Crook knife/spoon knife sharpening

[jacko1066]

Hi Guys,

I hve an old Mora spoon knife and the blade needs some serious work on it.

Its well beyond my skills to try and sort it out and give it a sharpen, I was wondering if I could pay any of you lovely people to have a look and give it a sharpen for me?

Like I say happy to pay postage each way and also for doing the job.

Cheers
Steve

 

[mr dazzler]

I dont want to sound rude or ungracious, but if you cant get around to learning the skills to sharpen the hook knife, you wont have much of a result using one either. The hand/eye coordination skill needed to sharpen is transferable to actual carving (awareness of angles, muscle memory, repetion of strokes etc) For those knives to work really well you need to hone them every 1/2 hour or so. Its really not hard. Sean Hellman and Robin Wood among others, have produced useful how to instructions. All you need is emery paper, leather and metal polish. Dont be discouraged! Bikes and cars, probaly seem impossible when you first see them and dont know how to drive them, but in time we all learn....

 

[John Fenna]

I too suffer from an inability to sharpen my hook knives as well as I would like! Ordinary knives are not a prob for me - but spoon knives... argh!
Perhaps I am not the greatest spoon carver in the world - but my spoons sell OK....
Keep trying to get the hang of the sharpening and if all else fails do what I do and get someone to do a major refettling of your spoonies at the Moot and struggle with your own less than perfect sharpening in the meantime

 

[mr dazzler]

I have owned a pair of mora hooks (162 and 163) for 5 or 6 years IIRC. When they were factory new I reduced the thickness of the blade (the rib on the outside of the curve) to make it more of a radius than a triangle, and rounded off the square corners on the tips of the blades. I used a dremel and emory paper for that. I think I used a oilstone to remove the grinding marks, then stropped it on leather to acheive a fine surgical edge. Ever since then I have kept the knives in condition just using 2 leather strops, a straight board one for the outer raduis and a slim cone shaped one for the inside radius's. I never had to use any grinder or emory on them again since the initial fettle. Every 20 minutes or 1/2 hour a few swipes keeps it just right, I use solvol autosol on the leather, sometimes I add ground up waterstone dust into it as well. To be fair, the edge holds up better on soft woods like alder or willow, less so on tougher woods such as cherry or beech. These are the onlly 2 hooks I have used extensively. The 164 (the one with the evil curly tip) I broke quickly and never replaced. I have more recently been using a Davis Brothers custom made little hook knife which promises to be a fantastic tool. I have no experience of any other makes

 

[John Fenna]

I hear what you are saying - for me it is the act of actually following the curve of the blade evenly - I get facets and dull spots no matter what sharpening system I use ... I guess it is my dodgy wrists in play...

 

[ex-member BareThrills]

Hi Guys,

I hve an old Mora spoon knife and the blade needs some serious work on it.

Its well beyond my skills to try and sort it out and give it a sharpen, I was wondering if I could pay any of you lovely people to have a look and give it a sharpen for me?

Like I say happy to pay postage each way and also for doing the job.

Cheers
Steve

Steve

Unless you are going to learn to sharpen it there is no point having someone do it for you. Id just take it to the next meet you are at and let one of the blade meisters loose on it so you can see what is being done and learn from the experience. Either that or sell it blunt

 

[mountainm]

My latest idea, which I've yet to try out is to get some flower arranging foam and carve a trench out with my spoon knife, harden it with PVA glue. Then line the trench with micromesh and use that to sharpen

 

[dwardo]

I find if you use a smaller dowel with various grades of paper then you end up with an un-even edge.
Its best to chose a dowel size just short of the radius of the hook. This means you do more of the edge in one go making it more even.
Still like John I am not the best at sharpening hooks but they are still effective.

 

[Teepee]

Once sharp, it's dead easy to keep them hair popping with a paddle strop and some leather glued onto some dowel for the inner.

 

[HHazeldean]

My latest idea, which I've yet to try out is to get some flower arranging foam and carve a trench out with my spoon knife, harden it with PVA glue. Then line the trench with micromesh and use that to sharpen

You know I've had almost the exact same idea! If you do try be sure to keep us informed