Please help me sharpen this curved blade

[NoLifeTilLeather]

I am not good at sharpening things in the first place (trying to get better), but can anyone give me tips on sharpening a blade with this shape? I tried sharpening it on a stone and it got worse, so clearly I’m doing something wrong. I’m just mangling it and I love using this knife. (Used to, anyway—and hope to again.)

There seems to be a different curve to the blade (bowing?) to where it doesn’t make total contact with the stone while the ends make contact. Not sure if that’s apparent in the pic. 

Any tips or advice would be much welcome, thanks. I do not know what I’m doing. 

[zuludog]

What you have there is a clicker knife, which is a traditional type of knife used in leatherwork. It has the cutting edge on the inside of the blade, so it can't be sharpened on a flat stone

Instead you must use a round sharpening stone or similar that fits within the curve of the blade. The easiest & cheapest way to do this would be to wrap or glue fine wet & dry paper around something like a wooden dowel or a broom handle or a length of copper water pipe; or just round off the edge of a small flat length of wood. Depending on how blunt the blade is, start with 400 grit and work your way in increments up to about 1500 grit. Finish by stropping - to make a round strop glue  about 1,5 mm leather around the same sort of wood or pipe, with the rough/flesh side outwards; green chromium dioxide stropping compound is as good as any, and a small bar will last for ages.

I haven't been able to find a YouTube video on sharpening a clicker knife, but if you Search YT for 'how to sharpen a spoon carving knife' or 'how to sharpen a crook knife', which also has a curved blade, there are several videos and you'll see something similar, like this video at about 12 mins.

It looks like the blade & cutting edge of your knife is in a poor state, so at first it will take time & patience to get it back into good condition, but once you have done that it should only need a brief touch up with very fine wet & dry and a stropping.

There are loads of videos on sharpening knives & tools, just watch a few; it doesn't matter if they're not specifically on leatherworking knives, you'll gradually build up knowledge & experience

  

 

Edited June 10, 2023 by zuludog

[fredk]

I use a small narrow whetstone and swipe it along the length of the blade. A few strokes on each side alternately. Once made good and sharp it only needs one or two swipes to keep it that way

[chuck123wapati]

go get a round diamond stone like this  then use a butchers steel to finish it. https://www.amazon.com/EZE-LAP-4-Inch-Diamond-Sharpener-Handle/dp/B000UVNT8Y/ref=asc_df_B000UVNT8Y?tag=bngsmtphsnus-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=80333185695376&hvnetw=s&hvqmt=e&hvbmt=be&hvdev=c&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=&hvtargid=pla-4583932713608980&psc=1

[Doc Reaper]

I use an 18 inch piece of various diameters of vinyl plumbing with 1500 grit sand paper stuck with a light amount of adhesive spray to anchor it. I also use one with leather on it (approximately one inch diameter pipe) to strop with  -  make em and save the money. If you live near Kannapolis NC I will show you how to sharpen

[Northmount]

Your knife appears to be the same as one I have, purchased from Tandy some years ago.  The blade quality is low to start with and doesn't hold an edge very well.  Needs touching up frequently.  Once you have the blade properly profiled, don't get aggressive with touch ups after.

 

[Tequila]

I’ll just add this reminder, keep the angle low.  When I first started I was sharpening at too steep of an angle, then I found a little trick.  If you can find a book of matches, the angle of the matchbook (closed) is about the angle your blade should be to the stone/sandpaper/strop.  Lotsa luck!

 

[NoLifeTilLeather]

Thanks, everyone! I’ve got several options to try, thank you all. I recently decided to try to keep everything super sharp and it’s very defeating to make the blade even more dull than it was. 
Very frustrating, especially when you just wanna do leather stuff and all your blades start catching and going off the reservation. 
thanks again!

[Cowboyleatherman]

This is a new sharpening tool that Nigel Armitage has come.out with sharpening curved blades. 

 

[TomE]

Diamond hones with an elliptical profile work well on curved blades.  They are sold by farrier supply houses for sharpening hoof knives.   I've had good luck with the Mustad hone shown on this page, and the FPD (Farrier Products Distribution) brand is also typically good quality tools. https://www.farriersdepot.com/tools/knives/sharpener/