Edger Newb Mistake?

[AEBL]

I got my edgers used, and I figured I had watched enough on how to sharpen them, how to use them ... but I noticed that the tool tended to scalp my leather, especially near turns. I figured I had sharpened it wrong or something ... maybe I was using it wrong ... but then I felt the tip. The tips (the outer two metal prongs that the cutting channel is between) were pointed sharply. It appears that either they came that way, or whoever had them before me sharpened them and didn't worry that they were making two needle points that stuck out in front.

Pictured is an edger I haven't rounded off ... but do edgers come with sharp points like that on the end??!

(I would have shown the tool next to the scalp job it was responsible for - but I was so upset that I threw that project out the window already)

Edited April 14 by AEBL

[bruce johnson]

They could have came that way or sharpened that way. Some styles of edgers come sharp to the tips - CS Osborne fine edgers and Gomph common edgers were sharp at the tips and several old guys called them "finger stabbers". Pretty good edgers and great for trimming a binding near a stitch line. Yours are a pretty common style edger and it is no crime to round the tips. Sometimes those are purposely narrowed at the tips to allow them to get into the edge on thinner leather. Wider tips will hit the surface underneath unless the leather edge is raised up otherwise. 

If your tips are hitting inside curves and you like this style edger then grind the tips back closer to the edge. That will let you swing them in a narrower radius without the tips hitting as much. 

With sharpening edgers and French edgers as you wear and sharpen the edge back the tips get longer and working them from the bottom will make the tips more pointed. I round over a lot of tips when I am done squaring up a French edger and then sharpening French edgers and edgers. You want some tip to serve as a guide but you don't need a bunch in front usually. 

Another tip - Test on scrap first. Hold the sharpened edger at the lowest angle you can and try to "feel the cut"- keep raising it until it cuts smoothly and then don't go higher. Higher angle and it still may cut but longer tips may raise the edge up and the blade wont engage as much and cut full width. The other thing with shorter tips is the edge can dig in and chatter and bounce. That will dull an edge a lot faster. When I have people test edgers at shows, i commonly see them try to push the edger at way too much angle. It surprises them how that edger they tell everyone is dull at 45 cuts like butter when I show them the sweet spot is 15 or 20 degrees. Think of it as micro-skiving. Bob Douglas used to say "You have to make friends with your tools".