Axe sharpening tutorial or video

[wildrover]

OK folks,

I've had a GB SFA for ages and despite my best efforts in denial, I really should sharpen the thing.

The edge isn't totally wasted, it does however, need a wee bit of TLC.

So...
The question is does anybody know of a decent vid of a how to sharpen using a GB puck like sharpening stone?

I've seen Ray Mears (and a few others via youtube) using Japanese Wet Stones, but as I don't have these, and given that a GB axe stone costs less than £30, this would be my prefered option.

Cheers,
Chris

edit: I should have said that I have read through the excellent tutorial by British Red and although I get the theory I would quite like to see it done in "real life "

 

[monkey spanner]

Yep....check this out.
Ben make's some great stuff.

http://youtu.be/AKJhhz-643k

 

[HillBill]

Best way to sharpen a small/medium sixe axe bar none is the mousemat method.

Basically a block of wood, with some foam mousemat/sleepmat glued to it, and wet and dry pinned over it. Just sharpen your axe on that as you would a knife on a water stone. The foam enables the wet and dry to follow the convex edge most axes have, keeping a perfect edge and the whole thing always looks tidy. Go through the grits 240, 400 and 600 and strop. If you want a polished bevel, go higher on the wet and dry upto maybe 1200 grit.

 

[sargey]

there was superb demo on mousemat sharpening done by one of the knife shops, i can't find it now though.

this is a reasonable demo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjSkzZr_lKY&feature=related

cheers, and.

 

[sargey]

found it!

http://www.knivesshipfree.com/pages.php?pID=4&CDpath=0

cheers, and.

 

[wildrover]

Yep....check this out.

Ben make's some great stuff.

http://youtu.be/AKJhhz-643k

Thanks

Haven't seen this vid.
He certainly makes it look straight forward.

I agree regarding his work. It is excellent!

Chris

 

[wildrover]

Best way to sharpen a small/medium sixe axe bar none is the mousemat method.

Basically a block of wood, with some foam mousemat/sleepmat glued to it, and wet and dry pinned over it. Just sharpen your axe on that as you would a knife on a water stone. The foam enables the wet and dry to follow the convex edge most axes have, keeping a perfect edge and the whole thing always looks tidy. Go through the grits 240, 400 and 600 and strop. If you want a polished bevel, go higher on the wet and dry upto maybe 1200 grit.

Thanks for the advice.

I have never really needed to try the mouse mat method as most of my knifes are scandi grind, which i find I can keep sharp using my DC4.
However, given that the axe needs a bit of attention I need to give myself a bit of a shake and start looking at these other methods.

Cheers
Chris

 

[wildrover]

there was superb demo on mousemat sharpening done by one of the knife shops, i can't find it now though.



this is a reasonable demo.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjSkzZr_lKY&feature=related

cheers, and.

found it!

http://www.knivesshipfree.com/pages.php?pID=4&CDpath=0

cheers, and.

Thanks Andy,

The first vid shows how simple it is to set up the sandpaper/mousemat method. Nice one!

The second set of videos are really comprehensive, covering it all. Great stuff!

That's it then. Nothing else for it.
I will just have to learn to sharpen a convex edge and the mousemat method seems the way forward.

Not all bad though.
The axe will end up sharp, I won't have to shell out on yet another sharpening stone and I might be able to use the F1 I have had for ages and not used because I wasn't confident I could resharpen it!

ATB
Chris

 

[Maxip]

Really useful video links - excellent idea using the mousemat.

 

[HillBill]

Yeah it works well on convex knives too. Though i find that for sharpening an F1, a thinner piece of foam works better than the thicker stuff i use for axes.

Thanks Andy,

The first vid shows how simple it is to set up the sandpaper/mousemat method. Nice one!

The second set of videos are really comprehensive, covering it all. Great stuff!

That's it then. Nothing else for it.
I will just have to learn to sharpen a convex edge and the mousemat method seems the way forward.

Not all bad though.
The axe will end up sharp, I won't have to shell out on yet another sharpening stone and I might be able to use the F1 I have had for ages and not used because I wasn't confident I could resharpen it!

ATB
Chris

 

[wildrover]

Yeah it works well on convex knives too. Though i find that for sharpening an F1, a thinner piece of foam works better than the thicker stuff i use for axes.

Thanks for the advice.

Chris

 

[sargey]

you're more than welcome. i've been meaning to find that video again for a while.

much like hillbill, as rule of thumb, i recommend a thin mousemat with a hard(ish) plastic face. use it soft side up for axes, but hard side up for knives.

we recently introduced a professional survival instructor to this method on one of our scout leader courses. he was astonished, apparently he'd never had a knife that sharp before! (fallkniven f1)

cheers, and.

 

[rg598]

Here is what I do.

[video=youtube;uP-CDLIY-wc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP-CDLIY-wc[/video]

 

[wildrover]

you're more than welcome. i've been meaning to find that video again for a while.

much like hillbill, as rule of thumb, i recommend a thin mousemat with a hard(ish) plastic face. use it soft side up for axes, but hard side up for knives.

we recently introduced a professional survival instructor to this method on one of our scout leader courses. he was astonished, apparently he'd never had a knife that sharp before! (fallkniven f1)

cheers, and.

Thanks again.
I'll definately give it a go.
I hear you on the F1. The thing is I have more than enough good scandi users so I don't suppose I'm in any great hurry to use the falkie.
TBH while I'm sure it is superb for hard use, for my purposes, the blades is pretty thick.
Still, I bought it and I know I will need to get it dirty.

I suppose if I make a total mess of it I could send it off to Longstrider to work his magic.

Cheers
Chris

 

[wildrover]

Here is what I do.

[video=youtube;uP-CDLIY-wc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uP-CDLIY-wc[/video]

Thanks for the vid Ross.
I will check out your other stuff

Cheers
Chris