 The Oboe BBoard
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Author: claire70
Date: 2008-10-15 06:33
Hi all,
Those of you who have noticed my previous posts in the past few months will be pleased to hear that I am finally getting the hang of this reed-making business - I've made a few fairly passable ones now!
But I have yet another question: can anyone give me some tips on how best to sharpen my knife? My efforts seem to be rather hit and miss. Some days it's fine and I get a nice sharp edge, other days (the majority unfortunately), it gets a bit sharper, but not really as sharp as I would like.
I'm using a Japanese waterstone, if that's any help.
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Author: EaubeauHorn
Date: 2008-10-15 20:29
Possibly you are varying the angle that you use to sharpen the blade, without realizing it. If you use a lesser angle to sharpen it than the last time, it take take a lot more action on the stone to get an edge.
EBH
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Author: hautbois
Date: 2008-10-15 21:55
There have been several discussions of this on the IDRS website. E.g.,
http://www.doublereed.org/IDRSBBS/search.php?search_id=808800626
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Author: jendereedknife
Date: 2008-10-15 22:30
Dear Claire,
Here are a few possibilities that influence the success or failure of your sharpening:
One, as mentioned by EBH, are the angles at which you are holding the knife as you make passes over the stone. If they are too low, you may not be removing metal from the edge, which means you did not sharpen the blade. If the angles are too high, it makes the geometry at the edge of the knife too obtuse, which makes scraping more difficult.
A second is the consistency at which you are holding those angles. Most people turn their wrist up when pushing away, and down when pulling back. This rounds over the edge, and leaves the angle of the edge too obtuse, also.
Thirdly, the condition of your sharpening equipment plays a major role. If your stone or stones are not kept consistently flat, portions of the blade may not be coming into contact with the stone. Stones dip in the middle- compounding the first 2 reasons above, and wear at the sides- which can form an arc or taper along the blade. A lapping plate is best for keeping stones flat over time.
And lastly, it could be any combination of all of the above.
There is a new book - please email me at jendereedknife@yahoo.com for the title.
(I'm sorry I cannot post it here. As valuable and related to the topic as it is, I'm afraid of the moderators deeming it an advertisement.)
Sincerely,
Tom Blodgett
President,
Jende Industries, LLC
www.jendeindustries.com
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Author: vboboe
Date: 2008-10-16 00:34
... and i find it's the light level that makes a diff ... my knife is sharper when done on a sunny day and not as sharp on an grey overcast day ... perhaps older eyes need brighter light to whet the knife with more vigor and accuracy, and do the job more cautiously on darker days because it's just a bit too fuzzy to see what one's doing? -- so make sure have good strong artificial light for those days
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Author: GoodWinds ★2017
Date: 2008-10-16 02:43
Claire,
I'm likely VERY old fashioned, archaic, old-school.... whatever you want to call it. I studied with a German guy, who studied under Tabuteau, and he didn't take himself too seriously but he LOVED to make reeds.
He taught me to sharpen my knife by using little circles, counter-clockwise, and I've found this to work on both a beveled and hollow ground knife. A fine stone (your water stone) works best. My knives do not wear down too fast, but then, I make reeds on an 'occasional' basis, not every day.
If you're right handed, the right (toward the tip) side of the blade is sharpened flat, and the left (toward the staple) side of the blade is sharpened at a slight angle.
Then the blade is pulled along the heel of your left hand to 'scoop' the blade a little, not back and forth (you might cut yourself!) but downward i.e. toward your arm.
If none of that makes sense, then disregard it and consult a book with good diagrams. I can only say that I've used his advice for over 20 years and never felt the need to re-learn knife sharpening.
But this answer might net you a whole whopping pile of other counter-advices. Oh well. This is an 'experience exchange', and I'm obviously no expert.
mary (aka GoodWinds)
GoodWinds
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2008-10-17 13:24
Claire hello,
just like reeds, your knife can always be just a little bit sharper ... :-)
Sharpening your knife is a craft that you will learn. Tom Blodget is an acknowledged expert in this field, and has given sharpening classes at the IDRS annual conference, a spotty video of which can be see here:
http://128.138.185.178:554/qtmedia/Media/2005Conf/Conf05-Knife.mp4
When you sharpen your blade, you are trying to get two flat planes to meet at an acute angle, with an edge of zero width (the sharp blade). The closer you get to this ideal, the sharper your blade will be. Keep your stones flat, always use the same blade angles when you sharpen, and your edge will be perfect.
I use a burnishing steel to maintain the edge once it is sharp. The steel doesn't cut the metal, it just re-shapes that "zero width edge" (which is called the "burr") so that I can continue scraping. Eventually there is no burr to speak of, and the edge is no longer sharp. Then I go back to my stones.
To get and keep a perfect edge, you probably need more than one stone. You need a coarse stone to set the edge, and then a fine stone to refine it to the sharpness you need.
Also, consider keeping one (new) knife for the truly delicate work at the tip, and make sure that one is really sharp.
J.
Post Edited (2008-10-18 21:46)
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Author: jhoyla
Date: 2008-10-21 20:57
No, not expired. Just really, really flaky. I have no idea why, since MP4 videos are commonplace on the web. This one seems to choke up whenever I try and view it.
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Author: jendereedknife
Date: 2008-10-21 22:45
I can tell you that the video is not the ideal quality. I tried watching it when it first came out. Here's basically what happened at that seminar:
I talked about the different types of blades - single bevel, double bevel, double hollow ground, and hollow ground bevel - and how the edge should be shaped when sharpening. I then proceeded to sharpen some knives, explaining how and when there was a burr and what it felt like.
At the time (2005), this was interesting stuff, but I was still formulating my methods and learning how double reeders used their reed knife (I am a clarinetist). That information is now obsolete in my mind because I was nowhere nearly as "good" at describing the sharpening process as I am today - which also applies to the way clarinetists use the knife.
Here is a link to where the sharpening method is explained in its latest incarnation.
http://www.jendeindustries.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=JENDE&Product_Code=2008&Category_Code=REKNIVES
Sincerely,
Tom Blodgett
President
Jende Industries, LLC
Sincerely,
Tom Blodgett
President,
Jende Industries, LLC
www.jendeindustries.com
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