this in the carving forum so I thought I'd report here, where the word sharpening draws comments like a light bulb draws bugs :D.

I just picked up three Henry Taylor bent gouges so I could dabble in spoon and small bowl carving. They showed up with edges less keen than some soup spoons I have. Can anyone suggest a tutorial for establishing a working edge? I have a slow speed grinder and have that part figured out. The honing part is where I’m coming up short. Maybe get a felt wheel for my grinder?

I scoured YouTube and didn't turn much up.

Thanks in advance

[Andrew Pitonyak]

FlexCut has some videos where they show you how to sharpen some of their tools.

https://www.flexcut.com/customer-service/resources/sharpening/

I have seen videos of people making their own stropping profiles by using the tool to cut the correct profile for the strop. You can do this for the inside and the outside surface, although you can probably do the outside surface one a flat strop. You can also probably use a dowel for the inside surface.

[Jim Koepke]

Mary May has appeared on The Woodwright's Shop.

Searching > mary may sharpening < brought up a few including one by Paul Sellers.

Here is Marry May on sharpening a curved gouge:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5iEhUoSi8Q

Chris Pye is another wood carver. A search on > chris pye sharpening < also provided some good links.

jtk

[Jim Koepke]

Here is Mary May's page on sharpening various carving tools:

https://www.marymaycarving.com/carvingschool/category/sharpening-gouges/

jtk

[lowell holmes]

Check these out. I have one and really like it.

https://www.sharpeningsupplies.com/DMT-10-Dia-Sharp-Diamond-Stone-P318.aspx?gclid=Cj0KCQjw_5rtBRDxARIsAJfxvYBJk4nH8B yJEYijRSGBeaZc_tIQagM4f8LGr7EgSTgZQBC1BAtwE4IaAvr6 EALw_wcB

[Warren Mickley]

I have used Henry Taylor gouges for over forty years. I have never put one to a grinder or buffer or motorized appliance. It is too easy to mess up crucial geometry with a machine. Use oil stones. For a bent gouge you want to sharpen the bevel at thirty degrees or a little less. Note that that angle is in relation to the very end of the curve where the edge is, not the overall length of the gouge. The inside is lightly dressed with a slip stone. Because the gouge is bent you will want to use the very end of the slip stone and cannot take long passes.

[Mike Cornwall]

Maybe this is wrong but I draw the chisel tip in a “U” shape on the stone to keep the grinding square to the edge of the gouge. Because the way my wrist turns, it ends up being an asymmetrical U, like a Nike swoosh. Like with sawing, I find it helpful to put my feet so that the gouge is in front of my shoulder, standing a bit to the side of the stone. Blacking out the area to be honed, I rub across the stone drawing a shape that makes a straight line across the bevel. This is what works for me, but i haven’t seen the experts advocate it so it might be wrong. Another way is to put the chisel in a clamp and take the stone to the edge. Sorry if any of this is what you already know.

[Oskar Sedell]

I second Warrens answer. Slipstones for the inside, a hard whetstone for honing the outside. I also made a slipstone-shaped strop out of hornbeam (could be any hard wood) to finish off the inside, and use an ordinary strop for the outside. Both strops with fine compound.

[Tom M King]

For a lot of oddball things, I find these polyester backed abrasive sheets to be very handy-not the PSA backed ones. https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/sharpening/sheets-and-belts/74729-3m-aluminum-oxide-films-for-sharpening

The backing is pretty tough, and not easily torn, or damaged like a lot of backing films. I've used it over drill bit shanks for molding plane irons, and even smoothing hydraulic rams on tractor hydraulic cylinders, with a shoe shine motion using strips.

[Rob Luter]

Thanks for all the suggestions. I went to school and managed to put razor edges on everything.

Here's about 90 minutes worth of work on air dried mulberry. Still much to do to finish it. Looking forward to working with green wood.

417813

[Phil Mueller]

Nice job, Rob. I didn’t jump in to the sharpening discussion, because I have no experience...but wanted to say the spoon looks fantastic. I’d say you got it figured out.

[Robert Engel]

I like Chris Pye's sharpening tutorial the best.