How to sharpen a drawknife. How to sharpen a draw knife. How to sharpen a drawknife. However make sure you take proper precautionary measures to avoid cuts and injuries. A drawknife edge is a special case in that it is only one half a knife.
It can be a bit dangerous however so caution is always advised. The bottom of the blade is flat as on a chisel edge. I used a fine diamond stone to ensure that it was free of nicks and the curve was even. I sharpen my knives with sandpaper adhered to a wooden block.
The biggest obstacle to mastering this traditional tool is getting it razor sharp. Brian boggs shows an effective and safe way to maintain the edge of this. It worked great and rounded the edge of a piece of cherry effortlessly. Once you feel a burr you know that your drawknife is already sharp.
All you have to do is lay the stone flat on the blade and rub along. Shaping long flat surfaces concave cuts face grain end grainits all easier with a well sharpened drawknife. Since this side is flat you dont have to worry about angles at all. You can sharpen a drawknife using both hand tools and machines.
Never grind a knife edge tool. Once youre done with the bevel side you can move on to the flat side. The same technique was used to sharpen the curved side of the blade except that i w as careful to maintain the shape of the convex bevel. Sharpening a drawknife is a relatively straightforward procedure.
72 75 from the april 2006 issue 154 buy this issue now if you visited a crafts school that. By scott gibson pages. He also demonstrates how to hold the tool and how to use it to make complex shapes. The draw knife is a wonderful tool for chair making.
The draw knife is easier to sharpen then it looks it just takes a bit of time understanding. Flatten the back sort of sharpening a drawknife is no different from sharpening a chisel or a plane blade. A drawknife will eventually need to be sharpened. This drawknife can benefit from a little more sharpening to remove scratch marks but i took it for a test drive anyhow.
It all begins with a flat back to the blade. The reason will be clear later.