How To Sharpen A Round Knife

[Johanna]

[bitone40]

Pure awsome-ness ,saw it on LW facebook and watched it 2 times and is a great video, thanks for pinning it

Ben

[particle]

Jeeze, my knife is REALLY dull!

[Huntbuck]

Thanks Johanna, now I have one more thing to do.... did not realize how DULL my knife was!!!

[Spinner]

Great info! Now I just need to get a round knife...lol

[Temugin]

Really useful link , thanks for posting this ... I've been doing more than 15 degree strokes for too long ..

[craig h]

Thanks for the info...now what brand and size of round knife should I get at a decent price for a senior learner?

Craig h

[TexasLady]

6/17/11

Such a good video. Where should I get my 1200 grit diamond hone and my 8000 grit diamond hone? - Texas Lady

[pabloz]

6/17/11

Such a good video. Where should I get my 1200 grit diamond hone and my 8000 grit diamond hone? - Texas Lady

Hi Texas Lady. Thank you for your comments! I am encouraged and motivated to do another video. In answer to your question, we stock both sharpening stones and can ship immediately. Here's the link to our site.

http://www.leatherwranglers.com/products.html

Thanks again and happy carving!

[TexasLady]

6/17/11

Very nice site you've got there. The 1200 grit diamond hone is probably the one that I'll want to order, and I found that one on your site. But I didn't see the 800 grit diamond hone. Where have you hidden it? Yes, please make more videos for us. See all the appreciative comments below your video? - Texas Lady

[pabloz]

6/17/11

Very nice site you've got there. The 1200 grit diamond hone is probably the one that I'll want to order, and I found that one on your site. But I didn't see the 800 grit diamond hone. Where have you hidden it? Yes, please make more videos for us. See all the appreciative comments below your video? - Texas Lady

TL,

It is the DMT just to the right of the Lansky 1200.

http://www.shop.leatherwranglers.com/product.sc?productId=27&categoryId=12

Yes ma'am.....I have read the comments and I am very THANKFUL for them all.

[TexasLady]

6/17/11

Oh, there it is. Excuse me for not seeing that 8000 grit diamond stone. I was expecting something dark. Since the stone is light gray colored, and not in a container, I mistook it for a metal blade in the photo.

Paul, I know that this is off-topic, but I just thought that it would be a curiosity to you. I'd studied Croatian briefly a few years ago, so your name sounded familiar. But, then I realized that it was even more familiar than the Croatian I'd learned. You probably know that, in Spanish, the 'z' sounds the same as the 's'. Well, I speak Spanish, and I lived for many years in South America. There is an Indian tribe in Ecuador called the Salasaca. So, that's where I'd 'heard' it before. I found good photos online, but the links won't open here after I post them. You'll just have to Google 'salasaca' if you want to see the photos online. I hope this amuses you. If this post of mine bothers you in any way, please just mention it to me and I'll delete it. - TexasLady

Edited June 18, 2011 by TexasLady

[fuyuko83]

I'm late to the party on this one - but I wanted to say THANKS for this video! It greatly reduces my knife intimidation! I'll probably be making lots of leatherwrangler references on my Christmas list...

[pabloz]

fuyuko83,

Thank you very much - I'm glad it helps and if there's anything else we can do to make your leathercrafting experience more enjoyable, call or write anytime.

[fuyuko83]

fuyuko83,

Thank you very much - I'm glad it helps and if there's anything else we can do to make your leathercrafting experience more enjoyable, call or write anytime.

Thanks Mr. Zalesak! ~Janice

[Kcinnick]

I still can't sharpen these dang round knifes! I am thinking about investing in a wicked edge just for the task. I have been using knife edged Gingher's lately and I really like using them on leather, oh and they are easy to sharpen! It also helps that I have 3 pair to borrow from the misses in the house, she told me to never cut paper with them, never said nuttin about leather.

[gicts]

Thank you so much for the informative video! There is a lot to digest, but I can't hear where you address the amount of pressure. How much pressure do you put on the blade when sharpening? At first it didn't seem like much but at the end it appears you put much more weight on the hone and strop.

Thanks again!

[pabloz]

Thank you so much for the informative video! There is a lot to digest, but I can't hear where you address the amount of pressure. How much pressure do you put on the blade when sharpening? At first it didn't seem like much but at the end it appears you put much more weight on the hone and strop.

Thanks again!

Gicts,

Great point. I totally missed how much pressure is applied. SO....If you are using diamond hones heavy pressure is really not needed. They cut really FAST especially when new, therefore you only need light to medium pressure (as judged by you) to get a good cut. You will see the metal swarf coming off the blade and building up in a little grey pool at the ends of the hones. Once you get the burr to form all you need now is light pressure, which can be as little as just the weight of the knife itself, for the last few strokes until the burr falls off....or at least most of it does. Now you're ready to strop, again light to medium pressure, on green compound until all the burr is gone and you have a nice polished edge.

Thank you for watching the video and your feed back. It really helps to improve on the next one.

Edited December 23, 2011 by pabloz

[Pablo27]

Good info and a great video, have watched it several times, but I am missing something! Have made 2 of three strops, used harder leather on one and a softer 5/6oz on the other but when I apply the compound (Porter cable polishing compound), have tried two different grits, They just seem to gum up on top of the leather, am using grain side. Any suggestions would be most helpful at this point. Thank you for your guidance.

[gotafly]

I still can't sharpen these dang round knifes! I am thinking about investing in a wicked edge just for the task. I have been using knife edged Gingher's lately and I really like using them on leather, oh and they are easy to sharpen! It also helps that I have 3 pair to borrow from the misses in the house, she told me to never cut paper with them, never said nuttin about leather.

I have a WIcked Edge I haven't found a way to mount a round knife or skiving knife for that matter. But I love the Wicked Edge.

Michael

[pabloz]

when I apply the compound (Porter cable polishing compound), have tried two different grits, They just seem to gum up on top of the leather, am using grain side.

Pablo,

I am not familiar with the Porter Cable product so I really cannot offer any good suggestions for it. The best polishing compound that I know of for hardened tool steels is the green chrome oxide, Cr2O3. Some are greasy and waxy others are dry and hard. I use the dry hard stuff and to get it to stick to the leather takes some hard rubbing to generate heat or use a blow dryer to heat up the leather then apply it. I don't know if you saw it but Art did a great tutorial on making a strop here on LW. If you haven't already seen it check it out.

Hope this helps.

HASTA,

PZ

[Grappo73]

well i'm here from 10 minutes and i want a round knife nice start in LW lol. Great video

[MRknives]

Great video and very helpful!  The only part I would disagree with after reading much research including Jurach's books on sharpening, would be to use a new stone and never use water or oil for lubrication.

Lubrication retains metal filings creating gouges in the edge of your blade slowly destroying your edge (picture something more like a serrated edge being created with lubrication containing microscopic metal filings)  I wrote a short blog article summary if interested @ http://www.mrknives.com/blog/2013/09/24/Knife-Sharpenning-Creating-a-Fine-Edge.aspx 

[zuludog]

This is a reply to PABLO 27; though from about 5 years ago, others might find it useful

The leather for a strop should be used flesh side up, ie glue the grain to the wood

I have used Veritas Honing Compound product code 05M08.01 with no problems. It adheres to the leather OK and sharpens well. It is green, presumably chromium oxide based

Recently I got some Schmidts Poldermedel, also green, but that was harder and didn't stick as well, so I made my own concoction based on it

I made a water bath from a small frying pan and an aluminium foil pie tray,and used that to melt & mix some of the Schmidts, to which I added about 5 to 10 % beeswax and jeweller's rouge. This sticks better, doesn't clog up, and still gives a very sharp edge

[TonyRV2]

On 9/30/2017 at 7:15 AM, zuludog said:

This is a reply to PABLO 27; though from about 5 years ago, others might find it useful

The leather for a strop should be used flesh side up, ie glue the grain to the wood

I have used Veritas Honing Compound product code 05M08.01 with no problems. It adheres to the leather OK and sharpens well. It is green, presumably chromium oxide based

Recently I got some Schmidts Poldermedel, also green, but that was harder and didn't stick as well, so I made my own concoction based on it

I made a water bath from a small frying pan and an aluminium foil pie tray,and used that to melt & mix some of the Schmidts, to which I added about 5 to 10 % beeswax and jeweller's rouge. This sticks better, doesn't clog up, and still gives a very sharp edge

In the for what its worth department, as a knifemaker (making sheaths got me into leatherwork) I own a couple 2X72" knife grinders.  Not only can you purchase abrasive belts for these grinders, but they may also be fitted with a 2X72" strop.  These strops are made to be put on the machine with the grain side out.  In the final analysis, I personally don't believe it makes a difference if you strop on the grain side or on the flesh side.  After all, after several stropping the flesh side is going to be burnished down anyways.  The whole idea behind stropping is to realign all the little micro-teeth that have formed on the cutting edge as well as to apply a polish to the edge.  Green jewelers rouge is my preferred stropping compound.