A common question I’m asked is, ‘How often do you need to sharpen a chip carving knife?’ This topic came up a couple of times this week, including in the following email:
I have watched the video about sharpening your knives. But I have a question about
how often do you sharpen your knives during or in between projects. I just purchased one of your kits that had two knives and I have been practicing on the wood that was in the kits. I am about to start on a wedding plate for my wife. Would you recommend going through the whole process that the video shows? The knives still seem really sharp.
It's a good question because a sharp knife can transform your carving sessions from frustrating
to fun! So what’s the answer?
Over time, I’ve found that stropping (or honing) my knife after 20 – 30 minutes of carving helps maintain a scary sharp edge on my knife. I start with a leather strop with white gold strop/honing compound, and strop each side of the blade 6 or 7 times on each side, and then repeat the process, decreasing the number of strokes by one until I reach zero. It’s important to keep a consistent angle and pressure on each stroke while avoiding rolling the knife at the end. I stop short of the end of the leather strop to help prevent rolling the knife and removing the edge I’m trying to create. 😉
Performing these steps doesn’t take too much
time and provides a nice break during a carving session. I’ll also take time to strop my knife before carving any delicate areas of a pattern and end grain. However, if I notice the sharpness fading, I turn to the Scary Sharp System, using the two highest grits to touch it up when the knife is still fairly sharp, just not scary sharp. If the
knife isn’t cutting well or crushing the wood, then I’ll go through all four grits of the Scary Sharp system.
So to answer the original question, I’d go with stropping/honing the knives since they are still sharp. It doesn’t sound like the Scary Sharp system is needed this time, but if they decide to use it, I think the 2 finest grits would be sufficient and wouldn’t require the whole process.
If you have any tips or stories about keeping your knives sharp, I'd love to hear them! Feel free to share your experiences or any projects you've been working on by emailing me attroy@mychipcarving.com
April's Monthly Project
Wine Glass Holder: Ornamental Pattern
This pattern’s variety of elements provides a challenge for you to enjoy!
Order a Wine Glass Holder with or without the Pattern already applied!
I am attaching pics of my latest (rosette design by W. Barton, beams design by myself and my brother). What do you think?
Wishing you and yours a blessed Holy
Week,
Andrei
\ Andrei,
I think it looks GREAT! Nice clean cuts and the finish is beautiful - very warm, rich feeling, and evenly applied. The beams pattern you and your brother came up with fits nicely with the rosette.
This past week I was notified of an error occurring on the website that was preventing orders from being placed. My website support specialist looked into it and has made updates to resolve the issue.
If you experience any issues with the website, please feel free to send me an email describing the
issue.
Thank you for your patience and understanding when issues arise.
Platinum membership gives you access to ALLof the Courses,Patterns, and Video archives!
Click below to Sign Up!
Have a great week, !
HAPPY EASTER!! Mia and I hope you have a blessed Easter Sunday.
