How to Sharpen a Chip Carving Knife
Trying to carve with a dull chip carving knife is difficult. Sharpening the knife on a regular basis is the best way to keep it in the best condition to produce the best carvings. Ideally, you should sharpen the knife either before or after each carving session.
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Things You'll Need
- Brown coarse sharpening stone White fine grain sharpening stone Bright light Honing strop Newspaper
Instructions
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Lay the knife against a brown coarse sharpening stone with the blade of the knife close to one edge of the stone. Lift the back edge of the knife about 10 degrees, which is about the height of six sheets of notebook paper.
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2
Drag the knife across the stone away from the blade. When you reach the edge of the stone, flip the knife over and repeat the process on the other side of the blade. Do this for about fifteen minutes.
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3
Switch to a white fine grain sharpening stone once you see the cutting edge develop. This is the stone that will actually sharpen the blade. You use the same drag and flip process that you used on the brown coarse stone.
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4
Check the blade sharpness periodically. Flip the knife upside down under a bright light. A dull blade will shine in the light. A razor sharp blade will be almost invisible under a bright light.
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Hone the edge with a honing strop. Use the same drag and flip process as you used with the stones. You need to do this on the coarse leather side first for fifteen strokes. Flip the strop over and do fifteen strokes on the hide side. A stroke is one full drag on each side of the blade.
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Polish the edge using newspaper. An ideal sheet of newspaper is one that has a very dark picture or a lot of close print. Place the newspaper on a flat surface. Drag and flip the blade of the knife as you did with the strop. Do this until the print turns shiny.
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Test the blade. Hold up a new sheet of newspaper. Slice a corner of the newspaper. If the newspaper got folded or bent while you were slicing it, you need to begin the process again as the blade isn't sharp. If it cut the corner of the newspaper without folding it, the knife is razor sharp.
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Tips & Warnings
Be careful that you don't cut yourself while sharpening the knife.
