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Thread: Sharpening a drawknife tutorial

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Central KY
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    17,588

    Sharpening a drawknife tutorial

    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.
    Attached Files Attached Files

    Left click my name for homepage link.

  2. #2
    Join Date
    May 2021
    Location
    Spartanburg South Carolina
    Posts
    386
    Thank you John

    I think I was supposed to buy some of your work but life gets busy and I missed the opportunity. I greatly appreciate your PDF (when I get time to see it). Enjoy your retirement.

  3. #3
    Thanks John

  4. #4
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
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    Longview WA
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    Another Thanks John.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  5. #5
    Join Date
    Apr 2007
    Location
    Columbus, Ohio, USA
    Posts
    3,441
    Thanks, looks like a nice resource to review....

  6. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2021
    Location
    Austin, TX
    Posts
    652
    Thanks John! Years of wisdom packed into this .pdf.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Jan 2019
    Location
    Fairbanks AK
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    Yay!! I do have your not illustrated narrative in my email box, but the pdf is the bee's knees. Besides your kids and your grands and your greats, you have packed a little bit of legacy into the .pdf too. Thank you.

  8. #8
    I bought a drawknife (and a few other things over the years) from John. It was better than good to go out of the box. He’s a pro.

    Thanks for the tutorial, John.

    I empathize with your addiction. There really is no tool like a drawknife. It demands we understand the grain of the wood like no other tool. In some applications it is the most efficient, clean milling tool there is.

    Anyway, thanks for making this journey easier for me, John.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2015
    Location
    North Jersey
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    132
    Thank you!

  10. #10
    I was too slow to score the last ones you have offered, but I resonate with the addiction. I have 2 so far and I have limited myself to not buying anymore until I actually carve 10 things. I purchased them to work on a walnut rocker I am building for my grand daughter about to turn one. The 2 I have seem very good quality. This tutorial comes just in time. I sharpened one with a stone and it is cutting well, but it will be nice to actually learn how to do it.
    also, I just read it and it is excellent. Thank you for taking the time to do this. I am new to the drawknife, but am anxious to try my hand at chair making. Been breaking in the drawhorse I made last weekend throughout the week. Since I work from home, I can jump in the work shop on my breaks. Lol.
    Last edited by Todd Trebuna; 07-09-2022 at 10:41 AM.

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    9,469
    John, I wrote a very similar article on my website in 2014: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Woodwor...Drawknife.html

    One aspect I would now change is that the back of the blade benefits from a slight camber, rather than being flat. I can see that a backbevel could also work. Without this, the blade has a tendency to dive (which is not due to the drawknife being used BU vs BD).

    The other difference is that i do not run through 8 sandpaper grits, as you do, but three waterstones: 1000, 6000 and 13000.






    Other than these few differences, our articles are close twins.


    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Oct 2007
    Location
    Central KY
    Posts
    17,588
    Derek, I couldn’t possibly find myself in better company!!

    Thanks to all who commented!

    Left click my name for homepage link.

  13. #13
    Thanks John

  14. #14
    Join Date
    Mar 2013
    Location
    North Alabama
    Posts
    548
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Winners View Post
    Yay!! I do have your not illustrated narrative in my email box, but the pdf is the bee's knees. Besides your kids and your grands and your greats, you have packed a little bit of legacy into the .pdf too. Thank you.
    I too have an emailed version of John’s guide to go with a trio of drawknives I bought earlier in the year, but this PDF is excellent. Thank you, John.
    Chuck Taylor

  15. #15
    Thank you John. Just what I was looking for. I appreciate you posting this!
    Fred
    "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

    “If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals.”

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