Five pound sharpening kit

[British Red]

Switch,

No worries mate - its just that I never pass up the opportunity to lust at sharp and shiny!

Hoodoo,

I think I might have gone opver my five pound limit with them, but for myself, if I ever see some like the orange one, I'll grab a few!!!

Red

 

[Hoodoo]

Switch,
I think I might have gone opver my five pound limit with them, but for myself, if I ever see some like the orange one, I'll grab a few!!!

Red

That's one of my favorites. Unfortunately the company that makes those just started making them out of plastic within the past year. The plastic works but I like the wooden version better. I don't think it would be too hard to fashion a homemade one of similar style.

The nice thing about these is that you can swap in a piece of leather and do your stropping as well. Often this is all you need to do to your edge during a week in the woods.

 

[OldJimbo]

I love those wooden Hoodoo hones for the times when you have to take the hone to the blade.

 

[-Switch-]

This is slightly OT and many apologies if it's old news.

I was working on my first proper spoon today and got to the sanding stage which was taking quite a while. I went for more sandpaper and caught sight of my £5 sharpening kit. I made another 3 boards of 80, 320 and 600 grit and this time carved some contours and curves into them and then stuck on the paper. It was fiddly to make but it worked a treat when it came to sanding the spoon Just place the board down and move the spoon instead of awkward sanding with handfulls of paper.

This is getting to be a very good and versatile idea of yours Red

 

[British Red]

This is slightly OT and many apologies if it's old news.

I was working on my first proper spoon today and got to the sanding stage which was taking quite a while. I went for more sandpaper and caught sight of my £5 sharpening kit. I made another 3 boards of 80, 320 and 600 grit and this time carved some contours and curves into them and then stuck on the paper. It was fiddly to make but it worked a treat when it came to sanding the spoon Just place the board down and move the spoon instead of awkward sanding with handfulls of paper.

This is getting to be a very good and versatile idea of yours Red

Switch,

Not my idea mate - I nicked it of Mors Kochanksi!

Sandpaper stuck to a mouse mat is handy too - easy to curve around the handle of the spoon

Red

 

[pibbleb]

Got all my bits and pieces to make the sharpening kit, but it's just crossed my mind. Is this also suitable for sharpening axes?

Pib

 

[British Red]

In a word Pib - yes.

Be careful of the profile you want to achieve (many axes are a convex grind), but that can easily be managed. I also tend to move the board rather than the axe on large axes (but always pushing the burr away from the cutting edge).

No problem though - works fine

Red

 

[pibbleb]

Cool stuff cheers. I'm hoping to get it built this weekend so I'll let you know how I get on.

Paul

 

[leon-b]

hi my frosts clipper should be coming soon so i will look forward to trying this £5 sharpening kit

 

[pibbleb]

Ok so I've had my first go at the £5 sharpening kit and I have to say it hasn't been a brilliant success, my doing!. However, I've learnt a couple of leasons that I'll share but i'm sure many of you have probably thought of these anyway!

Firstly, don't overlay the tape. The rise in the tape actually lifts the sandpaper sufficiently enough for you to slice into the paper, the rise is also sharpening the blade unevenly the result being a divit in the blade.

Don't mindlessly count away the pushes, if I'd not done this I would probably have spotted the damage I was doing in the first place.

So this week I'll have another bash and see how we go.

A leason shared is a leason learnt!

Pib

 

[Hoodoo]

Here's another little twist. When I convex a secondary bevel on a knife, usually I will first put it on a flat stone of one sort or another and knock the corner off, then hit it with the mousepad hone. But lately I've been trying a new strategy. I glued a thick piece of leather to a sanding block and used that for my sharpener. This seems to work well, especially for smaller, thinner blades and I can convex the edge to a nice thinness in one step without going to the stone first. The leather has just enough give in it to make a nice convex edge.

 

[Grimnir]

Oh dear! I think I've just realised how many hours of reading I'm going to be putting in on this site

Many thanks for this, I've learnt a lot from all of you and will be making my own sharpening kit soon

 

[British Red]

Well, having shared the learning from all this stuff around, I got asked for a new varuiation the other day by a Hunter - a credit card sized variety that would slip in a trouser pocket. Now building on Hoodoos hone, if lightness is the key - clearly this needs to be one hone and several grades of paper and leather etc. Heres what resulted

Start with a sheet of 2mm Foamex (just what I had to hand….this A3 sheet is enough to make two pocket hones and two 1/3 sheet full sized hones). Anything stiff with a slight flex would work here – plywood, bits of plastic cut from a lunch tray.

So I marked up the sizes and decided to use a panel saw to cut them up.

It’s a quick job, and we have 4 large boards (enough for 2 large hones) and 4 small boards (2 small hones). The edges are a bit rough, but nothing that sandpaper cant cure.

Now, we just need two of the small pieces. I plan to glue two pieces one on top of the other. I want to only glue the middle, so I can lift the ends apart and trap the wet and dry paper between the two sheets of foamex. So I measure 30mm in from each of the ends of one board and mark a line. I plan to use epoxy resin (two part) glue for this as its strong.

So I mix equal parts of each tube (resin and hardener) on an old paper plate and spread it thinly between the lines like this. Make sure you don’t spread too thickly or it will ooze sideways when the boards are pressed together

I then carefully align another board on top. You may notice one board is slightly larger than the other. This makes it easier to put the wet and dry paper in later as you can catch the protruding edge with your thumb and pry the boards apart. Once I’m happy with the alignment, I bung a big weight on top and let the glue harden.

So we now have two board glued together in the middle. Next step is to cut some pieces of the right grades of wet and dry paper 40mm longer than the boards but the same width.

The paper can be fitted by levering the boards apart and curling the ends in like this. Do the same at both ends and in effect that’s the basic pocket hone. The paper will form to fit the hone after first usage. Create half a dozen grades of paper the same size (write the grade of sandpaper on the back of each as you go) and you have a credit card sized hone that weighs less than an ounce.

I know a lot of you like to convex grind. No problem. I made up the second set of boards to include a piece of mousemat glued to the top. This hone can be used to convex one way up of flat sharpen scandys the other way up.

A picture of the finished hones with a credit card and SAK for scale.

There we go – one Hunter Pocket hone

Red

 

[Draven]

Awesome! :You_Rock_

 

[Simon E]

For those who like even simpler sharpening, try a convex edge.

Here are my two most used knives with the system I put together in about 20 minutes.

Mouse pad type foam from a DIY shop, about 1 pound (200x200mm & 8mm thick) Its stuck to the plywood with some left over bathroom silicone.

There are screws on the other side that that cord attaches too. Parachute cord is nice as it has an elastic characteristic and it will stay taut.

Just put a load of pressure on the blade to make it sink into the foam a little and push it to the right, swap it over and pull it to the left. As you get sharper gradually reduce the pressure on each swipe.

I purposely blunted this A1 by rubbing the blade on a stone, it was as blunt as a butter knife. This took less than 5 minues. I only used #400 & #600 Wet & Dry.

 

[Hoodoo]

Red, that's a pretty nifty little sharpener! :You_Rock_

 

[British Red]

Lol,

I came up with it for a young lad on OMF (called Hunter) who really didn't have access to DC4s and the like and wanted something to slip in his pocket for scout camp (he just got given his first Mora and had honed it to a razor). I was looking at your "Hoodoo hone" thinking - "should be able to make a mini slim version of that"..and there it is. Called it the Hunter pocket hone to make him smile. I must say that a larger version is in the offing for my own use - I'm thinking paper back book size.

Could do with your input into the "OMF axe" by the way .

Simon - love the floor based block - cracking variation mate - it needs a name though . We have a "hoodoo hone" and a "hunters pocket hone" - howabout a "Simons Sit Down" . As for the convexing, I suspect you are "preaching to the choir" to everyone round here. Except for me. Say it once, say it loud, I'm Scandy and proud!

Red

 

[dwardo]

I'll give it a try

The two left ones are (used) water stones, two different grades. To the right, two cotticle stones (white red, one set in wood by former owner) and right is the old steel: all for 1,5 €!

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Just browsing and your oil stone thats set in wood in the center is exactly like mine that was passed down to be by my grandfather

 

[buckley]

Red,

I take my hat off :You_Rock_

You have to go into production, and start stick these in the classified section LOL.

 

[British Red]

Thanks Buckley,

I consider this thread a joint effort though - Loads of people have chipped in and made it better than I could ever have managed alone!

What sort were you after by the way? I won't sel but am happy to "pay it forward" with a set if it helps?

Red