Double Hollow Ground Knife Sharpening
Before
we get into how to sharpen oboe reed knives, let's look at
some of the type of sharpening stones you will need.
- The
grey carborundum stone
- A
fine or medium grit diamond stone
- An
India stone made by Norton
- An
option for the Norton stone is an Arkansas or ceramic stone.
There
are two basic steps to sharpening a double hollow ground knife.
- The
first step involves taking metal off the blade and setting
up a “burr” on the blade.
- The
second part of the process is to refine and shape the burr
into the correct position.
So
let’s look at step number one. If you are starting with
a new knife, you will want to place it on the roughest stone
that you have with the blade facing away from you.
Next,
lift the back of the knife about 5 degrees and “rub”
the knife back and forth to take some of the metal off.
When
you place the knife on the stone, make sure that the entire
blade is touching the stone at all times. This will make
sure that the knife blade is sharpened evenly. |
Don't
do too much at this stage. Maybe 10 complete strokes.
Turn
the knife over and repeat the step with a slightly higher
angle.
What
you want to see is a visible “burr” on the side
of the blade that faces your body when you scrape. When you
see the burr, you can polish it up on the fine India stone.
The
next step is to turn the knife over and basically repeat the
last steps only on a much finer stone. This will begin to
refine the burr and the edge of the blade. End this step with
the stroke toward your body.
Now
it is time to set up the scraping edge.
-
Place
the knife edge toward your body and lift the knife about
the same angle as you did before. You are basically going
to refine the burr that you obtained in the last step.
- Next,
turn the knife over and use a bit more angle and "rub"
the knife back and forth to turn the burr over onto the
scraping side. Do about 7 to 10 strokes.
- Repeat
the last step ending with a stroke toward the left side
of the stone.
- Now
turn the knife over on it's back and very lightly repeat
the same procedure making sure to end the stroke toward
the right hand side of the stone. This will refine the burr
even more and the knife should be ready for scraping. You
may need to experiment with the angles a bit to get it right.
Want
some info about sharpening bevel knives?
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