John Keeton
07-08-2022, 5:02 PM
As many of you know over the last couple of years I have accumulated dozens of drawknives - an addiction, actually. I have rehabbed/restored all of those to a nice, functional condition with an extremely sharp edge through a process I have used for years on other edge tools of various types. I kept those that I really, really liked and the excess knives were sold - many of them on SMC. I have had many requests from some of the buyers and other creekers on my sharpening methods. I have shared that with many, but it was a narrative with no pics.
Recently, there seems to have been a significant change in the quality of knives available - it has been suggested I bought all the good ones!?!? And, the prices on those that are available have become ridiculous. It takes quite a bit of time, as in hours, to rehabilitate most of these knives. After all, many of them are 150-175 years old and have been heavily used. Along with cleaning up the blades, fixing the spine where it had been used as a froe and sharpening them, I have turned replacement handles for many of them, shortened the original handles slightly and re-peened them to tighten the handles, and refinished handles that could be saved.
It was never about the money - I have a very comfortable retirement. I actually enjoyed the process, really enjoyed researching the history of the knives, and seeing them brought back into use. But, I will be 74 in a few months and none of us know the plans the Lord has for us. I want to use whatever time I have left to enjoy building Windsors, being with our fairly large family now with 6 great grandchildren, and traveling some now that my wife has pulled back from some of her involvement in activities.
In any event, it was just taking too much time and effort. So, this past week I announced my "retirement" from rehabbing drawknives. When I did, Scott Winners suggested I post a thread with my sharpening method. So, I have taken some pics to help explain the process and compiled a PDF that is attached to this post. I hope folks find it helpful.
Recently, there seems to have been a significant change in the quality of knives available - it has been suggested I bought all the good ones!?!? And, the prices on those that are available have become ridiculous. It takes quite a bit of time, as in hours, to rehabilitate most of these knives. After all, many of them are 150-175 years old and have been heavily used. Along with cleaning up the blades, fixing the spine where it had been used as a froe and sharpening them, I have turned replacement handles for many of them, shortened the original handles slightly and re-peened them to tighten the handles, and refinished handles that could be saved.
It was never about the money - I have a very comfortable retirement. I actually enjoyed the process, really enjoyed researching the history of the knives, and seeing them brought back into use. But, I will be 74 in a few months and none of us know the plans the Lord has for us. I want to use whatever time I have left to enjoy building Windsors, being with our fairly large family now with 6 great grandchildren, and traveling some now that my wife has pulled back from some of her involvement in activities.
In any event, it was just taking too much time and effort. So, this past week I announced my "retirement" from rehabbing drawknives. When I did, Scott Winners suggested I post a thread with my sharpening method. So, I have taken some pics to help explain the process and compiled a PDF that is attached to this post. I hope folks find it helpful.