how do you sharpen your spoon knife?

[mcniac]

Hello everyone,
I've never had a spoon knife before, so a good friend made me a blade and I am finishing the handle, but now I realized that I don't have a clue of how am I supposed to sharpen it.

I must say that these kind of tools aren't common here.

thank you
Esteban

 

[Dave]

Mucho Gusto.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uDjGbx7jIt0

 

[stuey]

Use a flat, wooden backed leather strop loaded with a stropping compound such as Starkie Blue or Autosol. Place the bevel of the blade flat on the leather, apply moderate pressure and strop away from the sharp edge rolling the tool over as you go to cover the sharp edge. Its quite difficult to describe really. If you strop little and often you will avoid the need for stones unless you drop and ding your spoon knife.

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[stuey]

Interesting vid. In 15 years of spoon carving (including running workshops) I have never touched the inside radius of any of my spoon knives and every one of them is shaving sharp just through regular stropping of the outside bevel.
I would avoid any kind of coarse abrasive such as wet and dry or stones unless you ding your tool.... Stick to a leather strop and fine abrasive compound. That way your spoon knife will last you many years instead of being ground down more and more each time you use a coarse abrasive. Its simply a waste of metal unless its really required.
I put the strop on the table and move the knife over the strop but Ben's technique may work better for you.


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[mcniac]

Thank you both for the video and recommendations, I can't believe I didn't found that video on my own.
I will have to use the technique from the video at first because the knife doen't have a proper edge yet, then I'll probable just strop the outside of the blade bevel.

Cheers!
Esteban