Swivel Blade Question

[bdiamond leather]

I have tried a few tandy blades and ceramic blades and i dont care for any of them. What is the best blade out there? I want something that cuts smooth and stays sharp long. Thanks in advanced for any suggestions....

[Chief31794]

Barry King makes blades, lots of folks swear by them. As for staying sharp long, that is a relative term, I don't think any of them stay sharp for a long time, I strop several times during any carving project and sharpen at least every 2nd or 3rd project. They have to be maintained. If you don't like the ceramics then you will be sharpening a lot if you carve a lot. Just my opinion, you may get some better responses from more knowledgable folks out here.

Ken

Ken

[NoName]

The ceramic blades never need to be sharpened. Strop them often however (on jewelers rouge impregnated leather).

[Sylvia]

I have read here that those that love those ceramic blades have finessed the blade on them. The use an ultra fine stone and sharpen it so that any visible lines on the blade are gone. Then they strop it silky smooth. From that point on it's just a matter of maintaining the strop...

I have a couple of BK blades, for my BK knife... I had a huge amount of trouble trying to sharpen the hollow blade (at least until they fixed my keen edge barrel by drilling out the other end for me) Even then when I sharpened the hollow blade it changed the angle some. It cuts very nicely now.

I look at it this way.... sharpening is part of the job... because a dull blade is a dangerous blade.

[Rawhide]

While ceramic blades are great for long lasting edges, they require A LOT OF WORK before you can expect longevity with your carvings. I had to to work on my ceramic blades about a half an hour on each side. If you look very closely at the bevel of those blades as they come from the store, there are a multitude of serrations. (use a magnifying glass). When you work all these out and make it smooth, they will cut a thousand times better. That being said, the blades from Leatherwranglers seem to me to be the longest lasting for carving without stropping. They have a great metal blade that they researched extensively and I use it regularly. It's always the first one I grab. (I've tried almost all blades too, Henley, ceramic, Chuck Smith, Al Stohlman brand, Barry King, etc...)

Marlon

[pete]

While ceramic blades are great for long lasting edges, they require A LOT OF WORK before you can expect longevity with your carvings. I had to to work on my ceramic blades about a half an hour on each side. If you look very closely at the bevel of those blades as they come from the store, there are a multitude of serrations. (use a magnifying glass). When you work all these out and make it smooth, they will cut a thousand times better. That being said, the blades from Leatherwranglers seem to me to be the longest lasting for carving without stropping. They have a great metal blade that they researched extensively and I use it regularly. It's always the first one I grab. (I've tried almost all blades too, Henley, ceramic, Chuck Smith, Al Stohlman brand, Barry King, etc...)

Marlon

Hey Marlon! Nice to see you here again!

I must have gotten lucky- my 30 year old ceramic has no striations. But my 10 year old does! Wasn't me because I didn't know about stropping 30 years ago! What do you use for the lines- 1200 grit, rouge,...?

Even with the lines on the newer one I love it- cuts cased or dry leather. I WOULD like to make it as smooth as the old one though.

pete

[Rawhide]

Nice to be missed Pete!

I would start with 800 to cut the serrations off, then 1000, 1200, up to 2000 to polish it up. It seems that the big companies are all the same now, they don't really take the time to churn out a quality product anymore. those old ceramics are probably 10 times better than what you can get now.

[Sylvia]

Rawhide:

Do you have a great place for getting those ultra fine stones for a reasonable cost?

[Cyberthrasher]

Sylvia, I'd recommend looking around for some japanese water stones. There are a lot of them from "King" on ebay for a good price. It's one of the better brands and many of them come with multi grades.

[Rawhide]

Sylvia,

I didn't use stones, I used Automotive sand paper. I bought them at O'reilly auto parts I think. I use a 4-sided strop, if you will. I rubber cement to it a strip of 800, 1200, 2000 grit paper, then the last side is a strip of manilla folder with rouge rubbed in. when either side gets roughed up beyond use, I remove that strip and rubber cement another strip on.

for serious work on a blade, you could just use the paper glued to a hard backing so that you have a larger surface to work with. But the strips seem to work great for me.