Members zuludog Posted April 20, 2017 Members Report Posted April 20, 2017 (edited) Search YouTube for 'sharpening' and watch as many as you have the stamina for, you will start to see how things are done and get an idea of what you think will work for you Perhaps I'm old fashioned but I just can't get me 'ead round the idea of a sharpening stone that uses water! so I use a fine oilstone followed by a strop nevertheless I think this is one of the best videos on YouTube about sharpening. Although it's for chisels the same technique can be used for knives preparing and sharpening a woodworking chisel by Paul Sellers You can improve the stitching chisels by polishing the prongs. Use a needle file followed by a home made polishing wand; glue some wet & dry paper onto a sliver of wood or a lollipop stick If you don't have a needle file use 2 or 2 grades of wet & dry paper. work your way through grades 500 to 1,000 Lubricate the prongs with beeswax to make them easier to insert & remove Edited April 20, 2017 by zuludog Quote
Members desertwastes Posted April 20, 2017 Author Members Report Posted April 20, 2017 (edited) 1 hour ago, Danno90 said: Just a quick note to say my kit arrived today, and also some leather, needles and thread in another package from a different company. Definitely much sharpening to be done. The knife is probably only likely to cut butter at this point - and even then may have difficulty I joke, it seems solid enough, just needs some work on the edge. Overall pleased with the quality of the set, it just seems a little smaller than I thought. Or perhaps my hands are bigger than I realise having only seen tools in use on Youtube so have no real size comparison. Still, will be more than adequate for now :D Okay! Good to know. I was worried they might instantly fall apart into dust, since I paid so little for them. Mine should be here in a couple days as well. Thankfully, I happen to be a female with tiny hands. Edited April 20, 2017 by desertwastes typo Quote
Members desertwastes Posted April 20, 2017 Author Members Report Posted April 20, 2017 46 minutes ago, zuludog said: Search YouTube for 'sharpening' and watch as many as you have the stamina for, you will start to see how things are done and get an idea of what you think will work for you Perhaps I'm old fashioned but I just can't get me 'ead round the idea of a sharpening stone that uses water! so I use a fine oilstone followed by a strop nevertheless I think this is one of the best videos on YouTube about sharpening. Although it's for chisels the same technique can be used for knives preparing and sharpening a woodworking chisel by Paul Sellers You can improve the stitching chisels by polishing the prongs. Use a needle file followed by a home made polishing wand; glue some wet & dry paper onto a sliver of wood or a lollipop stick If you don't have a needle file use 2 or 2 grades of wet & dry paper. work your way through grades 500 to 1,000 Lubricate the prongs with beeswax to make them easier to insert & remove Perfect. I made a note of it, will do. Partway through the youtube video now. Thanks! Quote
Members Danno90 Posted April 20, 2017 Members Report Posted April 20, 2017 53 minutes ago, zuludog said: nevertheless I think this is one of the best videos on YouTube about sharpening. Although it's for chisels the same technique can be used for knives preparing and sharpening a woodworking chisel by Paul Sellers He definitely makes it look easy, or maybe that's just me. As for the beeswax I may have to have a chat with a colleague at work who keeps bees, I'm not sure if it's the right time of year to be after it from the hives but he may have some. And rendering the raw stuff seems easy enough: melt in hot water, pour wax/oil mix into containers to solidify, discard dirty water and take the solid wax out, put wax in double boiler then filter through coffee filter to remove any finer dirt and pour the (now much cleaner) wax into paper cups/cupcake cases to cool into easier to manage blocks. Just thought I'd throw that in there. I'm being deliberately frugal as I want to get started ASAP with leather but payday isn't for another week... Quote
Members zuludog Posted April 20, 2017 Members Report Posted April 20, 2017 Once you start looking and Surfing the Net you will see that new sharpening stones are expensive. There are a couple of markets near me with second hand tool stalls; see if there is one near you. Take your tools along and show the stallholder what you want to do; I have found that they are reasonable and helpful enough You probably won't find a ceramic or diamond stone as they are relatively recent developments, but you should be able to get an oilstone for £3 or £4. Then you just need some general purpose oil have a browse round the rest of the stall while you're at it, you never know your luck. One of my local stalls has a box for cobbler's & upholstery tools, I've had a couple of things from him Quote
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