Being new to this lifestyle change, I'm still learning a lot. I have become proficient at hand sharpening my chainsaw blades. Now I want to learn how to sharpen my Fiskers X27, my small hatchets and knives. What stones, files, techniques or any tricks do you guys use?
I cheat. Found that using the Fiskars sharpener is great. It's about $10 and will sharpen the ax and knives. A great tool to have. I used to use files and stones. A good stone can put a nice edge on an ax, but you can get carried away and make the edge too thin. Files are easy to use and getting a wire edge is fairly easy.
I use a combo of 220 grit diamond hone,mill bastard file & finer Wachita Arkansas natural stone for my various axes.Depending on their use.
http://www.bestsharpeningstones.com/Razor-Edge-Knife-Sharpeners.html Not only do they have some of the best, they also have some great books. They used to have a video but not sure if they have it now or not. I have not bought anything from them for a long time but love their stones and they also have some great guides.
I have the fiskars sharpener with the wheel in it, feels awkward to use for me. I still like an old fashion whetstone, I have a nice 3 stone set I've had since the scouts and can put an edge you could shave with onto a pocketknife with it. The tricky part sharpening an Axe with a stone is that you have to hold the head edge vertcal, either propped or in a vice, and work the stone across the head like a file.
I prefer a whetstone, they just work and last forever if you take care of them. I still have my great grandfathers whetstone and it was at least 5-10 years old when I got it, and that has probably been around 10-12 years ago. An edge you can get from a bastard cut mill file is nothing to laugh at, though. Whatever you choose to use, be careful not to over do it.
I heard if you leave your tool to your Wood Gun gremlins they will return to you in under 24 hours and it will be perfectly sharp.
Sorry guys for not keeping up with the posts. BUT, I am not getting any notifications via email. I thought I had it set up like that....that other forum
Mike, go to your menu page by clicking on your username in the upper right section of.the forum homepage, go to the " alert preferences" and "contact details" tabs on the left hand of the screen, you should be able to adjust all of your notification settings from there. Also check to make sure that the notifications aren't going into a spam folder.... If that doesn't work, make certain you have your email address correct.
