a bodged ray mears knife.

[jamin]

hi, i have been asked by my freind to sharpen his ray mears knife. it looks in quite bad shape and that he has had a go at sharpening it before. the bevle is fine on it but looks lie there is like a micro bevle been put on it. i have been trying to get this out of it on my wet stone but it dosnt seamto be doing much. is there anything i could do to get it back right. i dont want to do anything drastic due to the price of the thing. or should i stick to the stone. cheers. ben

 

[Barn Owl]

There should be a micro bevel of c. 25 degrees to help hold a good edge.

 

[jamin]

was watching his youtube vid on sharpening that knife and it says to keep it flat.

 

[Totumpole]

WHen he rubs it up his car window, that putting a micro bevel on it. Ben, maybe your friend just took the micro bevel too far.

I'm no expert so not sure how best to sort it. I did experiment with some Mora's and just hammer on with a course grit, then work down. Apparently clippers come with a secondary bevel and Ive got one I ground down to a pure scandy and one I kept a secondary bevel on, they are much of a suchness TBH. If you are using water stones and are struggling, then rather than invest in a courser set of water stones go for some courser wet/dry paper glued to a bit of wood - if you care for your knives often you will use it less often. Inow rarely go back tot he stone with my regular users, a strop keeps them in good order if used frequenly.

Hope that helps and I'm not just a rambling drunk Scot!

 

[robevs73]

Keep it flat, woodlore is a zero Scandi grind not a micro bevel. If in doubt send it to someone who knows what they are doing.

 

[Woodcutter2]

Definately zero flat grind for those as Rob say's, the best way to remove the metal will be on a coarse flat waterstone or if you have access to one a continuous grit diamond stone for swift perfectly flat metal removal, but not the standard DMT coloured stones with the holes revealling the plastic mount, they can leave a fluted effect on the grind and be careful not to run right into the rounded ricasso though with diamond stone, they have square corners and will swiftly mark a sharp angle where it was curved.
Personally I use the Continuous grit diamond stone for rapid flat removal staying 2mm away from the ricasso then use a slightly modified waterstone, in that I rounded the corners of with a cheap copy diamonstone thing I got in a set of 3 from Aldi years ago. The advantage of this way is once the grind is flat its easier to keep it that way on the much softer waterstone.

Another tip for keeping soft water stones flat without spending over £200 on a lapping plate is to use the coarse stone from Aldi, mine is bonded to a 4mm thick plastic base plate so is flexible thus no real good in the workshop(field emergency sharpening only) and glue it with expoxy to a piece of 8mm glass inturn glued to a bit of Ply.

Bit long winded but I hope it helps

 

[sandbender]

Will you put some pictures up? It would be nice to see your progress and also to see one of these actually being used.

 

[plastic-ninja]

Due to the pedigree of this tool the name "Longstrider" springs to mind.
That would give your mate a good starting point to take care of it with a strop
and maintain the edge.money well spent I would think.
cheers Simon

 

[Grebby]

If you do send it to Longstrider it might be a good idea to buy your mate some chain mail gloves for when the knife comes back.

Grebby

 

[redneck]

Mears in his video Does put a micro bevel on the edge,watch how he raises up the blade a couple of degrees and how he mentions it being used like a "steel" (ie. a sharpening steel!)...it may originally have been intended to be a zero grind but Mears never used it that way..watch his video carefully and see !!

watch from 7;00 and see !!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lm53mCOQTR8

 

[Bushwhacker]

You'll be telling us he's got a Ferrari and doesn't know how to put petrol in it next!

 

[salad]

OK may be a silly question but what grit stone are you using , if your using a quite high grit like an 800 to try and take back the edge on a damaged blade or one that has been damaged through in-correct sharpening then it will take a very long time to put this right .

I would go for a course stone like a 400 or maybe even a 240 to re-set the bevel then move up through the grits once it has been made flat by the course stone. This would be quicker than trying to do it with say an 800 or 1000 grit stone

 

[tinderbox]

If you examine an edge that has been stropped under a microscope it looks ragged. What steeling does is to make the edge smooth, so it looks like a wavy line under the microscope. This makes the edge stronger. It's not a micro bevel.

 

[redneck]

If you examine an edge that has been stropped under a microscope it looks ragged. What steeling does is to make the edge smooth, so it looks like a wavy line under the microscope. This makes the edge stronger. It's not a micro bevel.

That's only if it's the same angle, I read it as micro bevel on the video (like most true scandinavian knives have)and like moras have..The angle he held that blade at was definitely intending to put a micro on,hence the"more bite" quote he used..

 

[tinderbox]

My impression is that he's not doing enough to create a micro bevel. Guess we would need to take a microscope to his knife to be sure.

 

[JonathanD]

Uncle Ray carries a ceramic rod in his kit for sharpening too. Although I don't think he showed that on his sharpening vids. He uses it after stropping, very very lightly for a few swipes. How micro can a micro bevel be though

 

[redneck]

Uncle Ray carries a ceramic rod in his kit for sharpening too. Although I don't think he showed that on his sharpening vids. He uses it after stropping, very very lightly for a few swipes. How micro can a micro bevel be though

Thats a good point, maybe it's not a micro bevel, maybe it's a nano-bevel !!

 

[robevs73]

He needs to throw the ceramic rod away and get a nice flat strop and starkie blue paste if he wants a really sharp zero grind.
I was told by an ex woodlore instructor that he's not that fussy on sharpening, as long as its sharp enough to cut wood he's happy, not every one is anal about sharpening but I am!!!

 

[demographic]

So what exactly is wrong with a microbevel? Works fine on some of the most expensive wood planes.

 

[jamin]

there isnt anythning wrong with a micro bevel. but the 1 that is on it is all over the place.looks a right mess. and hardley sharp. he said he had been battoning with it. lol. sacrilege in my opinion.