Author: DrewSorensenMusic
Date: 2012-07-20 18:58
Sorry, I came late to the party, but I have tried a little hand shaping with a knife, so I figure I may help a little. I did not read the above comments, so sorry if what I say is contorted/already said/if the notion has passed.
Assuming you're not using a shaper tip, then you would pretty much have to shape your cane just like you scrape your cane, which is take a little bit away at a time until you reveal your shape. I don't do this from the start, but I do hand shape to fine tune my reeds after they are tied on. Usually, because they are already scraped I stick with sand paper, because it's lighter so it has less chance of damaging the reed. However, if I'm early in the process of scraping, or want to aggressively shape the part closest to the thread, I use a bevel knife with what I consider a good bit of success. I really just draw the knife across the surface, similarly to how I would scrape. I don't put my finger behind the knife so the knife doesn't take a curved approach. I just draw my whole arm across the stroke, with the knife following suit. I finish with some sandpaper, just in case a splinter may have developed, and for a smoother finish.
On to the knife. Not all knives are created equal. Also, I do believe sharpening a bevel knife is quite different from sharpening a double hollow ground. This is probably because you are removing significantly more material from the bevel knife than the double hollow ground. If you think about it, you hold the double hollow ground at an angle, with only fractions of a millimeter touching the grinding stone. The bevel edge is held flat against the surface. My knife has of 13mm of metal on that side. And over 6mm on the angled side. Case in point, you may just not be sharpening the bevel knife enough. Not to mention that all metals are not created equal, so it could be possible that your bevel knife is made of a harder material, that requires more grinding.
To sum up, as I understand it, the bevel knife traditionally should be sharpened by placing the flat edges flat against the grinding stone. I don't think you want a burr on this knife. They seem to be reserved for double hollow ground tip scraping.
As an addition, last time I sharpened my bevel knife, I was unhappy that it wasn't as sharp as I would like. I lifted the angled edge slightly when sharpening, and it put a more aggressive edge on the blade. I would not start with this technique however, as to reverse this move would require a lot of grinding.
Drew S.
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