Problems with axe sharpening

[outdoorpaddy]

Hi there,
I have a Gransfors Bruks Kubben hatchet which I love to bits and have had for about 5 months. But i cant for the life of me get it sharp enough! My sharpening kit consists of; lansky puck sharpening stone, a fallkniven DC4 (works great on the mora) and 400 and 600 grit sandpaper. I have been able to get a sharp-ish edge, but after half a days work, it is as blunt as ever. I'm using circular motions with the lansky puck at quite a low angle with the blade but it really just ends up making the steel look ugly.
I wouldnt be surprised if what I'm doing wrong is blindingly obvious, a common trait with any errors that I make, so be as blunt as the axe when it comes to telling me how silly I have been.

Cheers,
Outdoorpaddy

 

[NathanG]

sounds to me like youre using the wrong angle and rather than sharpening the edge youre just polishing the cheek of the axe, i remember a really good tutorial on it somewhere, i'll try and dig it out for you

 

[NathanG]

here you go :http://www.bushcraftuk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=22814

 

[luckylee]

you may be better with some files for the axe mate, if you get really stuck, send it to longstrider on bb, i have never used his service but there an awfull lot of happy customers mate.
then when you get the edge like he put on it, it will only be a matter of stropping and maintaining it.
hope that helps a little.

 

[Tadpole]

What are you using you axe for? If it's for chopping wood, it doesn't need to be like a Razor.

 

[flexo]

you may be better with some files for the axe mate, if you get really stuck, send it to longstrider on bb, i have never used his service but there an awfull lot of happy customers mate.
then when you get the edge like he put on it, it will only be a matter of stropping and maintaining it.
hope that helps a little.

something like that!
file,then stone,then hone/strope...
but,still,angle matters

 

[mrcharly]

Use your stone to get the edge touched up - look for flats on the edge, go slow. Once you are sure you've done that, put the 600grit paper on a mousemat and use that, drawing away from the edge.

 

[mr dazzler]

I agree with the filers on this one. I used to mess around with stones, emory etc on axes but dont bother now. I just use a bahco 3 square file. It takes less than 2 minutes to put on a good working edge, even if its nicked. When the edge constantly contacts bark etc with grit and dirt its a losing battle attempting to keep it polished and nick free, so I stopped trying. LOL if a file is enough to keep proper saws in good sharp order then they are also fine enough to keep an axe right too....?

 

[luckylee]

I agree with the filers on this one. I used to mess around with stones, emory etc on axes but dont bother now. I just use a bahco 3 square file. It takes less than 2 minutes to put on a good working edge, even if its nicked. When the edge constantly contacts bark etc with grit and dirt its a losing battle attempting to keep it polished and nick free, so I stopped trying. LOL if a file is enough to keep proper saws in good sharp order then they are also fine enough to keep an axe right too....?

i'm with you to mate, if you want a really fine edge and not doing much chopping, then the mouse mat with sand paper is great, but to keep that sharp drives you nuts in the end, you no when it is sharp enough, when using it, and i found that i did not need an edge as sharp as i thought.
all my knives are a different story but me axes, i just sharp now, and me knives extremly sharp.