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The backs on all my tools were flattened long ago, so I did not get into doing that here. I will put up another tutorial on flattening the backs of edge tools. When the tool has been sharpened this much, you can feel a definite wire edge on the flat side.
Now it is time to go to the felt wheel. While the wheel is turning I apply some compound to the surface. Just a little. Green compound works just fine. Then I polish the cutting edge. CAUTION! The wheel must turn away from you! If you try this with the wheel turning the normal way, you are in for an unpleasant surprise. There is a slight learning curve to polishing the edge. Start with the bevel in a position where you know the edge will not touch. Slowly draw the tool closer to you until you can tell that the edge is just barely being polished. This is delicate work, so do not get in a hurry here. Remove the tool from the wheel every few seconds and look at it. The cutting edge should be getting polished to a mirror finish, and the wire edge should disappear.
To see if the edge is sharp enough to suit me I try it on the hair of my arm. If it shaves the hair, it is sharp enough. Tools don’t get much sharper than this. I timed myself doing this chisel and less than 2 minutes elapsed from start to finish. I recently found a site on the internet which sells 6” felt wheels for about $17. Hard Felt Sharpening Devices After much experimentation with all kinds of sharpening methods, I have finally settled on the following. A used 1/3 horsepower 1725 RPM motor with an shaft arbor attached. I have learned that 3450 RPM is too fast. At that speed the wheel will throw off most of the compound as you try to apply it. It is also very easy to blue your tool at that speed. I made a wheel out of pieces of leather which I cut into 6” diameter discs, then glued them together in the center to make a leather wheel. They need to be loose on the outside, not glued, because all sizes of gouges can be honed on the incannel. The wheel on the outside is a 1” wide hard felt wheel. I put about an inch of spacer between the 2 wheels so there would be room to maneuver a wide chisel on the felt wheel. I should mention that I use the green chromium oxide compound on these wheels. None shows here because I was preoccupied with the photography.
The piece of wood in front of the wheels is simply a piece of 2” X 6” which I formed to fit within a half inch of the wheels. This piece is not a tool rest, it is a knuckle rest. Resting my hand against the rest gives stability.
Because the leather discs can flex and move, it is possible to hone the inside of every gouge I own, even very small veiners. I even touch up the vee tools on it. Notice that the wheel turns AWAY from the tool. This is VERY important. If the wheel turns toward the tool, you are going to get a nasty surprise.
The bevel of the gouge is polished against the hard felt wheel. Notice that my knuckles are resting on the “knuckle rest”. With a minimum of time, effort, and expense, I manage to keep all my gouges sharp enough to shave hair off my arm at all times. No picking up a gouge and finding it dull! I have less than $50 invested in this little device. It is portable, so I can take it along to carving meetings. I am often asked to hone one of the other member’s tools. Nothing to it! January, 2006
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