Should a tickler be sharpened

[Rawhide]

I just bought a C.S. Osborne #2 tickler/creaser and just wondering if it should be sharpened like a swivel knife, a head knife, or at all for that matter.

Thanks in advance.

Marlon

[bruce johnson]

Marlon,

I don't use mine as cutting tools. I use them to define a crease or to burnish cut lines. I don't want them to cut any deeper. That said, every maker seems to make them a little different in cross ection profile. Most of my oldies are a rounded profile, much like a cross section of a really dull round knife. The newer Osbornes are more like a thicker chisel profile that comes to a dull point.They make v groove in wet leather. I got one from Jeremiah Watt that was thinner stock, but had a definite kind of sharp edge that would cut if you applied much pressure. I rounded that over, and like it pretty well now. The oldies will lay open a cut line a little more than the thinner stock one from Jeremiah. I do have a tiny old Gomph that makes a narrow little channel.

[Rawhide]

thanks Bruce,

that's just what I needed to hear. I'm going to polish mine and use it as is. If I don't like it I'll round it and try again.

Marlon