How to keep a swivel knife sharp?

[RedCliffsLeatherwork]

Hi all!

I have been using a ruby swivel knife blade that I got from my grandpa for about 2 years now, and amazingly, it has lived up to its claims.. i haven't noticed any decline in its sharpness.

Now, I recently got a new fine detail blade from Tandy, and i want to know how to keep it sharp. I do have some jewelers rouge that I purchased way back when i started. If there is already a thread discussing this, then if you could give that link it would be great!

My main questions are:

1. How often do you strop the knife?

2. How do you determine when it needs to be resharpened?

3. When it needs to be resharpened( as opposed to just run over the strop) how do you actually do that?

[tsunkasapa]

I strop every time I pick up the swivel knife and after every use. If it's a big project I may do it several times before I'm done. As to sharpening, if stropping isn't effective, sharpen.

[chuck123wapati]

the search function is your friend.

[HandyDave]

If you go further down the list of threads on home page there's a whole section on nothing but sharpening leather tools. Tons of info for everything we use with an edge. To answer a couple of your questions is strop regular atleast everytime you are going to use the swivel knife. I don't think you can over strop. I mainly use a good 3/8" straight blade for allmost all my carving. But I've got a couple cheaper blades from tandy that are smaller or angled that helps with certain carving tasks and you can feel a drag or a kinda skipping when a swivel blade ain't running as smooth as it should. And always make sure your leather is cased good while carving cause dry leather will dull an edge quick. Hope this helps

[Handstitched]

  On 10/14/2023 at 4:36 PM, chuck123wapati said:

the search function is your friend.

Expand  

Yup . If it doesn't cut, it needs sharpening. Sharpening stone , fine side ,  and jewelers rouge , and  practice cuts. Pretty simple. 

HS

[purplefox66]

The best video I have ever seen on sharpening a swivel knife is from leather wranglers found on leatherwranglers.com or you can find it on YouTube under lw or Paul&Rosa zalesak. I would put a link but I'm not sure how to.

[fredk]

Tandy sells, or sold, a wee handy device to help hold the blade whilst sharpening

https://tandyleather.com/products/craftool-keen-edge-sharpener

Edited October 16, 2023 by fredk