Hook Knife Sharpening

[Rob Luter]

I just picked up a couple Narex hook knives to assist in my spoon carving efforts. They showed up pretty sharp and a little work on the strop rendered them like curved razors. I've been trying to study up on sharpening technique and am getting mixed signals from The Oracle (YouTube). Some users swear by only stoning the bevel side of the blade (exterior) and others only stoning the flat interior to preserve the bevel at factory specs and smoothness.

How about some opinions from the CCC (Creeker Carving Community)?

https://www.narextools.cz/editor/image/eshop_products/822104_l.jpg

[Oskar Sedell]

How I see it, getting the outside bevel to the right convex shape makes the hook knife come in and out of the cut nicely. Hence, after getting it right, I don´t want to mess with it and only use a strop with compound for the outside. All the sharpening I do from the inside, with slipstones, and finish with a round wooden strop with compound. One one of my hooks I even ground a hollow on the inside with a mandrel in my cordless drill, to help with the honing. Some fine hook knife makers forge their knives with a hollow on the inside for this reason.

[Rob Luter]

Thanks for the input Oskar.