Thread: Big chip removal

Hey everybody, I've got a quick question.

I picked up a George Wostenholm & Son ebay special style, and it has a few gnarly chips that I'm trying to take out. I forget the name of the style, but the blade does not have any hollowing. Because of that, I'm just using low grit sand paper as a hone to try to work out the chips (and get some really nice polishing action on the blade too). Is there a more efficient way to do this?

Thanks!
Lewis

tape the spine if its a wedge 3 layers with a contrasting color on the top tape ( so you can see when you wear thu )and a low grit stone 220 works fastest. keep repaceing the top layer as it wears out. a bevel wide chip takes a long time good thing is you have the day off

I've had the same situation and worked with a DMT 325 continuous plate and a layer of tape. cutalot's suggestion of 3 layers with the contrasting color is a good one. IIRC Lynn once said, in a similar thread, that slightly lifting the spine (as if sharpening a knife) is one way to do it. When the chip is gone go back to the spine on the hone. It is certainly doable but a long process for a large chip.

I use my DMT XXC for really heavy work, otherwise I use a Beston 500 grit stone.

You,ve got some good advice thus far. I would pause to ask "what you consider a gnarly chip?" To me, gnarly is unsavable, but it must not be to you... Pics or measurements may help.

Personally, I'd take it to a knife sharpening service, explain to them what a wedge razor is, tell them to grind it back until the chip is gone but not worry about refining the edge, you want to do that yourself.

A wedge razor has a sturdier blade than a knife, so this should not be a problem.

If you have access to a wide grinding stone, a bench belt sander or some other continuous single direction powered grinding machine, you could do it yourself.

If you don't want to go this path, I'd do what the others have suggested. Tape. I've tried to do what you are doing now. Literally DAYS of grinding later I've removed maybe 1/2 of a single millimeter of blade depth. Wedges grind slow... very... very...very slow.

Originally Posted by IanS

Personally, I'd take it to a knife sharpening service, explain to them what a wedge razor is, tell them to grind it back until the chip is gone but not worry about refining the edge, you want to do that yourself.

A wedge razor has a sturdier blade than a knife, so this should not be a problem.

If you have access to a wide grinding stone, a bench belt sander or some other continuous single direction powered grinding machine, you could do it yourself.

If you don't want to go this path, I'd do what the others have suggested. Tape. I've tried to do what you are doing now. Literally DAYS of grinding later I've removed maybe 1/2 of a single millimeter of blade depth. Wedges grind slow... very... very...very slow.

Personally, I would not take a razor to a knife sharpening service and I would not try to grind one using power tools. I don't trust a knife sharpening service to do it, and I don't trust myself to do that with a razor because I have no experience. I would say suck it up and try to hone them out, pay someone in the member services to do it, or put the razor aside for the time being.

For the knife sharpening service; it is my understanding that knives are sharpened with the "spine" up. If you do that to a wedge, you will alter the bevel angle by making the blade width narrower without decreasing the spine width. And, on top of that, you will have to correct the "bevel" they create; if the razor is beveled with the spine up, when you lay the spine on your hone, the razor's "edge" will be up in the air. Maybe you could get them to do in spine down, but who knows if they would do it properly. I can hone razors, but I have no idea how to get a knife sharp. Just cause they can work on knives doesn't mean they can do razors. That is assuming there is a place near you that you even know can do good work on knives.

As for not trusting myself - I think that is pretty self explanatory. It is me acknowledging my lack of skill. If you think you can do it and have the equipment to, very cool. But that does not mean it's something easy that anyone could do. It would be very easy to mess the blade up, damage equipment, or hurt yourself.

Although, all this is speculation because none of us knows how large "gnarly" chips are...

I just got back to check the thread. I continued working out the chips today as I was yesterday, and have got most of it cleaned up. There's still some work to do though.

I didn't think to quantify gnarly earlier. The chips were approximately half a millimeter deep. There were two big ones, and about four littler ones.

One quick question about the tape. With a wedge, won't that put the blade into the wrong shape? Shouldn't it force the cutting edge up away from the rest of the wedge, making honing later more difficult?

Also, as for grinding it down.. would I have to avoid getting the blade hot while grinding it? I seem to recall reading something about this at one point, but I'm not sure.

Thank you everyone for your shared wisdom.

Yes, knives are definitely sharpened spine up, however most sharpening services and shops I've known have employees who are pretty bright folks and many also work with tools other than knives (although none that would be held flush against the stone come to mind, that's not to say there are none). I would wager that if you explained that the blade should be held flush against the stone, he'd slap his gloves on, use a light touch and have the task done in a matter of minutes. I wouldn't do it unless I was able to speak directly with the person I knew would be doing the grinding themselves, as without that guidance they most likely would do as you expect.

I also wouldn't put a full hollow to a grindstone simply because it's too fragile, but the wedge is likely going to be one of the most sturdy things to grind that a machinist will ever handle. It's basically a tool with a bevel the size of the razor's entire blade. Maybe large axes and chisel-type tools (don't really know) could compare... but certainly nothing in the knife family comes close.


And yes if you grind it yourself, the blade will get cooking. Kevlar gloves should be plenty of insulation though, they are decently thick. Also, use a VERY light touch, eye protection is an absolute must, and if you're a butterfingers a shop apron and some kind of neck/throat protection may be wise. If possible have the grinding pulling away from you to minimize the possibility that you lose grip and the razor gets flung at you.


Yes, taping and removing the chips would result in similar results to what Holli mentioned happening if you ground it with the spine up. I'd imagine that you would want to correct this by decreasing the amount of tape and extending the bevel (3 layers, 2 layers, 1 layer, no tape), but someone who has done this with a wedge before would be able to answer that with more certainty.

With an DMT XXC and a lot of elbow grease you could probably work those chips out by hand without tape in 3-4 hours (a guess based on the rate of material removal on my XC with my wedge). Tape would reduce this by reducing the amount of material in contact with the diamonds, basically isolating the pressure and letting them cut more effectively.

yes tape will cance the angle. 3 layers a bit more and any futher honeing will have to be done with tape.with a wedge this is not a bad thing, as far as the shave gos you will not notice any change except your edge will last longer. as far as puting it on the band sander i would not wear gloves when it starts to get warm its time to quench abought every 3 light passes on a side