Sharpening a Drawknife

[James Davis]

I was given an old drawknife for Christmas. The edge is in pretty foul shape and it is covered in rust. The handles are tight.

In order to get all of the nicks out of the blade I need to take off about 1/8" of blade. Should this be done at 90* to the back of the blade? Or should I just keep grinding the bevel until I get it cleaned up?

What degree should the bevel be? Single bevel or Micro bevel? Exactly how sharp does it need to be? I realize it is a roughing out tool and maybe does not need to be as sharp as a plane iron, or am I missing something?

Any grinding suggestions? Such as how?, with what?,

This is probably about half the questions that I should ask, If anyone has any suggestions or thoughts that I didn't cover, please forward the information.

Thank you to everyone here for sharing their expertise on this and other matters.

James Davis

[Brad Olson]

I grind the bevel at ~20-25 degrees on mine. I'd grind it back carefully on a grinding wheel.

You don't need to go too high in the grits for sharpening as a draw knife is used for semi-rough work. I use mine off the smoother graded jet wheel of my jet sharpener and it works quite well.

[Marc Gélinas]

Hello Mr. Davis

Bob Smalser has put together a fine article on sharpening a drawknife. You can find it in several locations, notably on the WK Fine tools web site at http://www.wkfinetools.com/index.asp

as well as the Cian Perez web sit where you'll find a multitude of how to articles at http://www.cianperez.com/Wood/WoodDocs/Wood_How_To/INDEX_How_To.htm

[Brian Kent]

Marc, thank you for noting Bob Smalser's article. Here's the full link:

http://www.wkfinetools.com/contrib/bSmalser/z_art/drKnife/drKnife1.asp

There is a very important piece of information about sharpening a draw knife freehand on a buffing wheel. (Same would apply if you tried to sharpen freehand on a grinding wheel).

"Then I strop both edges on the 8 inch buffing wheel with Knifemaker’s Green Rouge. You should use a leather strap if you haven’t done a lot of freehand buffing, as catching an edge and throwing this piece downwards is an excellent route to arterial bleeding."

I would hate to slip off the wheel while applying pressure on the drawknife toward my groin.:(

Brian

[Ken Werner]

James, I keep my drawknives as sharp as I can get them. Mr. Smalser's article is an excellent resource. Having had one nasty cut from honing by passing the stone over the edge, I have switched to using a small diamond hone and keeping my hands behind the cutting edge.
The drawknife becomes a real pleasure to use when it is quite sharp.

[James Davis]

Thanks for the replies and the links. I knew that there were resources out there and the excellent people here would point me in the right direction.

Again many thanks

James Davis