Sharpening a curved blade - How?

[Guest]

Hello all,

How does one sharpen a curved blade? I have a bird's beak and an F Dick boning knife that is curved at the very back of the edge. Because of the curve, the blade does not fit flat on the water stone. Is there another method I need to explore?

Thanks in advance,

-AJ

 

[gunnar]

it's really the same as any other knife. you just need to pay attention to the curve so as not interfere with it's edge. My dad had a beautiful set of stones before they got stolen in Oakland while he was going to shoemakers school. I learned by watching and doing, I have no scientific explanation of how it's done. If you have the stones, try , and if you don't, try harder.  I have even resorted to straitening my edges off the back of my other knives. Sadly, I send my knives out now for pro sharpening.

 

[sparkie]

Try turning your stone on its' side. It helps if you got a clamp laying around. Remember to put something soft like a dishtowel between the clamp & the stone. I find that the thinner surface makes the inward curve of the birds beak easier to hold an edge on. I also like this setup for my paring knife. I'm not famliar w/ that boning knife, but I'm sure the blade is long enough that it would be difficult to stabilize; therfore I would not recomend this.

 

[chrisbelgium]

I have a "bird beak" VG10 parer that is often used. I tried everything, often using the corners of a whetstone.

Now I'm more or less satisfied when rolling a small piece of sandpaper around a pencil and rub that onto the knife while blocking the knife fermly to my cutting board.

I use 1200 grit waterproof sandpaper. Found it at a car painter shop. They have it up to 2000 grit.

 

[boar_d_laze]

There are sharpening stones with curved surfaces called "slip stones" and/or "files" which you can get from the sort of carpentry tool suppliers selling gouges for lathes and fancy shmancy (technical term) carving.  Chris's trick of wrapping sand paper around something curved works ok for some things.  A round, diamond rod-hone can work pretty well too.

Be tolerant of your efforts.  Sharpening an inward curve is not easy.

BDL